Junior safety Sonny Styles (6) at Ohio State’s final spring practice session at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
“I’m back.”
This was the message received by college football fans when senior cornerback Denzel Burke, the last of the major players expected to enter the NFL draft following a dominant 2023 Ohio State defense, decided to return for a final year.
At Saturday’s annual Spring Game in the Ohio Stadium, fans will get a first look into Ohio State’s defense, which remains mostly the same, though a few key moves could shake things up for the Buckeyes, including the addition of Alabama transfer safety Caleb Downs.
Downs was the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year in his lone season as a true freshman with the Crimson Tide, leading the conference in solo tackles with 70.
“[Ohio State] played great defense last year,” Downs said. “Watching the film and seeing how they progressed definitely helped me make a more sound decision about what I’d be getting into here.”
Downs will move to the free safety position this year, while senior Lathan Ransom will retain his natural position at strong safety.
In a dual safety scheme, senior Ja’Had Carter and sophomore Malik Hartford will likely be slated to fill in the backup roles and behind the surefire starters, Downs and Ransom.
Another change to note is the switch of junior Sonny Styles from safety to linebacker.
Toward the end of last season, Styles said there had been talks about a switch to the linebacker position. This year, as one of the top pass rushers on the team, the change came to fruition.
“We’re trying to get our best 11 on the field,” Styles said. “So, where can I help the defense the most?”
Turns out, closer to the line of scrimmage.
Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said the switch to linebacker is going to be a change for Styles because he’ll be playing in the box from a low position where things happen much quicker, instead of dropping in from deep.
“He’s a guy who has football intelligence,” Knowles said. “I think he’s going to be great because one of the biggest parts is knowing all the pieces around you so you can play fast, and Sonny has shown a lot of that.”
Graduate linebacker Cody Simon will likely move into the role of the field-general inside linebacker after impressing in games at the position when NFL draft hopeful Tommy Eichenberg was out last year. Simon led the team in tackles in the Buckeyes’ Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri in Eichenberg’s absence.
Junior linebackers C.J. Hicks and Gabe Powers could also see increased time this year, as the loss of graduate and NFL prospect Steele Chambers creates a space to fill at outside linebacker.
Freshman linebacker Garrett Stover, brother of former Buckeye tight end Cade Stover, may see limited action this year but is another notable addition to the Ohio State linebacker core.
At cornerback, a trio of veterans — senior Denzel Burke, senior Jordan Hancock and junior Davison Igbinosun — should be set to return as starters in the secondary, with a group of young cornerbacks behind them, including sophomores Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Calvin Simpson-Hunt. The young duo will likely get strong reps Saturday.
Mathews stepped up multiple times last season with an injured Burke, one of which included starting in a defensive slugfest against Penn State where he recorded three tackles and a pass breakup.
“The more reps you get on the field, the more your confidence builds,“ Mathews said. “[I’m] a guy that can play anywhere on the back end, help in the special teams, wherever they need me this year I’ll go out there and give it my all.”
Freshman cornerbacks Aaron Scott Jr., Bryce West and Miles Lockhart will be in backup roles this year but could see some playing time late in games or down the stretch of the season.
The defensive line retains all but one of last year’s starters, with senior defensive ends J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer fortifying the edge for the Buckeyes once again.
Junior defensive ends Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Caden Curry, each of whom had 1.5 sacks for Ohio State last year, will back up the dominant duo of Sawyer and Tuimoloau on the outside. Meanwhile, freshman defensive end Eddrick Houston, a four-star recruit out of Buford, Georgia, will likely be a key piece up front for the Buckeyes down the road.
On the inside, senior defensive tackles Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton return for their final year after very productive junior seasons where they each played in all 13 games.
Williams was tied for the team lead in tackles-for-loss with 10, while Hamilton wasn’t quite as efficient statistically, but still finished with 4.5 tackles-for-loss, which was good enough for third on the team.
Williams said there was a common understanding among the upperclassmen defenders to return for another year with the Buckeyes and finish their careers on a high note.
“I called a bunch of the older guys to see where their heads were,” Williams said. “They told me, ‘Why not come back, we got a good squad coming back and you know we can do good things.’”
Junior Hero Kanu and sophomore Kayden McDonald also saw minutes at the inside tackle position last season, but will likely find themselves as backups with Williams and Hamilton taking the majority of snaps at inside linemen already this offseason.
For a first glance at these changes, the Buckeyes will officially return to action at noon Saturday. Fox will broadcast the event.
