COLUMBUS, Ohio - Joshua Alabi is a lot of things. He’s a former defensive lineman, playing on defense for his first two seasons at Ohio State. He’s played most of his time on the offensive line at left tackle, but when he suited up Saturday against Nebraska he found himself at right tackle. Above all else, however, he’s thankful.
You might ask, who is it he’s thankful to? Kerry Coombs and Larry Johnson for recruiting him to Ohio State? Certainly. Ryan Day and Greg Studrawa for giving him a chance to start on the road, under the lights against Nebraska? Undoubtedly so. These aren’t any of the people he cited on Tuesday though when he spoke to the media, though.
The one person Alabi had to thank was God.
“I just thank God, give all the glory to him,” Alabi said Tuesday when asked what this recent start meant to him. “I wouldn't be in this position without Him...Just preparation. It feels good to have that opportunity to be out there. I'm thankful.”
Alabi cited his faith multiple times on Tuesday in his decision making, how he conducts himself on and off the field, and how his journey has turned out that resulted in him getting the second start of his career for Ohio State.
“Like I said, Jesus Christ, my faith. Really deep faith. I come from a Christian family,” Alabi said. “Mom, Dad, sisters, we already have faith. I'm just always telling myself stay the course and things are gonna work out.”
And work out they did. Branden Bowen was announced as a game-time decision before Ohio State’s game against Nebraska, and as kickoff approached and Alabi was taking reps with the first-team offensive line at right tackle, it became clear that Alabi was heading into his first start since last season’s Rose Bowl.
After the game, the raving reviews came in quickly, and everybody was impressed with how Alabi handled himself during Saturday’s matchup. The o-line only gave up a couple sacks, Justin Fields’ jersey was kept mostly clean, and the Buckeyes rushed for 368 yards. Among the flashy performances of Fields, J.K. Dobbins and K.J. Hill on Saturday night, it was Alabi that was named offensive player of the game, and Day said he earned that honor through the work he had put in to the program.
“...But Josh Alabi played well, and it was a tribute to his attitude and what he's done up to this point,” Day said. “In the world of people just wanting to go to another school or transfer and go into the portal and try to run to someplace else, this is a guy who stuck with it, kept a great attitude, and when the team called on him he stepped up and played really well. I thought we all felt he deserved to be player of the game.”
As Day alluded to, it’s somewhat of a surprise that Alabi is still at Ohio State. In today’s game, if a player as good as Alabi had gotten buried on the depth chart with only one start going into their final season, it’s likely they would have been in the transfer portal at this point and off to another school where they can guarantee they’d getting playing time in their final year.
Despite the opportunity to most likely get playing time somewhere else with the lax NCAA transfer rules, Alabi has stayed the course at Ohio State, and according to him, the decision to remain a Buckeye wasn’t even his to make.
“It was tough, but like I said, just keep my faith in the Lord,” Alabi said. “I know that He guides my footsteps so it really wasn't my decision, so I just kept pressing and just kept looking forward to the season and I knew that when my number was called that I just made sure I was ready.”
Saturday was not an easy plug and play for Alabi, either. On every depth chart this season he’s been listed as one of the backups to left tackle Thayer Munford, not right tackle Branden Bowen who he filled in for. While the coaching staff knew early in the week that Bowen most likely wouldn’t be able to go, it was still a short amount of time to get Alabi caught up to play on the opposite side of the line.
It may sound simple, but Alabi said that it felt like “everything is backwards” when switching from the left to right tackle. Your stance changes, the way you move your hands when pressure is coming on changes, and your footwork will need to adjust quickly, but Alabi felt comfortable at right tackle as he picked up more reps during the week.
“First practice in at right tackle I get in my stance was kind of awkward. But as I got to, as I got to get more reps at it in practice, I kind of tried to get comfortable just getting lower in my stance,” Alabi said. “It doesn't feel the same at all. It's football at the end of the day, so get down, get set, do your the job. That's basically my whole mindset. I didn't try to really focus on like, "Oh, how am I gonna look on film," it was really block for J.K., block Justin, and just do my job as best as I could.”
The shift looked seamless for Alabi, and it speaks to his versatility as a football player. Recruited as a defensive end out of high school, Alabi found himself as a defensive tackle at Ohio State before eventually shifting to the other side of the trench on the o-line. Day was impressed with how Alabi was able to make the transition in such a short time.
“The good news is Josh can play both positions. He can move back and forth from right to left, and that makes it -- he's much more versatile than maybe he was when he first came over from defense, and that's a tribute to him, being able to move from the right to the left,” Day said. “He had mostly been practicing at left, and then he goes over to right and can play like he did. Again, hats off to him.”
Alabi will certainly be a permanent part of Ohio State’s rotation on the offensive line for the rest of the season after his strong performance, though it will remain to be seen whether he’ll continue to get starts. Bowen’s status is currently unknown, and we’ll have to wait until Friday to see where he stands heading into the Buckeyes’ matchup with Michigan State.
Even if Alabi doesn’t start again for the rest of the season and graduates not seeing significant playing time, he knows there are greater plans in store for him.
“Like I said, it's God, it's his plan,” Alabi said. “Literally, it's his plan. By this I mean it's all his word so I just thank him for giving me this opportunity.”
