C.J. Hicks, Gabe Powers impress early, working toward Buckeyes impact
COLUMBUS — Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has a lot of talent to sift through with the Buckeyes.
Certainly more than he, personally, has had at his disposal before. Knowles has been tasked with revamping Ohio State’s defensive identity and that’s the biggest part of his job but not the entirety of it.
He’s also the Buckeyes linebackers coach and will be the guy working hand-in-hand with some of the highest-ranked players in the 2022 Ohio State recruiting class: CJ Hicks, Gabe Powers and maybe, one day, Sonny Styles. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Knowles gave his early impression of Hicks and Powers, each of whom enrolled early with the Buckeyes.
Hicks, the country’s No. 2-ranked linebacker prospect, has impressed with his athletic ability.
“C.J. shows a lot of short-space quickness,” Knowles said. “And his feet are excellent. [Hicks] has an outstanding ability to break on the ball. I’m seeing a lot of the quickness and speed I expected from C.J.”
Powers was the third-ranked defensive prospect in Ohio last cycle, behind Styles and Hicks. Early in his recruitment, some believed the Marysville (Ohio) standout would grow into a defensive lineman. That doesn’t appear to be the case now that he’s at Ohio State. Powers is focused on learning the linebacker spot and has improved day-over-day.
“Gabe … he’s quiet,” Knowles said. “But I think he’s one of those guys that gets better every day. I mean, he’s a serious student of the game. I see his trajectory, in just six practices, as completely upward. He’s just a guy that wants to learn, wants to grow and makes that transition from the classroom to the field.”
The transition from high school to college isn’t an easy one for high school football prospects, especially at the Ohio State level. Though Knowles says Styles will begin his career playing safety for the Buckeyes, there’s certainly a chance for him to line up with the linebackers as well. All three talented freshmen are coming into the Ohio State defense with an eye on early playing time. The best chance for that could be on special teams — at least for this fall. At the very least, special teams is a way to show they belong.
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“[Ohio State special teams coach] Parker [Fleming] does a great job on specials teams,” Knowles said. “Showing guys like of like Pete [Werner] when he played special teams. as a young guy. He shows them some of these first, second-round draft picks and how they started on special teams. So we put that message out there.”
The Buckeyes recruit the country’s best young athletes with an intention to play them, bright and early. Maybe that ends up being on special teams but that’s no one’s goal. While the message about being valuable on special teams is real, so too is the primary goal: go win a starting a job, freshman or not.
“We don’t pull off or really have a conversation [about roles] until it gets really close to the game,” Knowles said. “We want them to keep driving to be as good as they can be.”
Ohio State has, suddenly, a deep room at linebacker. Young guys like C.J. Hicks and Gabe Powers are making it better.
