Quick Hits: Jim Knowles Calls Sonny Styles’s Move to LB “Permanent,” Denzel Burke Says 2024 is “Natty or Bust” for OSU and JT Tuimoloau Says the Buckeyes Have “Athletes Everywhere”

Nine Buckeyes answered questions from reporters on Thursday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, including defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, cornerbacks Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock, defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau, defensive tackles Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton, linebacker Cody Simon and safety Lathan Ransom.

Among the many topics discussed, Burke said Ohio State's season is “natty or bust” and Hancock, Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Williams also shared their aspirations for the Buckeyes to win the CFP in 2024.

Videos and bullet-point recaps of the media sessions can be found below.

DC Jim Knowles

• Knowles said Sonny Styles’ move to linebacker is “permanent,” but there could still be packages where he plays as a safety. He said Styles “had to fight to stay lean as a DB, now he gets to eat.”
• Styles and C.J. Hicks are competing with each other at Will linebacker, but there are packages that could put both Hicks and Styles on the field together, Knowles said.
• Gabe Powers was “one of the most improved guys” during the second half of last season in practice, Knowles said. “He made a huge jump … I feel like he is a guy that is going to compete. He’s a guy that’s going to be ready.”
• Knowles said he thinks Arvell Reese “can be a great linebacker, he just needs growth and learning.” He says he doesn’t know if Reese will have a role this year, but “that’s a guy you can always create something for that doesn’t involve as much thinking” because of how athletic he is. “His time will come.”
• Knowles said he is “really confident” about what Ohio State has at linebacker.
• On newly promoted linebackers coach James Laurinaitis: “He’s a lot nicer to them than I am. So last year, it was good cop/bad cop. Now the bad cop’s left the room. So I’m sure the players love it.”
• Knowles said he is looking at implementing a “Double Eagle” package that would deploy Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau as outside linebackers with Hero Kanu joining Ty Hamilton and Tyleik Williams on a three-defensive tackle line. He says the Buckeyes haven’t installed that yet, though.
• Knowles felt that Jordan Hancock got to where he is now as a result of being able to play nickel full-time last season following Lathan Ransom’s season-ending injury that forced Ohio State to move Styles to the strong safety position.

CB Denzel Burke

• Burke said it’s “great to have everyone back” and now the season will come down to “putting everything together and continuing to chase that one percent.”
• On returning to Ohio State: “I had a first or second round grade, but I had no gold pants, no Big Ten title, no natty. So just being able to come back with my brothers and doing it for the state of Ohio. I’m trying to finish the job this year, that’s the plan.”
• Burke said Caleb Downs’ film speaks for itself and that he already knows the whole defense. “He’s that guy, and he’s going to do a lot of big things for us.”
• Burke said the decision on whether to come back or go to the NFL was a difficult one but he decided to come back to try and develop into an “elite cornerback.”
• Burke said there’s no rush to turn pro because college athletes have NIL now, which puts less urgency into the decision. He said NIL was part of his decision to stay, along with making another run at a conference and national title.
• On his individual goals: “I want to be recognized as the No. 1 corner in the country. The No. 1 corner taken in the 2025 draft. And (to win) the Jim Thorpe. I have a lot of big personal goals this year that I’m striving daily to reach and get one percent better every day. Team goals, I want to continue to bring leadership skills to the team, especially to the young guys. Because young guys, they’re always one injury away. And continuing to work hard and try to win it all.”
• On where he thinks he can improve: “Being a consistent tackler, better in run support, upping my press game, there’s always areas you can get better at and I’m trying to do that.”
• Burke said OSU will show a lot of new looks defensively this year with different players at different positions. “We’re going to dictate what the offense can do this year. That’s our goal.”
• Burke said Sonny Styles moving to linebacker will be “scary for offenses” considering his size and ability to run sideline-to-sideline in the box.
• On his expectations for Ohio State in 2024: “It's natty or bust. That's our mentality.”
• On Jeremiah Smith: “This may be a big statement, but just the way he handles himself and the way he moves and the potential he has, I feel like he might be the next best receiver to come through here. I’m really excited to see what he can do and the sky’s the limit for him.”
• On being in the upcoming college football video game: “I was quick to do it. It’s crazy to have an opportunity to be in the game since the last one was in (2014). I feel like my rating should be like a 95.”
• On Will Howard: “I guess we’ve only had two days of practice so we’ve got a lot more days to go. But you know me, I’ll keep it real. I want to see more. I know he has a lot of potential and I’m excited for him. We have 13 more practices so we’ll see.”

