Pair of Buckeyes linebackers land on Butkus Award preseason watch list
COLUMBUS — Ohio State hasn’t even named Sonny Styles or C.J. Hicks as the starting linebacker beside Cody Simon yet.
But folks around the country know how talented both Styles and Hicks can be if they do get the nod. That’s why when the preseason watch list for the Butkus Award was released Tuesday, both players were listed on it.
Yes, Styles and Hicks are both on the preseason watch list for the Butkus Award, given annually to the country’s top linebacker. Ohio State is one of seven schools to land multiple linebackers on the watch list. Iowa is the only other program in the Big Ten to have multiple linebackers make the list.
Senior leader and starting middle linebacker Cody Simon was a notable snub from the list, but he is expected to have a good season and be in contention to win the Butkus Award.
For Styles, he’s still in the midst of a transition to the linebacker room after playing safety in his first two seasons. That transition is going smoothly, and Styles might be the leader to start beside Simon as a first-team linebacker.
“It’s been great. My learning curve has been doing pretty well,” Styles said last week. “I think I’m learning at a high rate. I think initially, switching from safety to linebacker, the biggest thing was footwork. You know, safety, you can take a lot of different false steps before you even go anywhere. Linebacker, if you take a false step, you might not make the play. So that was the biggest adjustment.
“I think I’m doing pretty well with it.”
As for Hicks, he’s finally turning a corner and showing he can make a big impact on the Buckeyes defense.
“I think C.J. is a guy that has the ability to play linebacker,” Buckeyes linebackers coach James Laurinaitis told Lettermen Row last week after he met with the media at his podium. “It’s just that he has to continue to just keep playing ball. C.J. is in a great position right now with us.”
“What we like to highlight with is our guys’ best traits. The best thing that C.J. Hicks does is blitz because he’s destructive. I think we’re going to be an attacking defense this year, so he’s going to be necessary for our squad.”
Both Hicks and Styles are expected to be stars for this Ohio State defense. And they’re officially on the watch list for the Butkus Award as the season nears.
