Tag: C.J. Hicks

Two Ohio State players appear on Butkus Award watch list

Another day, another couple of Buckeyes on a preseason watch list. #GoBucks

We continue to scan the college football universe for the plethora of preseason watch lists and the latest comes in the form of the Butkus Award.

Named after the late, great, NFL and College Football Hall-of-Famer, Dick Butkus, the award goes out to college football’s best linebacker annually. On Tuesday, the award released its preseason watch list and two Ohio State linebackers landed among the fray.

C.J. Hicks and Sonny Styles were two of the 51 names appearing in the announcement. Both appear to be in a close competition for the starting Will Linebacker spot with the Buckeyes, but there’s no doubt you’ll see both on the field a lot because of their playmaking ability.

USA TODAY SMG

Both players were five-star prospects in the 2022 recruiting class, and both are expected to bust out potentially in 2024. Styles appears to have a slight lead on the position because he took most of the first-team reps so far in preseason camp, but the coaches insist things are near kneck-and kneck.

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Ohio State ranks third in CBS Sports defensive front seven rankings

Ohio State ranks third in CBS Sports defensive front seven rankings #GoBucks

The good people over at CBS Sports are continuing to release their positional group rankings and one of the recent posts come from David Cobb in regard to defensive front sevens. It should come as no surprise that Ohio State was not No. 1 on this list, but landing at third is an honor in its own right. It needs to be noted that the defensive front seven includes both the defensive line and linebackers. The Buckeyes will be breaking in new starters on the second level of the defense and that likely held them back on this list.

Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Tyleik Williams are All-American candidates on the defensive line, but it is understandable to deduct points due to the inexperience at linebacker. Most expect C.J. Hicks to immediately become a star, but the wait and see attitude is fair.

The Georgia Bulldogs were the top selection on the list, which makes sense considering their plethora of future NFL talent on their defense. The Michigan Wolverines landed second on the list. Michigan has a few studs that Ohio State fabs are extremely familiar with like Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.

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The five top-rated Ohio State outside linebacker recruits since 2000

The five top-rated Ohio State outside linebacker recruits since 2000 #GoBucks

We have been diving into some of the more highly touted recruits in Ohio State history. We recently discussed the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive tackles, guards, center, defensive ends, defensive tackles, and inside linebackers. We wanted to look into the history of recruiting outside linebackers.

Some exciting names are on this list. Even though 247Sports‘ recruiting rankings only go back to 2000, there are some memorable names. It is always fun to reflect on how some of these guys performed and whether they lived up to expectations.

This list only confirms the insane wealth of talent Ohio State has had at the outside linebacker position. Some of the guys that just missed the cut are Justin Hilliard — whose career was riddled with injuries — Reggie Arden, who played multiple positions including tight end, and Mike Mitchell, who ended up transferring to Texas Tech.

Two Ohio State players injured and out for rest of spring practice

Out for spring, but should be back for preseason camp. #GoBucks

We hate to see it, but injuries are part of the game. With only a week until the annual spring game, Ohio State will be without starting linebacker Steele Chambers and jack-of-all-trades, Xavier Johnson, the rest of the way.

Chambers was seen using crutches and Johnson was in a walking boot toward the end of the week. Ryan Day confirmed the news but with a silver lining. Day believes both players will be ready to go heading into the season.

Speaking on the injury to Chambers, Day had this to say.

“He’ll be back. He’ll have a procedure done and should have a pretty good summer.” – Ryan Day on Steele Chambers injury

With both starting linebackers out for the spring now, several backups will get a chance to shine and show their worth. … Most notably five-star recruit C.J. Hicks. However, it also opens the door for guys such as Gabe Powers and Reid Carrico.

As for Johnson, it sounds like his injury is a little more severe, but nothing to worry about.

“Xavier is probably a little bit longer, but still, we’ll have him for the summer. It’s not going to be something that’s going to affect him in the preseason.” – Ryan Day speaking on Xavier Johnson’s injury

It’s good to hear that neither injury looks to be long term. Both Chambers and Johnson played pivotal roles in the Buckeye’s run to the College Football Playoff last season. Chambers had the second most tackles on the team with 77 and Johnson had explosive plays in key moments while contributing three touchdowns.

