COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State’s former five-star recruit is on the move, opening up a chance for him to live out a guarantee he made last season.
C.J. Hicks wants to lead the Buckeyes in sacks. He thought he’d have the chance to do it in 2024, but a lack of opportunity made it impossible as a linebacker. He played just 151 snaps in 14 games, recording 22 tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks and 19 pressures.
There was always an argument that Hicks’ skillset didn’t fit the description of how OSU wanted to use its linebackers and maybe his best spot was coming off the edge getting after the quarterback. Now, he’s getting his chance to do just that, as a new defensive coordinator takes over.
“When we hired Matt Patricia the first person I thought of was C.J.,” linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said. “It’s a fresh start. A new set of eyes on him. It’s an opportunity to be multiple and use him at what he does best.”
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Hicks is moving into Larry Johnson’s defensive line room for his fourth season, giving him the chance to be more of a pass rusher than he has been in past seasons. It’s a win-win for both sides. Hicks gets a chance play closer to the line of scrimmage. Johnson gets some needed depth after losing all four of his starters to the NFL
Johnson gets a guy potentially capable of replacing the sack numbers he lost after 2024. But it comes with also making sure that Hicks isn’t just a one-trick pony.
I want him to learn how to play the position as a defensive end standup and not as a linebacker,” Johnson said. “That’s the transition he’s mentally got to go through. He’s done an outstanding job thus far. He’s bought into what we’re doing, and I think that’s the key when a guy buys in is like, ‘This is what I want to do.’
“And he has a really good skill set, so we can use him in a lot of ways, but we don’t want to use him just third down, right? We want to use him first and second down. So my job is to get him ready to play the run from on the line of scrimmage as opposed to being in space. That’s different, and once we accomplish that as we go, then I think he’ll have a chance to give us some great depth and really do some good things for us. I’m excited about him, because he’s really excited about the position change.”
What else did we learn about the Buckeyes?
• Brian Hartline made it abundantly clear that though he is taking over as the play-calling offensive coordinator, it will not change his involvement with the wide receivers. In fact, he said it with pretty strong conviction.
“Nothing is going to change in my involvement with the receiver room,” Hartline said with a harsh tone.
• Tight end coach Keenan Bailey had high remarks for new quarterback coach Billy Fessler. He revealed that the two were living together during COVID when Fessler was still a graduate assistant and he was a quality control coach. Said he and Fesslerr went to football school with each other that year.
“He’s one of the smartest football minds I’ve ever been around. You’ve got coach Day and a couple others. And then like Billy is right up there,” Bailey said. “Billy and I were roommates during COVID and when that season got taken from us, it was like a football clinic every single day, 24 hours a day. I was learning a lot more from him than he was from me. That was a home run hire and I’m excited to work with him.”
• Bailey also says he plans to put a lot of Purdue transfer Max Klare’s plate this offseason to quickly get him ready for the 2025 season.
“I want to see what he can handle,” Bailey said.
• New offensive line coach Tyler Bowen shared an idea of what his vision for the run game is.
“We want to have a physical downhill run game that does not generate TFLs and havoc,” Bowen said.
• Running back coach Carlos Locklyn spoke highly of freshman running back Bo Jackson.
“He got gifts only God can give him,” Locklyn said. “You see the potential for what he could be. He’s gonna have to work and complete, but I’m excited about him.”
