COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thayer Munford got his tree in Buckeye Grove.

Coming into his fifth year, Munford had the expectation to be an All-American, earning first-team Walter Camp preseason honors after starting 33 games in his previous three seasons for Ohio State, coming in as the highest-rated returning tackle in the country by Pro Football Focus.

Munford achieved his goal moving to left guard in his final season with the Buckeyes, allowing one sack, 14 quarterback hurries and 15 total pressures in 11 games this season.

Munford wasn’t the highest-rated recruit out of high school, coming in as a three-star out of Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio: the No. 41 tackle in the 2017 class and the No. 16 player in the state.

Looking back at how far he’s come as he heads into his final game with the Buckeyes Jan. 1, Munford just stayed on schedule in offensive line coach Greg Studrawa's room, never getting too high or too low in his mental approach.

“Yes, you are going to be pushed mentally here with everybody, (assistant athletic director for football sport performance Mickey Marotti), your own position coach is going to push you as hard as they can,” Munford said. “But also at the same time, they are doing it for your well being as well.

“It may seem that they are not with you, but they are. They want to make you a first-team All American.”

As Munford exits the program, Ohio State inherits three linemen in the 2022 class to fill his spot:

Tegra Tshabola: a 6-foot-6, 356-pound four-star, who’s the No. 6 guard in the 2022 class and the No. 5 player in Ohio and earned eight offers including Florida, LSU, Michigan and USC.

George Fitzpatrick: a 6-foot-6, 265-pound four-star, who’s the No. 34 tackle in the class and the No. 2 prospect from Colorado and earned 29 offers including Florida, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and USC.

Finally, Avery Henry: a 6-foot-7, 325-pound three-star, who’s the No. 39 tackle in the country and the No. 16 prospect from Ohio, earning five total offers from the Buckeyes, Eastern Michigan, Iowa State — who he was previously committed to —Syracuse and West Virginia.

“Kind of a late bloomer lost a ton of weight heading into his senior year and really just did a great job,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said of Henry. “Our coaches went out and watched him. We certainly saw his film and was excited about that, and then went out and watched him play and came back with raving reviews.”

All three showed the potential to get noticed by Ohio State. Heading into 2022, all three now enter what redshirt sophomore Dawand Jones calls “The Process.”

“I just refer back to what Joel Embiid said: Trust the process,” Jones said.

“I feel like I’ve been doing it my whole life, whether it’s been high school or college. I think just people like me and Thayer and other folks along the line, it’s worked out for them as long as you just trust the process.”

“The Process” for the Ohio State offensive line is still a work in progress, something Day is still waiting to see results from.

In the past two recruiting classes, the Buckeyes have signed nine offensive linemen. Only two of which — 2020 five-star Paris Johnson Jr. and 2020 four-star Luke Wypler — have seen legitimate playing time while Trey Leroux, Jakob James, Donovan Jackson and Zen Michalski saw 123 total snaps — most of which came from Jackson, a 2021 five-star, who had 103 — and Grant Toutant, Josh Fryer and Ben Christman continue to wait on the sideline.

“We’ll see as we head into the next year or so,” Day said about the development of the linemen accumulated over the past two classes. “We’ll see how these guys have done. If they are able to get on the field here in the next year or so, then no, we have done a good job. If they haven’t, then we have swung and missed. I think the proof will be in the pudding here in the next calendar year.”

But to Johnson, it’s not about rating.

In the trenches, it’s about physicality, physicality that is completely different than what recruits saw at the high school level.

“Even when I came in, I had to get my mind right that, you know, college is not like high school,” Johnson, who was the third-best tackle in the 2020 class, said. “You could go against a guy who may have a whole family.”

To Jones, the difference is in the motive.

In high school, it’s about earning the attention of colleges around the country, working on what you need to work on to get their attention.

In college, it’s established, talented players that have something else entirely to prove.

“We’re all working for a paycheck, and I feel like that’s the total difference,” Jones said.

It takes adjusting to, something that was an incredibly arduous process for the redshirt sophomore tackle, coming in as an unestablished three-star tackle with everything to gain from development.

“It’s going to be long, it’s going to be tough. But you always have to stick to it and just grind it out,” Jones said. “It’s going to be tough winters, it’s going to be tough summers. You are going to be thinking about not even waking up and coming back some days. I feel like no matter what, you got God, you got yourself and your family. They will take care of the rest.”

As Munford completes his final workouts, preparing for his final game with the Buckeyes as an All-American, his encouragement for the guys joining his room is simple: ask questions and refrain from expectations.

“Things may not go the way they planned it. They might not go against people they can beat. They go against grown men now. It’s not just high school stuff no more,” Munford said.

“It’s college, grown man ball that’s working your way to the NFL and even more. Just don’t have that mindset going in of, ‘Oh, I’m just going to dominate.’ You have to work hard too. Don’t come in the mindset of ‘Oh, they are older than me. I don’t know what to do’ or ‘Oh, I’m the top recruit in my class.’ The stars and stuff really doesn’t matter at all.”