{"id":88777,"date":"2026-07-13T17:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88777"},"modified":"2026-07-13T14:51:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:51:02","slug":"ohio-state-fall-camp-linebackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/13\/ohio-state-fall-camp-linebackers\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Ohio State Fall Camp Primer: The Linebackers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A short few seasons ago, the Ohio State linebacker group was a weakness. From attempting to cover the Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver to having to play a running back at the position, it was rough. Then, James Laurinaitis came back to Columbus and has seemingly revolutionized the room. Now, heading into the Ohio State fall camp, the Buckeyes must replace two top-seven picks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laurinaitis has recruited the position incredibly well in his short time coaching for his alma mater. As a result, while the Buckeye linebackers are inexperienced heading into the 2026 season, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Will we see another Arvell Reese<\/a>-like breakout? Time will tell.<\/p>\n

2026 Ohio State Fall Camp Primer: The Linebackers<\/h2>\n

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What Was Lost<\/h3>\n

Compared to the losses in the cornerback and safety rooms, the linebackers didn’t lose much…at least in terms of quantity. As for quality, it took the two biggest hits on the roster with Reese and Sonny Styles<\/a> heading to the NFL.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows these guys’ stories. Reese, a Glenville Pipeline<\/a> product, was taken fifth overall by the New York Giants after he went absolutely insane in his lone season as a starter. In his second season, Reese earned a role in the rotation, but he took over as the full-time linebacker last year. In 14 games, Reese amassed 69 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, six-and-a-half sacks, and two pass breakups. He was a consensus first-team All-American and was up for a host of national awards.<\/p>\n

Losing Styles could be akin to losing Caleb Downs in the secondary. Styles was a three-year starter and was one of the best linebackers in the country over the last two. In his two seasons at linebacker, Styles amassed 182 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, seven sacks, an interception, eight pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n

As for transfers<\/a>, only one guy entered the portal: Ty Howard. However, he never announced a destination, and he’s currently listed on the 2026 roster, so who knows. You can also throw CJ Hicks in there, though he transferred out after transitioning to EDGE.<\/p>\n

The New Guys<\/h3>\n

Gearing up for Ohio State fall camp for the first time will be a few new faces. Probably at the head of the table is Wisconsin transfer, Christian Alliegro<\/a>. In two seasons as an 11-game starter with the Badgers, Alliegro was an underappreciated star. In total, he brings 124 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, eight sacks, and three pass breakups.<\/p>\n

Last year, he jumped off the film against the Buckeyes. Despite playing with a broken arm, Alliegro amassed six tackles and two tackles for loss in the Ohio State 34-0 win.<\/p>\n

Moving on to the incoming first-year players, Cincere Johnson leads the way. Another Glenville Pipeline product, Johnson is a six-foot-three, 222-pound athletic freak. According to the 247Sports<\/em> composite, Johnson was a five-star recruit and was the best linebacker in the class and the 16th-best player overall. With the abolition of redshirts, Johnson may be too good to keep off the field in some way. It would not be surprising if he earns time in the rotation, or at the very least, is a special teams star.<\/p>\n

The other linebacker coming in is a four-star, CJ Sanna. Also from Ohio, Sanna is considered the 16th-best player from Ohio and 27th-best linebacker overall. He’s raw, but if there is a linebackers coach who could mold him into a real threat, it’s Laurinaitis. In his three years as a varsity player, just a few minutes away from Ohio State, Sanna totaled 196 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, nine sacks, one interception, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery.<\/p>\n

P & P Associates<\/h3>\n

Alliegro is expected to be one of the top three linebackers in the rotation and is already getting NFL Draft hype<\/a>. Alongside him, battling for playing time are Riley Pettijohn and Peyton Pierce. Pettijohn & Pierce sounds like a fun partnership, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

Last year, Pettijohn only played 50 defensive snaps. In those 50 snaps, he amassed nine tackles, one tackle for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a touchdown. Granted, most of that was in the second half of the win over Grambling, but he looked great.<\/p>\n

Pettijohn has the athleticism to be a sideline-to-sideline defender with the instincts to recognize offensive concepts already. If he’s not ready as a second-year player, it’s not the end of the world, but all signs are pointing to him being ready.<\/p>\n

Alonside him, Pierce looks ready to take another step<\/a> as well. In his two seasons, Pierce has gradually earned more and more playing time. In 2024, he was on the field for 149 snaps over the course of 12 games, including 34 snaps in the College Football Playoff (1o in the National Championship!). Last year, he started three games and appeared in 11 others, totalling 475 snaps both on defense and special teams. He has 47 tackles, one-and-a-half tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n

This Year’s Breakout?<\/h3>\n

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The fun\/nerve-wracking thing about the Ohio State linebackers heading into 2026 is that none of them are established. Alliegro, Pierce, and Pettijohn are the favorites to lead the way, and it’s more than likely that they do. The question will be who will be the Styles-Reese-like duo, and who will be number three.<\/p>\n

Last year, Pierce was that number three…by a large margin. In terms of defensive snaps, he had 387 fewer snaps than Reese, but 186 more than Pettijohn. If playing time in the big-time games is any indication, Pierce is ready to take that next step. Against Texas, Michigan, Indiana, and Miami, Pierce totalled 43 snaps to Pettijohn’s zero. Add in his impact in the 2024 run, and it’s clear the coaching staff trusts him.<\/p>\n

Pettijohn may have the highest ceiling of the three, of course.<\/p>\n

As for the next wave, TJ Alford was also highly touted in the 2025 recruiting class, not to mention Garrett Stover and Eli Lee, who are promising depth pieces in their own right.<\/p>\n

With this year’s schedule, keeping guys fresh is going to be key. Of all of the position groups, the linebackers may have the highest floor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heading into 2026 Ohio State fall camp, the linebacker group has to replace two top talents, but overall, it looks as sure as any unit on the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":89135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,35609],"tags":[10495,35136,8433,35011,34339,34858],"class_list":["post-88777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-caleb-downs","tag-cincere-johnson","tag-cj-hicks","tag-cj-sanna","tag-james-laurinaitis","tag-ty-howard"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88777"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89136,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88777\/revisions\/89136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}