How addition of safety Caleb Downs changed, helped Buckeyes linebacker room
COLUMBUS — Ohio State knew it needed Caleb Downs to complete its 2024 defense. But maybe the Buckeyes didn’t even realize the extent to which Downs would change the entire outlook of its defense for the upcoming fall.
The former Alabama star and 2023 Freshman All-American safety did, though, come to Columbus and help with the tweaking of the defense. Because without Downs coming in to solidify the starting safety pairing alongside Lathan Ransom, Sonny Styles likely would have had to stay at safety himself. And without Styles moving into the linebacker room, C.J. Hicks wouldn’t have been freed up to become a true playmaker; he would have to play in much more of a structure at linebacker beside Cody Simon.
The Buckeyes noticed it pretty quickly, even remarking about how good Downs was for the defense before spring even began.
“He already speaks for himself,” Buckeyes senior cornerback Denzel Burke said of Downs. “His film speaks for itself. He already knows the whole defense. And now he’s already out there with the ones with us. He’s that guy, and he’s going to do a lot of big things for us.”
Downs’ addition has helped the linebacker room a lot — maybe more than any other position on the field.
It’s a theory — and an observation — Lettermen Row made this spring when watching the Buckeyes in practice. And it’s one I have talked about quite a bit, including with On3’s Andy Staples in early April.
“It has a chain reaction, because Sonny Styles being a linebacker now helps C.J. Hicks be, as Jim Knowles said last offseason, ‘unleashed,’ is what they wanted to do with him. Well, they’re playing more traditional linebacker roles, and C.J. really couldn’t do that. (When Lettermen Row could watch in spring ball) Saturday, we go in there to watch the open practice that we had. And C.J. Hicks is blitzing pretty normally, and Sunny Styles was playing more of a linebacker. Cody Simon’s playing more of a linebacker. They throw a third linebacker out there, C.J. Hicks, and he’s more of a rush-end, or you know, a blitz specialist up the middle. That unlocks a different level for him. So Caleb Downs lets Sunny Styles come back to the linebacker room. Sunny Styles let’s see C.J. Hicks kind of hone his craft as a pass rusher, and what he does best, you know sideline to sideline. That allows J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer to kind of be freed up on the edges a little bit.
“The chain reaction of Caleb Downs is more than just, ‘Hey, you added an All-American who had 107 tackles in his first ever college football season for Alabama.’ You added him. That’s not where it stops, because it has that chain reaction all through the defense. And I think that like it’s the most important part, but it’s a part that sometimes we kind of overlook, just because of how important that Downs addition is. For the entire defense, it just unlocked a few different layers that you’re going to see late in the season. Were like, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot that guy now can play that role because of Downs.’”
Spencer Holbrook
Ohio State certainly knew what it was doing when it targeted Downs in the transfer portal. He’s possibly the best defensive player to ever enter the portal — and the Buckeyes landed his signature for his second stop in college football.
Well, nobody has reaped the rewards of that addition more than Sonny Styles, who now enters his second year as a starter in this defense and third overall as a Buckeyes player. Styles can move into his more fitting role.
He flashed at linebacker this spring.
“Because he’s playing in the box from a low position instead of dropping in,” Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “So things happen a lot faster. But he’s reacted superbly. I mean, he’s a guy who’s got football intelligence. He understands the scheme, he’s played a lot of positions. I think he’s gonna be great. … One of the biggest parts of being a linebacker is you have to know all the pieces around you so you can play fast. Sonny’s shown a lot of that in the first two days [of spring practice].”
Expect to see more of that from Sonny Styles. You can also expect to see a more free, attacking C.J. Hicks and a better defensive line with good linebackers behind them. Thank the addition of Caleb Downs for all of it.
He completely changed the equation for Ohio State on the defensive side of the football entering this season.
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