There were no shortage of expectations for Payton Pierce when he arrived on campus.
The Texas product was a Butkus Award finalist in his senior season of high school, notching nearly 200 tackles in his final prep season and slotted in as a four-star recruit in the 2024 class.
But the 6-foot-2, 223-pound linebacker came into spring football with Ohio State at a disadvantage, as he was recovering from a serious leg injury that prevented him from doing much in his first few months on campus.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Pierce told Eleven Warriors last month before the national championship. “I obviously didn’t expect to be hurt when I got here, but there have been so many great things that have happened this year. I learned a lot through my injury in the spring and carrying that into fall camp, now I’m playing special teams in the national championship. I’ve come a long way since then, so I’m super grateful for that.”
Once he fully recovered from his injury and was a full participant in fall camp, Pierce felt rejuvenated. Like nearly every freshman, there were plenty of highs and lows.
Pierce remembers his “welcome to college moment” all too well from fall camp. The way he describes it, the offense ran a pin-pull with a quarterback lead with Quinshon Judkins as a lead blocker. Pierce put himself in position for what he thought would result in a big play by tackling the quarterback (well, really wrapping up the quarterback, it’s fall camp after all), but he failed to see Judkins lurking as a blocker. Pierce got blindsided by the future NFL Draft pick, resulting in him getting launched in the air and his helmet getting flung even higher as it left Pierce’s head.
“I’ve never been hit like that before and didn’t see it coming,” Pierce laughed.
There were also triumphs in the fall too once he returned to action, as Pierce recalls notching a tackle for loss on TreVeyon Henderson after he shot through the gap and disrupted the play.
“It was good to set the tone and show that I know how to play (at this level),” Pierce said. “I’ve made a lot of plays every practice.”
Though he came into Columbus at a disadvantage, Pierce eventually saw the fifth most snaps of any OSU linebacker in his freshman season. He played in 13 of Ohio State’s 16 games this season, recording four tackles and primarily serving as a special teams contributor for the majority of the season.
“I’ve learned so much football this past year,” Pierce said. “My favorite thing this year was learning under Cody Simon and Sonny Styles and their leadership and knowledge for football. I’ve got so much respect for (Cody), I feel like he’s been the best player to learn under.”
Considering he was the star linebacker of his high school team and also played offense, Pierce didn’t play much special teams at the prep level, with the exception of his freshman and sophomore year here and there.
“I wouldn’t say it was too much of an adjustment, it’s really just more competition. You’re used to competing every single day and that’s what special teams is. Doing your job and giving it everything you’ve got every day.”
Pierce’s season culminated with a national championship, though he played special teams only in his final seven games of the 2024 season. He was thankful for the year to integrate himself into Ohio State’s playbook, thanking Simon and James Laurinaitis for helping him to “learn something new every day” because “you don’t realize how much you don’t know until you’re here” and helping his football IQ soar. Once a defensive coordinator is hired for next season, Pierce plans to embrace the mental side of the game even more.
Going into his second season, Pierce will have an opportunity to compete for a spot on the two-deep at either linebacker position. With Styles returning and Simon departing, the Mike linebacker spot is probably his quickest path to playing time, though Arvell Reese seems to be the frontrunner to start at that spot in 2025. If Pierce can’t crack the starting rotation, he could serve as a key backup for either linebacker spot, though.
“Aside from getting a little bigger and a little stronger, I think just understanding the defense on an even better level,” Pierce said about his goals for the offseason. “When you understand everyone’s job and what everyone’s got to do, you can play really fast and really confident. The 11 guys on the field that we have, they play fast and confident. That’s what I really want to hammer down on, understanding what everyone does.”
