It didn’t take long for Victor Cutler Jr. to realize how much bigger the spotlight would be at Ohio State than at Louisiana-Monroe.
Upon announcing his commitment to Ohio State on Jan.18, Cutler received interview requests from several media members who cover the Buckeyes (including me). As a two-star recruit who received just one FBS offer out of high school, the transfer offensive lineman had never experienced that kind of media attention before.
“I called my best friend from back home, I was like, ‘Bro, you don't understand how many interviews I done did in like an hour, bro,’” Cutler recalled. “It's crazy. It's cool. I like it.”
Seven months later, Cutler is still enjoying all of the extra attention that comes with being a Buckeye. While Cutler’s family moved to Monroe, Louisiana when he was 11, he previously lived in Detroit, so Cutler is excited to be back in a big city again, too.
“In Monroe, I mean it's just a small town. It's just slower. So it was something I wasn't used to. But being there for almost a decade and now moving back to a city now that I'm older, I really enjoy it,” Cutler said Tuesday. “There's more stuff to do. I love my teammates around here. I love who I'm living with (Ohio State running back Evan Pryor) in my apartment. I just love everything I have at my disposal.”
Most of all, Cutler is excited to now be playing for one of the elite programs in college football. After four straight losing seasons in his four years at ULM, it’s still hitting him that he’s now playing for one of the best teams in the country, a new reality that was confirmed when Ohio State was ranked third in the preseason AP poll on Monday.
“I literally said to myself, I was like, ‘Wow, I'm on the No. 3 team in the country now,’” Cutler said. “A year ago today if you, if someone would have told me I would be playing for Ohio State in a year's time, I wouldn't believe them. And now that I'm here, it's just like ‘Wow.’”
There’s a big difference between playing for a team that struggles to compete in the Sun Belt and a team with national championship aspirations, and Cutler has learned that in his first seven months as a Buckeye. Despite having four years of collegiate experience, including 21 starts at ULM, Cutler quickly realized this spring that practices at Ohio State would be much tougher than they were at his previous school.
He didn’t perform as well as he expected to this spring, which allowed redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman to emerge as the frontrunner in the starting center competition. But that motivated Cutler to get more focused this summer so he could put his best foot forward this preseason.
“When I came here I had a lot of external distractions messing with me. Some personal stuff that was going on. But I removed all that, and when I was just like focused truly on football and everything, it just became so much better,” Cutler said. “I'm in a better headspace. Everything's going good now.
“I didn't show my best in spring. So it was just, I wanted another opportunity because I knew that wasn't me out there. I know the type of person I was and I know I didn't play like that, so I just knew I had to step up.”
“A year ago today if you, if someone would have told me I would be playing for Ohio State in a year's time, I wouldn't believe them.”– Victor Cutler Jr.
Two weeks into preseason camp, it sounds like Cutler has done exactly that. Ryan Day said last week that the competition between Hinzman and Cutler had “heated up,” and Day – who said multiple times this spring that Cutler was still “learning how to practice at Ohio State” – praised Cutler for his growth since the spring.
“He's changed his body. I think he understands what we're trying to do now and the resources that we have here, so he's a different-looking body than was in the spring,” Day said.
Hinzman still seems like the frontrunner to start at center, considering he took the first-team reps at center at both practices that have been open to the media this preseason. But Cutler says he’s embracing the competition and just trying to improve every day.
“I like the competition. It makes me better. I feel like it makes everybody better because it's healthy competition,” Cutler said. “With me, Carson and Jakob (James), it’s great. Like we're great friends off the field. And then when we put them pads on, I mean, we're still cool, but we just know we're competing against each other. But it's healthy, it’s nothing toxic. We're just trying to make each other better.”
Although he has performed better in camp than he did in spring practices, Cutler knows he’s not fully where he needs to be yet. He’s still getting used to blocking defensive tackles instead of defensive ends, and he’s also still getting reacclimated to snapping the ball – an area where he noticeably struggled during practices that were open to the media this spring – after playing offensive tackle for most of his ULM career (though he started four games at center for the Warhawks in 2021).
“I'm still trying to get used to it, really honestly,” Cutler said. “I'm just getting better every day. Just something I have to work on, but it's feeling more natural where I don't have to think about it all the time. It's just like, ‘Okay, I know I just gotta snap the ball, then I gotta block somebody.’”
Cutler would have transferred somewhere other than Ohio State, though, if he wanted the transition to be easy. Cutler chose to become a Buckeye because he felt Ohio State would give him the best chance of developing into an NFL player, and he believes the self-described “growing pains” he’s endured this offseason will pay off in the long run.
“I feel like I've gotten bigger, faster and stronger, like to a level I didn't even know I could reach,” said Cutler, who has two remaining years of NCAA eligibility.
