A brief history of position switches at Ohio State

Not every Buckeye finishes their career at the position they started it at.

In fact, playing a certain position in high school can often have very little stock in determining what a player ends up being molded into by the Ohio State coaching staff once they’ve gotten their hands on them.

At Ohio State’s first spring practice in March, the roster revealed new positions for several Buckeyes both young and old in the program with the likes of Cade Stover, Cormontae Hamilton and Demario McCall, but it shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise when looking at the frequency of position switches in the program.

From offense to defense, defense to offense, offense to offense and more, we look back at notable switches in position that Buckeyes have undergone over the years.

Four-star tight end prospect Cormontae Hamilton lasted just one redshirt season on the Buckeye offense in 2019 before the coaching staff switched him to defensive line, but a precedent for offense to defense position switches had been set long before that.

Jack Tatum came to Ohio State as a running back in the late ‘60s, but finished his career as a two-time All-American at defensive back, winning the National Defensive Player of the Year in 1970 and finishing seventh in the Heisman Trophy race.

Both Brendon White and Cameron Brown had similar trajectories recently, entering the program as wide receivers but quickly being molded into members of the Buckeye secondary.

White, who has since transferred to Rutgers, switched from wideout to safety and won the Rose Bowl defensive MVP in 2018, but ultimately couldn’t find much time on the field after being teased as a leading candidate to occupy the scarcely used Bullet position in 2019.

Brown has ascended into leading candidate status in conversations to start at cornerback in 2020 despite beginning his Ohio State journey as a three-star receiver recruited by former position coach Zach Smith.

In the middle of the defense, Zach Boren was a welcome addition at linebacker in 2012 after playing three seasons at fullback on offense. Boren didn’t even begin his final year at linebacker, but managed to finish the year sixth on the team with 50 tackles in what proved to be a resounding success of a position switch for Ohio State.

One of the biggest surprises upon seeing Ohio State’s spring practice roster was the second position switch of Ohio’s No. 3 recruit in the 2019 recruiting class: Cade Stover.

The four-star prospect from Lexington, Ohio, entered the program as the No. 6 outside linebacker in the country, but before his first year was up, he had already been switched to defensive end, as coaches cited his expanding frame.

But Stover didn’t even make it to the spring of his second season before he was switched from defense to offense, this time moving to Kevin Wilson’s tight end unit, where he won’t likely contribute much in big spots for the Buckeyes in 2020 given the returning depth.

Still, there will be eyes on the 6-foot-4, 255-pound athlete no matter what position he plays due to his lofty potential out of high school.

In what will likely continue to be the position switch that sticks out most in the minds of Ohio State fans and college football documentarians for the foreseeable future, Braxton Miller returned from a shoulder surgery to go from award-winning dual-threat quarterback to wide receiver in 2015.

Miller was the primary starter under center for his first three seasons in the program, and won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2012 and ’13. However, a shoulder injury in the Orange Bowl against Clemson to end the latter season led to arthroscopic surgery before he later reaggravated it, leading to another surgery that cost him all of 2014.

The Buckeyes captured the national crown with second and third-string quarterbacks that rose to prominence that year though, and after Miller’s two-touchdown performance in a versatile WR/H-back role against Virginia Tech in 2015, the move seemed to be a hit.

However, Miller found the end zone only two more times the rest of the season, and ultimately wasn’t quite as effective in the role as many thought he might be after game one.

It appeared as though the final season of Demario McCall’s five-year stretch with the Buckeyes would be spent as a wide receiver, but that didn’t last very long.

The former No. 2 all-purpose back in the country hadn’t gained much traction out of the Ohio State backfield, having only tallied north of 200 yards on the ground in one season, and not since 2016.

Following the first spring practice in March though, Ryan Day announced that the North Ridgeville, Ohio, native would be used at a different position come fall, but an injury to then-projected starter Master Teague meant the RB room would suddenly be rail thin.

Hence, McCall is back at running back on the team’s official website, and injuries may necessitate he stay there for the duration of 2020, even if it isn’t his best fit.

It may not be as drastic a change as changing position rooms altogether or going from offense to defense, but Ohio State offensive linemen have been tasked with sliding back and forth quite frequently in recent years.

Ahead of the coming season, a starting vacancy at guard due to Jonah Jackson’s departure means that five-star 2019 recruit Harry Miller will slide from his spot as backup center to fill the void.

The player that Miller was backing up last season, redshirt junior Josh Myers, had to make a shift of his own, moving to center this past year after beginning his Buckeye tenure at guard.

It may have been new for Myers, but guards sliding to center has become something of a routine at Ohio State in the past several seasons.

Before Myers, Pat Elflein, Billy Price and Michael Jordan all did the same in 2016, ’17 and ’18, respectively.

It’s likely the same will happen in 2021, if Myers leaves for the NFL. Miller could slide back to center after a season at guard to continue the tradition, although with Miller being brought in to play center from jump, it could result in an even smoother transition.