Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese named to Butkus Award preseason watch list

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is expected to have one of the top linebacker duos in college football this fall.

Both starting linebackers are racking up preseason honors to show for it, too. Senior linebacker Sonny Styles and third-year defender Arvell Reese were both named to the Butkus Award watch list on Wednesday. The Butkus Award is given annually to the country’s top linebacker.

Buckeyes linebackers coach James Laurinaitis won the award in 2007. Andy Katzenmoyer won it 10 years earlier in 1997. They’re the only two Ohio State players to win the award that has been handed out since 1985.

Styles enters his second year as a starting linebacker and third as a defensive starter for the Buckeyes. He’ll be the leader of the group both on and off the field heading into his senior season. He is expected to be the Block O jersey recipient as a presumed captain of this Buckeyes defense.

Reese, meanwhile, enters his first season as a starter for the Buckeyes after contributing alongside Styles and now-Arizona Cardinals defender Cody Simon last fall.

Both are already garnering attention as two of the top linebackers in all of college football. The preseason watch lists show that.

Two Buckeyes named to Nagurski Award watch list

Ohio State also had two players on the preseason watch list for the Nagurski Award, which is given annually to the top defensive player in college football.

Of course, junior safety Caleb Downs and senior linebacker Sonny Styles, the two leaders of the Buckeyes defense, are the two Ohio State stars to land on the watch list for the Nagurski Award.

Downs is a sure-thing first-round NFL Draft choice for next year, but he has at least one more year of college football before he can go. And he is among the best returning players, offense or defense, in the country entering this season.