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Current Ohio State outside linebackers and their 247Sports rankings

Current Ohio State Outside Linebackers and their 247Sports rankings #GoBucks

The Ohio State football team has eight linebackers on scholarship, but six of these prospects arrived on campus with bonafide outside linebacker designated rankings on 247Sports. Now the Ohio State scheme only has two linebackers and the rotation for both is likely going to be fluid, but to keep things simple I just wanted to recap the six that were rated as outside backers.

The star of the outside group is Steele Chambers who was debating whether or not to declare for the NFL, but has elected to return in an attempt to raise his draft stock. The funny part is that Chambers was actually recruited as a running back before making the positional switch two seasons ago, but it’s time to dive into what this unit was ranked.

C.J. Hicks loses his black stripe

We’ve got another black stripe removal. This time it’s a linebacker everyone is excited for. #GoBucks

It’s fall camp at Ohio State, and that means we’re on black-stripe alert watch over at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, especially for those who were not early enrollees.

We’ve already seen a couple of Buckeye newcomers lose their black stripe early in the fall, and we witnessed another on Sunday thanks to an announcement on the Ohio State Football Twitter account.

And it’s a big one.

Five-star linebacker C.J. Hicks was the latest to shed his black stripe and “officially” become a Buckeye. The honor happened in a short ceremony with Hicks saying a few words in front of his OSU teammates.

“First off, I want to thank God for helping me out with everything,” Hicks said. “I want to thank coach Coy for helping me every day, I want to thank every single one of y’all for helping every day as well. Go Bucks!”

We’ll continue to keep an eye on any further black stripes that come off in the near future. You can bet we’ll see more as we get closer to the start of the season.

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Top ten Ohio State football recruits in the 2022 class

Top ten recruits in the 2022 class that could make an impact this season, and their scouting reports. #GoBucks

The 2022 college football season is coming up and even though most of the focus is on the returning studs like C.J. Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Paris Johnson Jr. — and rightfully so — it is still always fun diving into the possible future of the program.

Ohio State snagged a consensus top-five recruiting class and added a number of studs, and despite the defense playing less than ideal ball last season, they still snagged a number of playmakers on that side of the ball too. We here at Buckeyes Wire have been working all summer on some of the top recruits in this class and the following are the top five and a link to their scouting report.

Enjoy looking through what is widely considered the top ten commits that are incoming freshmen and the skinny on each for the 2022 season.

Ohio State football class of 2022 scouting report: C.J. Hicks

We’re diving into the members of the highly-rated 2022 Ohio State football recruiting class. First up — linebacker C.J. Hicks.

The recruiting cycle for 2022 is in the books and the Ohio State Buckeyes are a consensus top-five class in the country and are seen as the number one class in the Big Ten by a wide margin. It is no secret that Ohio State was less than stellar on defense last season and this class should go a long way in fixing that issue.

It should be noted for those that are not familiar, recruiting classes are not like NFL draft classes and many of these players will not see time as freshmen and will likely be redshirted. It should also be noted that in the age of the transfer portal it is likely several players from this class will not be here at the end.

I wanted to at least take a dive into some of the top studs and we’ll start at the top of the recruiting class with linebacker, C.J. Hicks.

USA TODAY High School Sports recruiting rankings Power 5 spotlight: Big Ten

See the top 10 high school football recruits committed to Big Ten schools.

As recruiting for the high school football class of 2022 picks up, more and more schools are seeing who may be its superstars of the future.

Only two five-star players are committed to Big Ten schools as of Nov. 3, but there are 52 four-star recruits, the second-most of any conference.

Here’s a dive into the top-10 ranked players, according to the USA TODAY High School Sports Composite Player Rankings, The list averages the grades from the three biggest recruiting services: 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals. 

For conferences that do not have 10 players in the top-100, the remainder of the list came from the 247Sports Composite Ranking. That does not apply to the Big Ten, which has 13 top-100 players.

(Note: The recruit’s measurements and position are courtesy of 247Sports.)

Highlighting top Ohio State high school targets

How did some of the higher rated #Buckeyes targets play?

We are still eagerly awaiting the start of the Ohio State football season. In the meantime, we have high school football, and as we know no one lights up the recruiting trail like the Ohio State Buckeyes.

With the first week of high school football in the books in many parts of the country, we thought it would be an interesting exercise to look into how some of the top Ohio State prospects did. The following five prospects are either committed to Ohio State or seriously considering committing and how they performed.