3 things about Ohio State’s 2026 offensive line

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With a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, who values running the football and controlling the game, it’s imperative for Ohio State to elevate its offensive line play in 2026.

While the 2025 line was solid enough, its weaknesses were exposed in the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff. While those games came against two of the best defenses in college football, the margins are finer in the postseason.

The Buckeyes have some continuity on the line entering 2026, but still need to improve. There are opportunities for guys to steal starting spots and chances for some players to make the leap to the next level.

Here are three things I’ll be watching as the offensive line takes shape ahead of the 2026 season.

Leap for Luke?

Left guard Luke Montgomery was a second-team All-Big Ten performer in 2025. He’s got the perfect demeanor for an offensive guard and is coming off a solid season. Can Montgomery make the kind of leap that will allow him to become one of the nation’s best?

The success of Ohio State’s running game will depend largely on how the interior line performs, while at the same time, the guards must hold up in pass protection. Montgomery has become one of the offense’s most reliable parts, but can he be a difference maker?

The 6-foot-5 Findlay High product possesses the tools and the mean streak needed to become a premier guard in college football and show NFL scouts he can help their teams next year. The top player in the state of Ohio in 2022, Montgomery has shown improvement each season.

If he can once again elevate his performance over the year before, Ohio State’s run game and left-side pass protection should get the job done.

Who Will Prove to Be Right?

Starting right tackle Phillip Daniels returns for 2026, but after the way 2025 ended, he is vulnerable to losing the spot. Ian Moore mostly held his own in relief of an injured Austin Siereveld in the Miami game (all things considered), and many expect Moore to push for playing time.

It’s just not clear where that playing time will take place. Moore and Daniels may battle it out for the starting right tackle spot. Will whoever loses that battle simply slide inside? It’s hard to say.

For now, the only offensive line spot without a returning starter from 2025 is right guard. The expected battle there is Gabe VanSickle against Joshua Padilla. Both looked good at times in 2025, and yet there were consistency issues.

That wasn’t limited to whichever of the two players was plugged into the lineup. Starter Tegra Tshabola gave everyone a fair opportunity to replace him as a starter. It was easily Ohio State’s most problematic position on offense in 2025 and a source of frustration for fans that it continued from the first game through the College Football Playoff.

Both Padilla and VanSickle seem capable, so we’ll have to see who emerges with the spot when the season starts and whether the battle continues into the season.

Will Those Who Stayed Be Champions?

Saint Croix (Wisconsin) Central product Carson Hinzman started at center in 2025 and returns for his redshirt senior season. He could have tested the NFL waters after 2025, but he’s back and will be one of the leaders up front.

Like Montgomery, he gets a final opportunity to elevate his game even higher and give scouts something to think about for the 2026 NFL Draft. Hinzman at center is fine, but he can also play elsewhere, so there are some scenarios in which he starts but not at center (and that’s only if things go in the neighborhood of what’s expected).

An underclassman emerging out of nowhere or a dominant arrival by incoming transfer Vasean Washington from Dartmouth — the school’s only offensive line portal addition — could produce an unexpected starting five. Hinzman is a reliable center and should be even better in 2026.

Siereveld, meanwhile, returns after starting at left tackle in 2025. His end of the season was rough, but he wasn’t alone in that among Ohio State’s linemen. Most of Siereveld’s 2025 campaign was anywhere from good to great.

He finished as a second-team All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and a third-team pick by the media a year ago, and his versatility and mobility give him the ability to play both tackle and both guard positions. He’s likely to stay at left tackle, but we’ll see how things shake out when the season arrives.

Offensive line coaches Tyler Bowen and Mateo Kambui have an important job ahead of them. They must find five big dudes who can play consistently together, keep Julian Sayin upright in the backfield, and open holes for Bo Jackson and his fellow running backs in what is expected to be an improved OSU rushing game.

The three things above will bear scrutiny not only before the 2026 season, but through the non-conference schedule as well.

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