CJ Hicks and Sonny Styles Ohio State Buckeyes Linebackers
Football

CJ Hicks And Sonny Styles Preparing For Playmaking Platoon

There are only a few starting jobs up for grabs on this year’s Ohio State football team, which is usually a pretty good indication of the kind of season to come. One of those open jobs resides at the Will linebacker position where juniors Sonny Styles and CJ Hicks have been sharing reps since spring practice.

Both are former five-star recruits in the 2022 recruiting class. Hicks was ranked the No. 1 linebacker in the class, while Styles was ranked the No. 1 safety. After starting games last season for the Buckeyes at nickel and strong safety, Styles moved to linebacker in the offseason. Hicks was the primary backup to starter Steele Chambers last year.

Now both are competing to replace Chambers. On Wednesday, Ohio State linebackers coach James Laurinaitis met with reporters and discussed how things were going with the two talented juniors and what they each bring to the defense.

“Well, they’re both, I mean, obviously you look at their physical traits, extremely impressive with their size and how they move,” he said. “Obviously Sonny has a perspective coverage wise, coming from safety down to the box. The thing you had to work on with Sonny was just his footwork, getting him to slow down a little bit. He wanted to be so fast to go so often, you’ve got to get him to really understand that you can’t cross over in the box. You’ve got to be able to shuffle and be slow until it’s time to be fast.

“CJ has this natural ability that when he blitzes, he can reduce the surface and he makes stuff happen, you know? So they both have unique traits, both very talented, and they both want to be great. When you talk to them, they both want to learn, and so that’s all you can appreciate as a coach is they just want to get better.”

Both players have been getting opportunities with the first-team defense and they know that for the most part, only one of them will be on the field at a time.

“Sonny and I both talk about it a lot,” Hicks said. “We don’t really care who starts as long as both of us are eating. He can start, I go in. I start, he goes in. As long as we’re both making plays, that’s all that matters to us.”

Both players are still working on being ready for the season. They are trying to secure a very big piece of this Ohio State defense. With reps being split as camp goes on, Styles is taking every opportunity he can to get better, even if it’s watching other people going through a rep.

“I think I’m getting better,” Styles said. “Obviously, camp, you put a lot of stuff in, but it’s been great. I think our entire room has been doing really well. I’m excited for the season, but I just keep getting better every day. I think the biggest thing in camp, you’ve got to take the practice home and learn from it. You can’t keep making the same mistakes, whether that’s someone else or yourself, so you learn from everyone.”

Linebacker is a new position for Styles, but he presents some unique features, standing 6-foot-4 and pushing 240 pounds while getting stronger and faster than he was last year playing in the secondary. Hicks, meanwhile, has always been an athletic phenom who can run, bend, and hit at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds.

Both players have a high school background in coverage and both players have gotten a crash course in crashing courses.

“I feel like you’re getting the same guy,” Hicks said. “Both of us can get to the quarterback, both of us can cover, both of us are fast. You can’t really beat us in a lot of things. And when one of us is tired, you sub the other guy in. You’re getting the same exact thing.”

There are many reasons for optimism for James Laurinaitis. Both players are very unique athletes, but they’re also responding exactly how a coach would want. The players are pushing each other, supporting each other, and helping each other get the job done.

“I just think those guys are competing,” Laurinaitis said. “You want to put them in situations where they’re getting similar calls and they’re working with all the groups. So I’ve told the guys over and over, I think as we go through this season, since it’ll be a long one, if you earn the right to play, you’ll play, you’ll rotate. And that’s just going to be how your performance is going to go through the whole season. So I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Hey, this guy’s here or there.’ I think it’s constantly fluid and I like that. It keeps a little edge to it.”

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