DE Jack Sawyer

• On returning for his senior season: “If you talk to all of us that decided to come back, I think there’s the personal chance to come back too, improve your draft stock. But really, I think a lot of us, it was definitely a team thing. All coming back, unfinished business, wouldn’t feel right leaving here like that without giving it one more shot that we had.”
• Sawyer and his senior teammates aren’t taking their final go-round for granted. “We know we’ve got one more year, there’s no going back. There’s not one more year we can come back, so we’re just really blessed. We’re taking every day and not letting one day go by where we don’t give all we’ve got.”
• There was no specific moment where Sawyer decided to return, he said, but he was leaning that way for a long time. “I think I knew all along in my heart that I wanted to come back. I think I wouldn’t have felt right leaving, losing to them three times. With the team that we’ve got coming back, with the guys that decided to come back, I wanted to take charge and say, ‘Look, if we all come back, look at what we could do.’ Once I thought about that and I got some other guys on board, it was kind of a no-brainer.”
• On what facilitated his three-sack Cotton Bowl performance: “I just think that I was put in good positions, just let loose, went out there and played ball like I know how to. My teammates played a great game too, my coaches called a great game defensively. ... Fourteen (points) against a good offense like that, great team, that’s a great day.”
• On his surge to become one of Ohio State’s best defensive players the back half of last season: “I felt like I was in a groove the whole second half of the season. I felt like myself again and I was just out there playing and having fun with my teammates. I think that when you come here and expect to hit the field and it to be a certain way, it’s hard to get over that for a little bit. I think you can look at all of us on the D-line, as a front we’ve all had our own journey to where we’re playing right now.”
• Sawyer feels that Ohio State has one of the most talented rosters in the country and it will be up to the players as individuals to maximize it. “There’s no talent issues on this team. ... That’s God-given though. What we can work on is our discipline, our skill, our technique. I think if we become the most disciplined and sound team technique-wise, there’s not gonna be a team in the country that can stop us. But it’s gonna be a long process to get to that point.”
• On JT Tuimoloau’s return: “He’s a hell of a player and a really good friend of mine, so just having another year of him, we’re gonna enjoy it and hopefully have some fun wreaking havoc on some quarterbacks next fall.”
• On being in a spot to help recruit everyone back to the team for another year as a leader of his class: “It’s unique. It’s a really unique position. We’ve got a great group of guys coming back, man. It’s just so exciting for me, and the same thing for those guys, how much they care about this program and care about the team and Coach Day and guys you want to do it for and the city. We all knew that we had great opportunities to go to the NFL, but we also have a great opportunity to put another one of those (national championship) banners up here and get some revenge on the guys up north.”

