Carson Hinzman’s first three years at Ohio State have been full of ups and downs, but the fourth-year center believes that roller-coaster ride has prepared him well to step into a leadership role for the Buckeyes this season.
After redshirting without playing a single snap as a true freshman in 2022, Hinzman became Ohio State’s starting center sooner than anticipated after Luke Wypler entered the 2023 NFL draft. The redshirt freshman struggled in that role for most of his first year, so much so that he was benched and saw no action in Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri even though the Buckeyes’ offensive line was a sieve throughout the game.
That prompted Ohio State to bring in Seth McLaughlin as its starting center for last season, keeping Hinzman out of the first-team lineup for the Buckeyes’ first seven games of 2024. But Hinzman became Ohio State’s starting left guard after Donovan Jackson moved to left tackle following Josh Simmons’ season-ending knee injury, then became Ohio State’s starting center again for the final six games of the year after McLaughlin tore his Achilles.
Hinzman thrived in his initial role playing in between Jackson and McLaughlin, but struggled again in his first couple of games back at center, especially in his matchup with would-be first-round picks Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant in Ohio State’s loss to Michigan. But Hinzman stepped up along with the rest of the offensive line in the College Football Playoff, doing what he needed to do in the middle of the Buckeyes’ front five to help lead Ohio State to a national championship.
Now, Hinzman is expected to be Ohio State’s full-time starting center again in 2025. The Buckeyes are counting on Hinzman – their most experienced offensive lineman in terms of games started at Ohio State – to be one of their top leaders up front this season. And he’s drawing from all the experience he’s gained as a Buckeye so far, both good and bad, as he prepares for that role.
“At first I felt like it was a lot of adversity for me, but I think like that was the adversity I really needed,” Hinzman said. “I've been blessed with a lot of adversity, and I think that's definitely made me better on the back end. Coach Day always talks about it, and great leaders, they can show it. A lot of people can just talk about it, but to be about it is important. And I think to me, I've went through a lot of that adversity, I went through a lot of that stuff, and my testament has been written in an interesting way. But I think for me to take that next step is really important for not only for this team, but for myself personally.”
While Hinzman is proud of what he and his teammates accomplished in the CFP, he’s not resting on that success. He said this spring that he’s “definitely not the player I need to be right now,” so he’s working to keep getting better under the guidance of new offensive line coach Tyler Bowen.
“You can win a national championship and you can be full and everything like that, and all of a sudden you get your teeth knocked in first game and you can't have that happen because then, it really doesn't mean anything,” Hinzman said. “And so just a constant mindset to continually get better has been at the forefront of my mind.”
Becoming a team leader isn’t something that’s come naturally for Hinzman, he said this spring. But he wants to be a player his teammates know they can rely on day in and day out, and he’s worked hard this offseason to show that.
“I don't feel like it's natural to anyone to immediately step up and that's something I've been working on every day and talking to God about. But I obviously understand that, and that's something I want to continue to work on. I want to be able to be a guy that people can fall back on,” Hinzman said. “Coach was saying before, we're going to have highs and lows, but the great players are the ones we can set our clocks to. And that's my goal is to be one of those people that you can do that.
“And I think for especially a very new set of eyes in the Woody, not only coaches but players, I think it's very important to kind of keep that steady mindset. And I think for me, learning how to be a leader has been important just to not be too hard on myself, but also not let myself kind of slack off in some departments to try to keep steady.”
“The great players are the ones we can set our clocks to. And that's my goal is to be one of those people.”– Carson Hinzman on stepping up as a leader
Bowen feels confident in Hinzman’s ability to lead Ohio State’s offensive line based on what he saw from the redshirt junior center this spring.
“Carson's a guy that can run the show, gets us on the same page, communication,” Bowen said. “That's a fundamental for offensive line play, it’s maybe the most important thing we do is getting everybody on the same page. But I'd say him, along with some of the depth on the interior, you've seen that show up at practices this spring.”
