Ohio State shored up their pass protection for the next few years after securing the commitment of offensive tackle Thayer Munford on Wednesday.Tim Bielik of Cleveland.com provided a photo of the 4-star prospect's commitment:Munford is the No. 22 offensive tackle and the No. 207 overall recruit, according toScout.com. He's also the top offensive tackle in Ohio.For his senior year, Munford transferred to Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, which created problems with the Ohio High School Athletic Association. In August, the OHSAA ruled Munford was ineligible to play in his final season.The organization then amended the decision in September, ruling Munford could join his team starting in the eighth week of the regular season.While Munford still missed a sizable chunk of his senior campaign, he was at least able to get on the field for a few games. Going an entire year without game action wouldn't have made him a worse player, but it wouldn't have helped his overall development.Munford competed in The Opening's Columbus regional, where he ran a 5.54-second 40-yard dash and a 5.15-second 20-yard shuttle. He also participated at The Opening's Chicago regional, where he caught the eye of Bleacher Report's Michael Felder:247Sports' Steve Wiltfong praised Munford's work at the Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy in Detroit in June: "No offensive lineman made a bigger impression than [Munford] from Cincinnati who is down 40 pounds and looked good moving around at around 320 pounds."There's little doubt Munford has the size to excel at the next level; Scout.com lists him at 6'6" and 325 pounds. From a physical perspective, he has the strength and agility to handle explosive pass-rushers coming off the edge. He can get to the second level and open up holes for the running game as well.The biggest question around Munford is how quickly he'll adapt to the college game.Because of his eligibility problems, he missed important games where he could have honed his technique. Through reps on the practice field, Munford can obviously improve, but there's no substitute for game action.Ohio State had a relatively young offensive line in 2016, boasting one senior, two juniors, one freshman and one sophomore. Since center Pat Elflein was the one senior, Munford is unlikely to play a significant role on the Buckeyes line in 2017.A redshirt season may not even be out of the question for Munford, considering Ohio State goes two deep in terms of returning tackles.A slower introduction into the first string wouldn't be a bad thing for Munford's development, since he would get more time to adjust to what will be expected of him in theFBS.
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