COLUMBUS — Whoever ultimately starts at Will linebacker this season for Ohio State, the position won’t be short on athleticism as juniors Sonny Styles and C.J. Hicks continue to make strong cases for featured roles during preseason camp.

Styles, who saw the field immediately as a freshman at safety but is now transitioning to linebacker, still finds himself learning the position but brings general starting experience to the table along with a deeper understanding of the overall defense given his time at safety.

Hicks, on the other hand, has always displayed tantalizing athleticism since arriving at Ohio State in 2022 but has struggled with consistency while waiting his turn in a veteran linebackers room.

Now, the two are pushing to play alongside Mike linebacker Cody Simon and give the Buckeyes one of the better linebacker units in the country. But while only one will be named the starter in Ohio State’s base 4-2-5 sets, first-year linebackers coach James Laurinaitis isn’t concerning himself with talk of a position battle as he expects both to play extensively this season as long as they continue to earn the opportunities.

“I just think those guys are competing,” Laurinaitis said on Aug. 7. “You want to put them in situations where they’re getting similar calls and working with all the groups. I’ve told the guys over and over, I think as we go through the season since it will be a long one, if you earn the right to play, you’ll play. You’ll rotate. And that’s just going to go on with your performance throughout the whole season. So I’m not going to sit here and say this guy is here or there; I think it’s fluid, and I like that. It keeps a little edge to it. You gotta make plays if you want to go out there with the first unit.”

Styles, who’s listed at 6-foot-4-inches and 235 pounds, and Hicks, listed at 6-foot-3-inches and 233 pounds, both look the part as big bodies who can hold up to the physicality of tight ends. However, both also possess the requisite athleticism to be able to run with running backs out of the backfield, creating the total package and giving defensive coordinator Jim Knowles two weapons to unleash this season.

“They’re both, when you look at their physical traits, extremely impressive with their size and how they move,” Laurinaitis said. “Obviously, Sonny has a perspective coverage-wise coming from playing safety to playing down in the box. The thing with Sonny was just his footwork and getting him to slow down a little bit. He wanted to be so fast to go, so often. You gotta get him to understand you can’t cross over (your feet) in the box. You have to be able to shuffle and be slow until it’s time to go fast.”

Styles said his time at safety has helped him to move better while also getting him comfortable with his zone drops, something he will still see plenty of at linebacker.

“I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the entire defense,” Styles said. “Obviously, I gotta keep learning. I still make mistakes.”

Styles also expressed excitement for the prospect of not having to match up with receivers and instead running with tight ends and running backs, which he said “fits me pretty well.”

“I didn’t really like guarding a bunch of guys running 4.3 (40-yard dashes),” he said with a smile. “No disrespect to tight ends because there are some good ones out there, but it fits my capabilities well.”

Laurinaitis said of Hicks, who he believes is the best blitzer of all the Buckeye linebackers, “C.J. has this natural ability where, when he blitzes, he reduces the surface and makes stuff happen.”

Hicks credits his strong push this offseason to thinking less and simply “pulling the trigger,” something he said Knowles continues to preach to the entire defense.

“It was more of just I’m trying to be perfect every step so I can get on the field,” Hicks said of what’s slowed his progress in years past. “That was my thing for the first two years. This year, I don’t care. I just go. If I mess up, I mess up. And then I talk to coach Knowles and get back on it … Pulling the trigger, that’s the main thing he talks about throughout the whole defense, to not hesitate. And that’s what my thing was because I was trying to be so perfect.”

Whether Hicks’ freed approach is enough to earn him a starting spot remains to be seen, but he said the only goal that matters to him is making an impact on the field.

“Sonny and I talk about it a lot. We don’t really care who starts as long as both of us are eating,” Hicks said. “He could start and I come in, or I could start and he comes in. As long as we’re both making plays, that’s all that matters.”

Perhaps equally as important as their physical abilities is their effort and buy-in to what Laurinaitis is teaching, an element he applauded on Aug. 7.

“They both have unique traits,” Laurinaitis said. “They’re both very talented, and they both want to be great. When you talk to them, they both want to learn. That’s all you can appreciate as a coach, that they just want to get better.”

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on X @DillonDavis56.