DE JT Tuimoloau

• On his decision to return for another season at Ohio State: “There’s a lot that went into it. First, I had to take a step back mentally and really look at (the situation). I spent a lot of time with my family and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, allowing him to lead me. When you’re young, and your dream is right there, you’re so tempted to go and get it. But for me, it was ‘The Brotherhood’ here, and there was a lot more I can improve on skill-wise and where my body wanted to be at. I feel like there was a lot more I could do.”
• Tuimoloau said the wave of Ohio State players that returned from another year inspired him to return: “The guys we had coming back played a huge role. I’m sure you guys have seen and heard about how many of us came back. I think that speaks volumes of who we are as men and what this culture means to us.” 
• Tuimoloau said he wants to get “leaner” and “twitchier” this season. He also wants to react quicker and “have a motor,” which he said starts in the weight room over the next four to five months and will continue into preseason camp and the regular season.
• On the Ohio State defense adding pieces like Caleb Downs, and moving around Sonny Styles: “Having Caleb (Downs) and Sonny (Styles) in those positions, we have athletes everywhere. For us being three years in this system now, we should know it, and we know it on the back of our hands. Now we can make a lot of adjustments. … Dudes are gonna be dudes. … They are gonna count on you to make the play. They’ll have your back as well.”
• On Jack Sawyer’s impact on his decision to return to Ohio State: “Me and Jack talked a lot. A lot is probably an understatement. We’ve had so many goals coming in since our freshman year. When me and him both decided to come back… it allowed us to understand the goals we had set for ourselves and the defense. … Our goals are right there. They are all reachable. Once we thought about that, we became more motivated to come back and get straight to work.”
• Tuimoloau joked that Ohio State’s returning players almost didn’t announce that they were coming back. He said the players would have just shown up for spring football and that’s how the media and fans would have learned. “We were close to not announcing and y’all could find out during spring ball.”
• On his expectations for the 2024 season: All the pieces that needed to come back – we came back. All we’re doing is trying to gel, get closer, have our bond be stronger than ever. A lot of people are looking at it as, ‘Natty or bust,’ but I think for us, we are just keeping it in between these walls and learning more about who we are as players and what makes us us.”
• Tuimoloau called Caleb Downs a “workhorse” who keeps his head down and works at all times. He added that Downs “always keeps growing.”
• Tuimoloau called Eddrick Houston his “little brother.” He said Houston is a player he can “bond with” that makes workouts and practices fun.

CB Jordan Hancock

• Thanks to his experience as Ohio State’s nickel safety last season, Hancock said he’s felt comfortable at the start of spring practices. “I’m just out there playing fast and trying to make other people better.”
• On how Ohio State's defense can improve in 2024: “We just gotta make more plays in the back end. I feel like I could get more interceptions and more forced fumbles – just ball disruptions and creating more turnovers. That’s our main goal.” Hancock said he wants to have five or more interceptions this fall.
• Hancock said BIA has been reestablished at Ohio State under Tim Walton. “We came a long way to change the narrative about the school.”
• Hancock said he was “really close” with Caleb Downs growing up. Hancock said he’s known Downs “since he was 6 years old” and that they grew up “playing football in the same park.” When asked about the impact the Alabama transfer can make at Ohio State, Hancock said Downs will be a “huge difference-maker” for the Buckeyes’ defense because of his mental and physical abilities.
• On his expectations for Ohio State in 2024: “I want to leave outta here with a national championship.” He added: “Our class here (the 2021 class), it came in as one of the best classes to ever come through Ohio State, and we need to leave outta here with something.”
• Hancock said his best performance last season came in Ohio State’s win over Wisconsin. Hancock said from that week forward he saw consistent improvement in his game. “I got a lot more comfortable in the slot, and my game elevated from there. … I’m just excited for this season.”
• On Sonny Styles moving from safety to linebacker: “He’s a dog out there. You can see there’s a huge transformation with him. We can go out there and play dime. He just gives us such versatility. I’m just happy he made the change.”
• On Lorenzo Styles Jr.: “He’s grown a lot. He’s always in the film room. He’s always gonna go hard. He’s gonna be a great ballplayer down the road.”
• Hancock said he likes to play the nickel safety position because he can play close to the line of scrimmage. “I like hitting. There’s just something about it.”
• Hancock said he has a great relationship with Tim Walton. He said Walton gets to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center around 5 a.m. even though players don’t get to the facility until 6:30 a.m. or later. “I roll in here at 6:30 and watch film with him. … After practice, we’ll meet and watch film and do walkthroughs. That wasn’t easy at first, but he got on me a lot and held me accountable. I am thankful for that.”
• On Lathan Ransom: “He’s a real good football player. He can hit. He can cover. It’s gonna be good having him back.”
• On Aaron Scott Jr.: “He’s competing real hard. He’s running to the ball. He’s learning. He’s getting better every single snap.”

