Cody Simon has added yet another accolade to his illustrious final year at Ohio State.
The “Block O” wearer, captain, leading tackler and first-team All-Big Ten linebacker for the national champion Ohio State football team was honored for both his athletic and academic success on Monday night as he was named OSU’s male recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, which honors one male and female athlete from each institution who demonstrated excellence on and off the field throughout their college career.
Makenna Webster, who was both a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honoree in field hockey last year and a top player for the women’s hockey team as it made three straight national championship games (with a win in 2024) over the past three years, earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor for female Ohio State athletes.
Simon, a five-time OSU Scholar-Athlete who is projected to be selected in the 2025 NFL draft later this month after five years at Ohio State, was one of several football players honored during Monday night’s “Scarlet & Graymies,” Ohio State’s award banquet for athletes across all sports.
Returning Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles was honored after he was named Monday as Ohio State’s male nominee for the Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award, a new award established this year to recognize athletes who make a positive impact in their community in addition to their sport. Styles has given back to the community throughout his Ohio State career through his partnership with the Huckleberry House, which provides a shelter and other resources for at-risk and homeless youth in Central Ohio.
Meet the 36 student-athlete campus winners and nominees for the inaugural Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award.
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) April 7, 2025
The award recognizes student-athletes at Big Ten institutions who strive to have a positive impact not only in their chosen sport, but also within their pic.twitter.com/OLLaqVsOPw
“Obviously it's a prestigious award, named after a historic player, Jackie Robinson. So it means a lot just in that case to be in the same mention as him, an award named after him, and obviously his impact on not only his sport but his community as well,” Styles told Eleven Warriors after Monday night’s banquet. “So it definitely means a lot. And I take that with a chip on my shoulder and just continue to keep doing what I'm doing. And just trying to spread kindness in the world.”
Former Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer won the Best Play award in recognition of his 83-yard scoop-and-score in Ohio State’s College Football Playoff semifinal win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Former Ohio State quarterback Will Howard won the Best Newcomer award in recognition of his play after he broke Ohio State’s single-season completion percentage record and led the Buckeyes to a national championship in his lone season at OSU after transferring in from Kansas State.
The Ohio State football team as a whole was honored both as OSU’s most outstanding team and OSU’s best men’s team for the 2024-25 academic year. Ohio State’s dance team, which won the D1A Jazz national championship just one day before the football team won its national title, was recognized as the best women’s team.
A program-record 95 Ohio State football players were named Ohio State Scholar-Athletes for having a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better. 805 total athletes across the Ohio State athletic department earned Scholar-Athlete honors for the 2024-25 academic year.
A , Scholar-Athletes pic.twitter.com/jLkbtgtGYj
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) April 7, 2025
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork believes the Buckeyes’ athletic and academic success go hand in hand.
“If you're doing one thing in your life at the highest level, you're going to do everything else at the highest level,” Bjork told Eleven Warriors. “No one's going to take a day off. No one's going to take a shortcut. So if you just look at our football team, look at our women's hockey team; women's hockey has led the department in cumulative team GPA, and we've been in six out of the last seven Frozen Fours, won two out of the last four national championships. Football had the highest GPA (in program history) last spring, last fall, they're on track this spring to have a really great GPA, and we just won the national championship. So again, correlation between excellence in one category – academic, social life, whatever – is going to bleed over into the athletic realm.”
