There are a lot of younger players to watch in the second wave of Ohio State’s upperclassman-laden defense.
Jermaine Mathews Jr. would start at corner for perhaps every college football team except the one he's on. Caden Curry, Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Hero Kanu, Kayden McDonald and even Tywone Malone are names to watch on the defensive line. Malik Hartford flashed as a freshman at safety and Calvin Simpson-Hunt is another cornerback who’s had a great fall camp.
But when asked about young players to watch by the Big Ten Network, none of those names were the first out of the mouth of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
“We got a young linebacker, Arvell Reese, who is really talented and he's just been picking up the defense,” Knowles told BTN during its season preview of the Buckeyes on Aug. 8. “I think he's a guy that's going to flash.”
A second year seemingly buried on the linebacker depth chart behind Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, C.J. Hicks and Gabe Powers, Reese is still positioning himself to make noise in his first full year playing the position after moving from defensive end. Ryan Day said Thursday that Reese earned defensive player of the game honors after Ohio State’s first scrimmage of preseason camp last Saturday.
“I feel like at Mike I'm more free, like sideline-to-sideline, and I think I like Mike a little bit more than edge, too,” Reese said last week.
Coming to Ohio State as a four-star linebacker prospect out of the famed Buckeye pipeline of Glenville High School in Cleveland, Reese was placed at defensive end during his first offseason in Columbus. The switch to linebacker didn’t come until the very end of last year’s fall camp.
“I got moved to edge, so I kind of was all over the place,” Reese said. “I feel like this year, I'm more in the playbook and I'm understanding the plays more at Mike.”
Reese’s primary role as a freshman came on special teams, though an early-season injury against Youngstown State limited his availability some. Since changing to linebacker Reese has primarily worked at Mike, which is a position with more responsibility than most others in Ohio State’s defense, and most defenses, for that matter.
“You got to be the general. You got to fix everything as a Mike,” linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said. “And that's the job description. Gabe's done a nice job. He's starting to kind of get more comfortable in that role of speaking up, being loud, demonstrative in those moments. Arvell Reese has done a nice job studying the playbook, really getting it down. Arvell's had a nice fall.”
With that extra responsibility comes a need to be a vocal leader to set the defense in proper motion. As he’s gained knowledge of Ohio State’s scheme, Reese’s confidence has risen in that regard, too.
“That's something I actually struggled with in high school,” Reese said. “I wasn't really talking, so that was one of my problems. So coming here, I was kind of forced to talk. Coach Knowles will yell at you if you're not making the right checks and getting people lined up.”
He’s also taken lessons from some of his veteran teammates in the linebacker unit, be that Tommy Eichenberg last year or Cody Simon this season.
“Cody Simon is really technical,” Reese said. “So just watching him, you can learn a lot. Just watching him at walkthroughs, you can learn a lot. So just picking his ear when I can and just watch him, taking mental reps.”
So while Simon mans the starting Mike linebacker job this season and Styles and Hicks work at Will, Sam or whatever else alongside him, Reese will be waiting in the wings and flashing when he can for Ohio State in 2024.