DT Tyleik Williams

• Williams said he was on a beach with his friends and family when he made his decision to return to Ohio State. “I called a bunch of the older guys to see where there head was at. They basically told me ‘Why not come back? We have a good squad come back and we can do good things.’ So basically I decided why not? NFL isn’t going anywhere. I can get another year of development and learn more things before next year.”
• Williams said the veterans of the team were very open with each other about their desires to come back to the Buckeyes while in their decision process.
• Williams said the last three years have been disappointing ends to the season, which is motivating he and his teammates to work harder in spring practice to help reach their goals this season.
• Williams says the 2024 OSU team has the look of a “legendary defense” with playmakers everywhere that will be bolstered by Sonny Styles’ transition to linebacker and the addition of Caleb Williams as safety. “As a collective unit, I feel like we’re going to be unstoppable.”
• Williams says OSU veterans have a responsibility to set a great example for young players and show them how to watch film and how to practice and take care of their body. He said he knows with the expanded playoffs coming, the season will get longer if they want to win a national title so the Buckeyes will need younger players to step up.
• Williams was asked about his expected rating for the upcoming college football video game this summer in a video made by the official OSU team account. He said his overall rating belongs over a 90 overall but his stamina is around 60. Thursday, he said the stamina comment was more of a joke, but that he plans on keep working to stay on the field more.
• Williams said a successful season means OSU has won a national championship and that the Buckeyes win all of their games. “We’ve got a mindset that we can’t be beat. We have to go big or go home and we’re not trying to go home.”
• Williams said he believes he can last for a full 16 or 17-game season and knows that he has to help the younger guys to get reps with them to come out of the grind healthy.
• On Kayden McDonald: “Kayden is an animal. You haven’t really seen it yet but he shows it all the time in practice. He has the work ethic, he just needs to get in the playbook and stuff like that.” 

S Lathan Ransom

• Ransom said he suffered a lisfranc injury in his left foot during the Wisconsin game. He credited Ohio State trainer Adam Stewart for his recovery, which is supposed to take eight or seven months, but he returned from the injury within six and a half months. He believes he’s a lot faster than at the speed they estimated he’d be able to return to after the injury.
• Ransom says he’s almost full-go for this spring, but undertstands his injury takes a little time to recover from so he’s not pushing his limits too fast. But he’s participating in most of OSU’s drills.
• On how hard it was to deal with the injury: “It’s hard. Especially when you have goals at playing at the next level, aspirations of playing against the team up north and playing for a national championship, and you have those taken away from you, it’s definitely hard. But what makes it easier is coming here and being around my brothers, my teammates, my family, my mom, my dad, my sister, having them in my corner it helps me a lot.”
• Ransom said he started to feel pain free during winter workouts.
• Ransom said not playing against Michigan was “ridiculously hard. That was the only game I wanted to play all year, like that’s all I thought about, especially with how the last game ended and me not playing the way I wanted to. I guess I have to wait two years, God has a plan for me, two years to be able to play in this game.”
• Ransom said this year’s defense should be just as good as last year’s if not better. “We all came back for a goal. And that’s to be one of the best defenses to ever play at Ohio State and the best defense in the country.”
• On Caleb Downs: “Super excited to have him here. To have someone like that come here makes me compete every day. I love Caleb being here, we’re watching film together, competing on the field, having someone to push you like that will make you better every day. He’s someone that lives in the film room and loves to be a student of the game. And that’s something I like to gravitate to. He’s come and really gelled right in.”
• Ransom said Sonny Styles has the ability to play every position on the field. “I think having him close to the line and having the ability to make plays gives us the opportunity to change things in the defense that we weren’t able to last year. Wherever he plays he’s going to be successful.”
• On Matt Guerrieri: “He was here during my junior year and we gelled together a lot. He’s a great coach, ridiculously smart and brings a lot of energy every day. I loved being coached by him before and I can’t wait to have another year with him.”
• Ransom says he loves how Ryan Day is getting more involved with different aspects of the team and calls him the best head coach in the country. “For him to be in there in our special teams room, pushing everyone to be better, holding the older guys accountable, making the older guys hold the younger guys accountable, it’ll make us a better team.”

