COLUMBUS, Ohio — Carson Hinzman still remembers the first time he ever played a snap at center during his first year at Ohio State, mainly because it wasn’t pretty.
Luke Wyple was the Buckeyes’ returning starting center, so there was no expectation that the borderline top-100 recruit would need to come in and compete for a job right away. Year 1 would be about adjusting to a position he had never played. But offensive line coach Justin Frye saw a learning opportunity.
“Coach Frye was like, ‘Well, we’re just gonna baptize you by fire. I’ll have you start today,’” Hinzman said. “I went win there, looked across the line and saw Mike Hall on my left and Ty Hamilton on my right and I was like, ‘Oh, this is a little bit different.’ I snapped the ball straight over Kyle’s head. I was like, ‘Dang.’”
Hinzman has come a long way since that first snap where he may have gotten caught up in the moment. He saw two elite defensive tackles and understandably got nervous. It was a necessary first step in his development that has now become much more important than maybe even he was expecting it to be and he’s about two weeks away from finding out why. All because Wypler unexpectedly decided he was ready to go pro.
“Luke leaving was a big kind of like, ‘Wow this is going to be real,’” Hinzman said. “This opportunity Is real now. A lot of late-night talks with God and my family. A lot of real hardships that we’ve gone through. A lot of hard work, the spring was really tough. This offseason’s been tough as well learning (and) battling with the D-line.”
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Hinzman has spent the last nine months developing into the next man up at center. He repped with the starters all spring and has continued to do so during the first two weeks of fall camp. He looks ready to take on the responsibilities of that spot and that’s because OSU brought in a former Super Bowl-winning coach that helped speed up his development.
“Coach (Joe) Philbin has helped me with that a lot learning different techniques to work,” Hinzman said. “It all comes down to you’re own technique and not to play off them. If you play off them you’re gonna be half a second late.
“As a center, you’re already half a second late because you don’t have your right hand. Learning to play within my own legs, within my own body, learning different techniques that I can stick to and develop within my playing and how to develop these guys because they’re extremely high-caliber has been exponential in my growth.”
Philbin is serving as a senior advisor and analyst this season after spending the past three years as the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line coach. He’s most known for his time as the Miami Dolphins head coach from 2012-15 where he went 24-28 and never managed to make the playoffs finishing no better than third in the AFC East. He also won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 2010 as part of a nine-year stint with the team starting as an assistant offensive line coach in 2003 and finishing as the offensive coordinator in 2011.
He’s been a valuable resource for Hinzman to lean on during this process while also finding creative ways to help develop him on the field. Sometimes it is challenging him to be more vocal on the field or giving him a toolbox of things to use to help him against the likes of Hall and Hamilton.
Other times it is using arguably the greatest boxer of all time as a way to teach.
“A few days ago he goes, ‘Hey go home and watch Muhammad Ali videos,’ because he wanted me to learn how to punch and keep guys off of me,” Hinzman said. “That’s one of the things I’ve been working on. He’s super wise in his teachings. I’d love to have him around. I hope he doesn’t leave too quick. I really hope he’s around here for a while. He’s a great addition.”
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