Freshman Linebackers Being Molded Into Buckeye 'Backerhood'

Ohio State linebackers coach James Laurinaitis signed three linebackers in the 2025 recruiting class, and all three are in the middle of their first spring as Buckeyes.

Eli Lee, Riley Pettijohn, and TJ Alford have been learning on the job for three months now, whether it be winter workouts, traveling for the final two College Football Playoff games, or now nearly three weeks through spring ball.

Spring is an opportunity for everybody to make mistakes, and nowhere is that more accurate than with true freshmen, but that’s how the learning must happen.

“Any time you have the freshman on the field, you’re excited,” Laurinaitis said this spring. “You get these lumps of clay that you’re excited to try to form a little bit, you know?”

There is only so much forming that can take place over 15 spring practices, but it’s much better to have them than not. When fall camp and the season hit soon enough, it won’t be the first time Pettijohn, Alford, and Lee have been through practices or meetings or film study.

Everything that happens now will hopefully be applied soon enough.

“The most important thing with young players is that you’re learning a lot,” Laurinaitis explained. “You’re taking all these notes. When you’re on the field and you’re young, a lot of times what happens is you’re trying to remember, ‘Okay, what do I have in this defense? How am I supposed to do it? What’s Coach wanting me to do?’ And then suddenly, ‘Hut,’ and somebody moves, and then naturally when that happens, you kind of freeze. You know what I mean? Like, oh my god. They’ve gotten through some of that, which is good.”

The flashes are showing up, but the key to playing time will be consistency. That’s a lot to ask of a true freshman but the process is ongoing and the results are picking up steam.

“You can see when we had an inside drill the other day where Eli had a really natural feel, was physical at the point of attack,” Laurinaitis said. “TJ Alford dropped two picks today. I was giving him a hard time for that, you know? We don’t give them PBUs. We call them MOBPs. It’s a missed opportunity for a big play. It’s actually a minus. I don’t care if the stats give you a PBU or not, that’s a minus. We expect you to catch that ball. But they’re good players. And then Riley Pettijohn, he’s got a great feel. The burst is there.”

Whether it was back in the winter or now in the middle of spring, any time James Laurinaitis talks about his freshman linebackers, he does it with a smile in his voice. It also helps when more experienced linebackers like Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese, Payton Pierce, and Garrett Stover are helping them along as well.

“They’re all flashing,” Laurinaitis said of his freshmen. “I love their attitudes, their demeanors, and then when you have leaders like Sonny, and Arvell’s doing it in his own way, and Payton and Stove, those guys. The brotherhood in that room — we call it the ‘backerhood.’ The backerhood in that linebacker room is special. I mean, it’s been there forever.”

TJ Alford, Riley Pettijohn, and Eli Lee are the newest members of the Ohio State ‘backerhood,’ and they’re learning a lot right now — including the need to pass their knowledge forward when the next class comes along.