LB Cody Simon

• On James Laurinatis being named full-time linebackers coach: “He’s the best. I really can’t say enough good things about him. Having him been in our shoes before and then coaching us now, you just can’t say enough good things about him.”
• On how Sonny Styles is acclimating to being a linebacker full-time: “He’s doing well. It’s not easy. Even Steele (Chambers) can tell you, changing positions in college, it’s not an easy thing. He’s come into the position really well, and it’s only day two so so much more to go, but he’s doing really well.”
• Simon is excited to see different wrinkles used in the defense this year and trusts Knowles to implement those twists with care. “I think Coach Knowles does a really good job of keeping things simple when they need to be simple and then molding it into more complex things. So we’re trying to show different things, and we’ll get more into that as the spring and the season goes on.”
• On where C.J. Hicks has grown: “I would say the biggest thing is the mental side. He doesn’t lack anything physically, so I think him getting better in the film room and studying and doing all that little stuff, the stuff that no one really sees, I think that’s where he’s gotten a lot better.”
• Simon said that he’s grateful to his teammates who returned to the team despite having high NFL draft stocks, decisions that were made after the Cotton Bowl whereas he was the only one to announce he’d return before. “We had some unfinished business. I know that’s a term people use, but I think everybody realized that there’s more to give here, and I commend all the players who did come back because I know it was a tough decision. You could be a first-round pick and you decided to come back for your brothers. I think it spoke to the brotherhood that we have here, guys are being selfless.”
• A leadership role as the team’s middle linebacker is something Simon welcomes. “I love having that on my shoulders. I love being the guy that people look to for help. And I want to be able to lead these guys, and I’ve been preparing for it my whole life. Like even since I was young, my brother, we always tried to be that first guy in the room, the loudest.”
• On Jim Knowles and his relationship to the coach: “As I’ve grown and been here longer with him, you understand his mindset and how he doesn’t want us to stress when we’re on the field. So he puts that stress on us in practice and he wants us to get it right.”
• On the defensive line: “They’re all just dominant. Physical, hand violence, speed, they’re probably faster than most of the linebackers and they’re just super physical. They’ve got through so much here too and I think they’re really good players.”

DT Ty Hamilton

• Hamilton believes he and Tyleik Williams can be the best defensive tackle duo in the country.
• Hamilton said his pass rush is one of the biggest things he’s working to improve on this season.
• On the defense’s drive to be elite in 2024: “It’s unimaginable how good we want to be. We want this bad.”
• Hamilton says the defense wants to carry the team to victories in big games. “It has to be the defense that really runs the show.”
• On Hero Kanu: “He’s just a worker. He’s been working as long as he’s been here, and he’s just gonna keep trying to find ways to get better every single day, and that’s one of the things I applaud him for.” Hamilton said Kanu, Kayden McDonald and Will Smith Jr. are among the backup defensive tackles who are pushing for playing time.
• On playing for Ohio State as a Pickerington, Ohio product: “It’s a special feeling. It feels like I have like the whole city on my back. Just being able to be out here, it’s a blessing to be playing for the Ohio State University.”
• As a fifth-year senior, Hamilton says he feels like he needs to step into a leadership role this season. “I really have to push the younger guys … If they can play just as good as I can play, then we’re gonna be unstoppable.”
• On staying at Ohio State for a fifth year rather than entering the 2024 NFL draft: “I definitely had to think about it a little bit, but I think all of us coming back, we all had an understanding that we still have something here that we need to finish. It’s unfinished business that we need to take care of.”