On Tuesday night, the Ohio State Buckeyes got their best news to date of this first Transfer Portal Window
Nearly 90 percent of the way through the first transfer portal window, the Ohio State Buckeyes have added only key defensive players to their team and have not addressed their biggest issue: the offense.
Its been a mass exodus of players on the offensive side of the ball, mostly backups sure, but Ohio State was looking at a roster that features just three wide receivers who caught passes in College Football last year, two new tight ends, and an offensive line that wasn't good enough against the only real competition they played last year.
On Tuesday, the finally got good news on the offensive side of the ball.
Ohio State's best offensive lineman, Luke Montgomery, announced that he was returning for his fourth season in Columbus. Montgomery, a Northwest OH native, has been a key component of this offensive line since he took over the left guard position during the 2024 Championship run.
© Jerome Miron | 2025 Dec 31 2025 was his first year starting for the Buckeyes, and he put together a really solid year for Ohio State. He graded out as the 38th-best guard in America according to Pro Football Focus. PFF certainly isn't gospel, but it gives a fair evaluation tool across all players, especially linemen.
Montgomery posted a 73.6 grade, which is good enough for an "A" according to their scale. His 38th ranking was out of 680 eligible guards in America. He excels in the run game but has a lot of room to grow in his pass game.
This is a major development for Ohio State.
The new approach in college football is to spend your money on veteran players and ditch the development of expensive freshmen who have high potential. It is a very unfortunate reality of the state of college football, but it is what it is at this point, unfortunately.
The Buckeyes hadn't added any key pieces on the offensive side of the ball, but retaining Montgomery is the personification of the new approach in college football. To the naked eye, this resigning of a guard seems like a good move, but I view this as a critical move for the Buckeyes.
Now, the next step is for him to take that next major jump. He, along with the rest of the offensive line, was absolutely not good enough in their biggest games this year. They got bullied by both Indiana and Miami. They need to take that next step in their games to bridge that gap between them and that nexrt tier of college football.