Buckeyes' Moment Of Zen About To Be Expanded

When Ohio State starting left tackle Josh Simmons went down with a knee injury in the first half of the Oregon game two weeks ago, the Buckeyes lost one of the best offensive linemen in the nation. They quickly turned to fourth-year junior Zen Michalski to replace him. He did his best in a tough situation.

Now, nearly two weeks removed from that kind of difficulty, Michalski is slated to make his first career start when Ohio State hosts Nebraska for a 12:00 pm kick on Saturday.

Michalski has seen snaps on offense in every game this season. He’s played the seventh-most snaps among the offensive line for the Buckeyes. That kind of experience gives Ohio State head coach Ryan Day some peace of mind in a situation that is much less than ideal.

“I thought he stepped up and did a nice job in the Oregon game,” Day said this week. “He’s a veteran guy who’s played a lot of football here in the program, not as much in games, but goes against really good players every day in practice. So, I think he was able to go into that game in a big environment and build confidence coming out of it.”

The task the past two weeks for offensive line coach Justin Frye is to get Zen Michalski to go from a backup who can step in on the fly to a starter who is ready to be an anchor for four physical quarters.

“Now Zen’s really gotta take the next step,” Day said. “It’s one thing to be in a situation where you’re coming in to clean up a game or finish a game. I wouldn’t say that was ‘clean up a game,’ but that was to finish a game. Now he’s gotta go about being the starter. And I know he’s excited about the opportunity. He deserves it.”

Left tackle is the glamour position of the offensive line because it’s seen as the quarterback’s blindside protection. Oftentimes, as goes the left tackle, so goes the quarterback.

For Ohio State, that blindside belongs to Will Howard, who threw for over 300 yards against Oregon — most of them with Michalski in the game.

“I think he did a hell of a job, man. He stepped in,” Howard said. “I think did a really good job and coming in in a game like that on the road in that environment, he handled it really well. Going forward, he’s got to be the guy, so we’re trying to just instill as much confidence in him as we can. We believe in him. He’s got to be that guy and he’s got to have that mindset of, ‘Hey, I’m a starting left tackle now in the Big Ten,’ and, like, ‘Hey, let’s go.'”

Zen Michalski is getting all of the work he can, which comes with its own critiques, criticisms, and congrats. Michalski’s confidence will be key against a Cornhusker defense that will employ different styles of edge rushers. The Buckeyes have been trying to make sure his confidence is where it needs to be, especially Howard.

“I mean, as a leader on the team, as somebody who’s kind of been in the starter role now for a little bit, that’s a guy definitely that you want to instill confidence in,” Howard said. “But you don’t want to make it feel fake. You know? I don’t want to just go over to Zen every day and be like, ‘Hey, man, you got this.’ That feels corny. It’s got to be real, man. It’s got to be like, he does something at practice, it’s good. Like, stay on him. Like, ‘Hey, that’s a great job, man.’

“Or even maybe just pushing him a little bit because we need him, you know? And I think he’s been doing a great job and he stepped in and did some good things during the bye week. I’m excited to see how he grows, man, because he’s a really good dude and I think he’s going to do some really good things.”

As with any Buckeye who has been fighting for a job and waiting his turn, this is also the opportunity Michalski has preparing to seize. It was Michalski who was a first-team tackle in the spring of 2023 before Ohio State went out and signed Josh Simmons out of the transfer portal.

This has been a long-time coming for Michalski, and now it’s his turn to step in and help get this team where it wants to go.

“He’s one of those guys that, he decided to come to Ohio State, he could probably be a starter at a lot of other places,” Howard said. “But he wanted to be here and be part of the brotherhood and now he’s getting a chance to step in and be the guy and I’m excited for him. I think it’s going to be a heck of a challenge.”