He spent two years turning Josh Simmons into a first-round pick only for Simmons to suffer a season-ending injury just six games into the season. He turned Seth McLaughlin into the nation’s best center only to lose him two days before a win over Indiana. He was forced to move Donovan Jackson from left guard to left tackle, and the former five-star thrived. So did the rest of the unit on the way to a national title.

Carson Hinzman thrived in his second year at center. Luke Montgomery, Austin Siereveld and Tegra Tshabola thrived at guard in a three-man rotation.

Frye got the best out of a group that seemed doomed to fail. But he’d always done that. It was never his inability to avoid failure that was the issue. Where he struggled was in setting up the group in a way so that failure was never an option.

He was brought in after Day parted ways with Greg Strudrawa, and was expected to develop and recruit. The latter proved to be a tougher task, given the offensive lineman class often lacked depth and high-end talent unless that talent lived within a 2.5-hour radius of Ohio State.

Adding Simmons and McLaughlin were great transfer portal additions. But they were made out of a place of strength. Even then, Frye didn‘t bat a thousand in terms of successful transfers with Vic Cutler never playing a snap in Columbus.

Offensive lineman recruiting hasn’t been consistent at OSU in almost a decade regardless of who was running the room. But maybe there’s a middle ground that Frye was starting to find that makes it not a crutch. Clean up in your backyard, compete for the big guns and supplement in the transfer portal. That’s essentially what the 2024 offensive line was pre-injury, and what the 2025 offensive line will be, too. And that worked out pretty well.

Day will have unlimited options as to where he turns next. He could bring back former graduate assistant Mike Sollene, who was just hired at UNLV. He could promote analyst Tim Drevno who has had tenures at Michigan, UCLA and in the NFL.

Or maybe he goes with a former Buckeye in LeCharles Brantley, who has become a popular name on social media amongst the fanbase. Brantley was the first OSU player to ever win the Rimington Award in 2001 and has since become a well-known offensive line trainer.

Regardless of the route Day goes, a clear plan for filling the offensive line, then developing it, must be established then executed.