COLUMBUS, Ohio - When he stepped onto campus in 2018, Nicholas Petit-Frere weighed a measly 265 pounds. While this weight may be appropriate for a pass rusher, a 265 pound offensive lineman is going to get bullied in the trenches, so Petit-Frere and Mickey Marotti knew something had to change.
Following the 2018 season where Petit-Frere appeared in four games, the training staff developed a plan for him to get up to weight, and fast. He was placed on an 8,000 calorie diet over the winter, and while he was able to work his way up to 295 over that period, it’s still a struggle for him to keep the weight on.
“It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life...gaining weight, the way that we train here and everything like that, it’s tremendous, it’s crazy, but it’s so worth it,” Petit-Frere said. “It’s been a long process, but I’m grateful for the people that have been around me.”
For most, playing at 265 may not even cut it at some high schools, but Petit-Frere was able to get by with his footwork and football IQ to give him an edge over the competition that he didn’t have in mass. Coming to Ohio State, however, he realized that playing at 265 wouldn’t match up with the competition, let alone the guys he was going against in practice.
“We’ve got some big kids around here at Ohio State that we’ve got to move, so that’s something I learned pretty quickly’,” Petit-Frere said. “I can’t really be light and still play the way I did in high school, like I actually have to have size and a bigger body so I can understand how to move people in that way…”
Now that the redshirt freshman is making weight, it’s not a question of if, but when he will ascend to that starting role for Ohio State.
Crowned the consensus 2018 top offensive tackle in the country, Petit-Frere could walk into most schools in the country right now and step into a starting role, but at Ohio State, he’s looking at three offensive tackles projected to be ahead of him on the depth chart.
Iron sharpens iron, so while he hasn’t earned a starting position yet, he and his teammates are setting Petit-Frere up for success in the future.
“Every day is the greatest competition. [Branden] Bowen, Josh [Alabi] and Thayer [Munford], they’re some of the best tackles I’ve ever seen,” Petit-Frere said. “They have been amazing to play with and learn from and also compete with for those starting tackle spots. We’ve got a great group of guys that have been teaching me a lot and also competing against each other, so it’s a great competition.”
No official depth chart has been released yet, but the tackle positions seem firmly held by Munford and Bowen, so for Petit-Frere, this season will be about pushing the starters in front of him and showing Greg Studrawa and the coaching staff why he should be the next man up for Ohio State when they open their season against Florida Atlantic.
“Show them I can do it,” Petit-Frere said. “That’s the thing right now. I’ve been playing during the spring, I’ve shown that I can do stuff, but I want to be able to be consistent with it, and I want to show that I can handle it, and I want to show that I can be that guy.”
