COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes have been looking for offensive line depth for several years and a big piece to that rests on the broad shoulders of JUCO transfer Malcolm Pridgeon. The Nassau C.C. transfer was lost early in his Ohio State career with a knee injury and is working hard on coming back.

The 6-foot-7, 315-pounder was supposed to be in the mix for a starting role in 2016 but that was not meant to be after the injury. 2016 became a learning year for the big lineman and 2017 is really a first opportunity for Pridgeon to get into the mix at the guard position.

But even with that, the learning curve has not been a quick one as the second-year lineman has had to learn an entirely new system and get on the same page with a veteran offensive line at multiple positions.

"He is still trying to learn the playbook and get used to the system because he got hurt really early in fall camp so he did not get reps all season," offensive tackle Jamarco Jones said of his fellow line mate. "This is really his first time getting reps here with us. He is still trying to learn the playbook and get used to going up against our defense and things like that."