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Though Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is still being coy about some of the offensive line starters this season, there’s no doubt Phillip Daniels is here to shake things up.
The 6-foot-5, 315-pound offensive lineman joins the Buckeyes as a transfer after
two seasons at Minnesota with three years of eligibility remaining. As a Golden Gopher, Daniels redshirted in 2023 and played in all 12 games in 2024, earning starts in the final four games of the season, including their near-upset over then-No. 5 Penn State.
After playing 300 offensive snaps for Minnesota in 2024, Daniels earned a 62.5 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, entering the portal as the fourth-best tackle. He also boasted pass blocking and run blocking gradings of 65.4 and 66.7, respectively.
Since arriving in Columbus, Daniels has already begun to make his mark on the offensive line, serving as a welcome addition to a team that needed to replace left tackle Josh Simmons, center Seth McLaughlin, and right tackle Josh Fryar, who all went pro after the 2024 season. In fact, Daniels seems to have exceeded expectations, with coaches and teammates alike singing his praises in recent weeks.
Daniels’ progress could very well be responsible for some of the shakeup happening on the offensive line heading into next week’s season opener: Though Day named Austin Siereveld a starter back in April, he didn’t name where he would start. It was largely expected, though, that he would replace Fryar at right tackle.
Instead, Day named Siereveld the starting left tackle this past Monday, leaving Daniels, who lost his black stripe on August 13, as the presumed frontrunner to start on the right side.
The Buckeyes use—and need—depth at the line of scrimmage, and they need the ability to move guys around on the O-Line, whether to account for injury (like we saw last season) or strategy. Moving Siereveld to the left side with Daniels on the right gives them some of that versatility.
If fans were surprised by this turn of events, Daniels himself doesn’t seem to be. It was almost a foregone conclusion that Daniels would play a role for the team this season, if not that of a starter. He certainly had the talent to be an asset to the program. As it turns out, he also has the drive. Daniels, along with his coaches, has noted significant growth in his confidence on the field.
With that spike in confidence has come a mean streak that could make him a menace to opponents this fall. As he’s become more comfortable with Ohio State’s plays, Daniels says he now feels “like he can kill anybody.”
That’s good for the Buckeyes—he’s a team player eager to help the guys win games, and he’s willing to get in opponents’ heads to do it. That kind of nastiness should serve the Buckeyes well throughout the season, especially if he’s on the field in the season opener against No. 1 Texas.
Daniels came to Ohio State ready to prove to himself that he had what it takes, and if his preseason trajectory is any indication, look to him to exceed not only our expectations but perhaps even his own. He might have been overlooked as a three-star prospect out of high school, but he’s proven throughout the preseason that it’s time to pay attention.
