How Ohio State Will Replace Linebacker Sonny Styles in 2026

Ohio State will undergo major changes for this season, but they are well prepared.

Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker Sonny Styles (6) and linebacker Payton Pierce (26) line up during the first football practice of the season at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on July 31, 2025. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ohio State’s rebuild hits many positions given that the seniors have moved on to the NFL.

One of those is at linebacker, with Sonny Styles departing the Buckeyes after being drafted by the Washington Commanders with the seventh pick of this year’s draft.

After starting his career at Ohio State as a safety, Styles found comfort in becoming a linebacker in 2024 and, in his senior year, recorded 82 tackles along with an interception. He earned First-Team All-American and First-Team All-Big Ten honors, making him the cornerstone of the Buckeyes ' defense.

Now that he is gone, who do the Buckeyes go with moving forward?

OSU bringing in reinforcements

Ohio State will look to Wisconsin transfer Christian Alliegro to bring some much-needed experience and production to solidify the linebacker position.

Alliegro brings an aggressive, intimidating presence to the position and is a solid playmaker capable of impacting the runner and the quarterback's pass, making life easier for the receivers.

What makes Alliegro a wanted entity is his resilience and mental toughness. He has played through injuries, with his most infamous being a broken arm he sustained against the Buckeyes in the first quarter of a game last October.

Despite the obvious pain, he logged 62 snaps and played the entire second half before undergoing surgery.

Pierce to step in as a potential starter

Buckeyes junior Payton Pierce looks nailed on to take over from the departed Styles as the starting middle linebacker and gain as much experience in big game situations from Alliegro as he can.

What helps is that Pierce saw valuable time last season, recording 43 tackles and showing maturity in his role, occasionally stepping into a leadership role on the defense.

And with Styles handling player-to-coach communications last season, it looks like that responsibility will fall to Pierce for this season, which will only make him a better leader for the Buckeyes.

A player who can read plays effortlessly, he possesses tremendous aggressiveness and very heavy hitting on the tackles.

“You just feel him every single practice; he is downhill, you can sense that wrestling background,” Buckeyes linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said of Pierce last August.

“He’s physical, he has the tough guy leadership qualities that are similar to [Tommy Eichenberg], and you know when that ball is run between the tackles that he’s going to down there.

“You’d be surprised if he got through a practice without chips off of his face mask, and obviously that’s the way that I think the linebacker position should be played.”