Three years ago, Austin Siereveld never would have guessed he’d be Ohio State’s starting left tackle.
While he played left tackle at Lakota East High School, Siereveld was recruited by the Buckeyes as a guard. He was a guard for his first two years at Ohio State, starting six games at left guard last season amid lineup shifts before ending the year rotating at right guard with Tegra Tshabola in the final two games of Ohio State’s national championship run.
With Luke Montgomery and Tshabola returning as the starting guards from the end of last year’s CFP run, however, Ohio State decided to move Siereveld to tackle this offseason after he spent some time cross-training there in 2024. Initially, Siereveld emerged as the frontrunner to start at right tackle this spring, performing so well that Ryan Day definitively declared that Siereveld would be a starter at the end of spring. Less than a week into preseason camp, the Buckeyes moved Siereveld to left tackle, entrusting him with the responsibility of protecting new starting quarterback Julian Sayin’s blind side.
Now, Siereveld is set to play his first collegiate snaps at tackle against Texas and Colin Simmons, a first-team AP preseason All-American at defensive end. Despite his inexperience at his new position, Siereveld’s coaches and teammates have expressed nothing but confidence that he’s ready for the challenge.
“When you look at his size compared to the guys we've had in the past, he has plenty of size. When you look at his athleticism, he's athletic enough and his strength is that way. So I've gone through it with (director of sports performance Mickey Marotti) and with (offensive line coach Tyler Bowen) to see, does he have enough length, does he have enough size to play the position? The answer is yes,” Ryan Day said earlier this month. “He was very comfortable there in the spring. We're seeing some things out of him this offseason in terms of leadership, just taking on a great voice in that room. He was an Iron Buckeye. All these things are leading us to believe that he can be our left tackle moving forward.”
Siereveld is confident in his own ability, too, because of the hard work he’s put in to prepare for his new role.
“All the hard work and effort I've put into this, it's putting out now, and I've just got to go out there and work,” Siereveld said Wednesday.
Siereveld was recognized multiple times this offseason as one of Ohio State’s hardest workers, earning Iron Buckeye honors for both winter workouts and summer workouts – one of three Buckeyes to accomplish that along with two of the team’s top stars, Jeremiah Smith and Sonny Styles. He was then recognized as one of Ohio State’s top leaders when he was named one of four captains for the 2025 season alongside Styles, Caleb Downs and Brandon Inniss.
Siereveld’s emergence as a captain was as unforeseen as his move to left tackle, as he wasn’t known for being talkative in his first two years at Ohio State. He’s still not a player who says a lot during media interviews. But much like former linebackers Tommy Eichenberg and Tuf Borland, the publicly quiet Siereveld has established himself as an excellent leader behind the scenes.
“My freshman year being with Austin, I feel like Austin was just like a quiet dude, like a guy who like stayed in his own lane, did his things, did everything right. Till now, Austin's a great leader. He's making sure everything's right, putting guys in check and going out there balling, playing every single position on the O-line that our coach asked for,” said fellow third-year offensive lineman Joshua Padilla.
Siereveld understands the responsibility that comes with being the captain of a team trying to defend its national championship, and it’s a responsibility he isn’t taking lightly.
“It was an honor that all the players voted me to be captain. It was a dream of mine to be a captain, a goal of mine when I was a little kid to play here and be a captain,” Siereveld said. “I've really had to step up my leadership role even more now. I'm one of the leaders of the team now. I've got to make sure everyone's on the standard set here at Ohio State.”
Work Week Done pic.twitter.com/Eer9RxJCS2
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 29, 2025
On the field, Siereveld will have one of the most important roles of any Buckeye in the season opener – along with whoever plays at right tackle between Phillip Daniels and/or Ethan Onianwa – as he’ll be responsible for keeping Simmons, Ethan Burke and the rest of Texas’ edge rushers out of the backfield to give Sayin time to throw in his first start. He knows that will be a big test, with Day describing Simmons as a “game-wrecker,” but Siereveld believes he and his teammates will be prepared for the challenge.
“He's really good … he's going to be a challenge for us. But we're all ready,” Siereveld said. “From all the film and meetings and walkthroughs and all the reps we get in practice, we'll be ready. It’ll be a good matchup.”
Siereveld doesn’t have to look back far for an example of an Ohio State offensive lineman successfully making the transition from guard to left tackle and holding his own against some of the best pass-rushers in college football. Donovan Jackson faced a similar challenge in his first game at left tackle last season and did give up two sacks to Penn State star Abdul Carter, but he still played well enough for Ohio State to win in Happy Valley. From there, Jackson became one of college football’s best left tackles for the rest of the season, allowing zero sacks in the Buckeyes’ final eight games of the year.
Jackson gave Siereveld lots of pointers about making the shift from guard to tackle when he attended practices this spring, which Siereveld said “really helped” him in his own move outside. But Siereveld also says his transition isn’t nearly as hard as Jackson’s was, since Jackson changed positions midseason, whereas Siereveld spent the whole offseason honing his craft at tackle. Siereveld will also benefit from having a home crowd behind him for his first start rather than having to play in a loud road environment.
“For him it was different because it was at Penn State and he was on a silent … being home against Texas, I got a little advantage over what he got, but it'll be fun,” Siereveld said. “Definitely, his situation was a lot harder; I had a whole offseason to train, and he only had like pretty much a week to get ready, so shout out to him. But we both have the same mindset on Saturday.”
After recruiting him out of a run-heavy offense to play guard three years ago, Ohio State is now counting on Siereveld’s three years of development and outstanding offseason to translate to playing the premier position on the offensive line. Saturday will be the first true test of his ability to pass block on the edge in game action, but there seems to be plenty of reason for optimism that he’ll be up to the task based on everything his peers have said about him this preseason.
“He's just one of those guys where he's just a dog,” Padilla said of Siereveld. “Like, the definition of a dog is that right there.”
