Trio of Buckeyes named semifinalists for Lombardi Award

COLUMBUS — Ohio State has a trio of defenders on the semifinalist list for the Lombardi Award that was released on Tuesday.

Linebackers Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles are both semifinalists for the award, as is senior defensive end Caden Curry.

The Lombardi Award is given annually to the nation’s top offensive or defensive front seven player. No Ohio State player has won it since linebacker AJ Hawk in 2005.

This comes on the same day that Reese was named the Chuck Bendarik National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Buckeyes 38-14 win over Penn State on Saturday. In that win, Arvell Reese had 12 total tackles, five of which were solo, with a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss, helping the Buckeyes shut out the Penn State offense in the second half of a four-score win to stay undefeated on the season.

He’s the second Ohio State defender to win the Chuck Bendarik National Defensive Player of the Week honor this season, joining defensive end Caden Curry, who earned the honor after his three-sack, five tackle-for-loss performance in the win over Washington on Sept. 27.

The honor for Reese comes on the same day that he was named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, given annually to the nation’s top linebacker. He and fellow Buckeyes linebacker Sonny Styles are both semifinalists for that award that will be given out in December.

2025 Buckeyes football schedule

Aug. 30 — vs. Texas (14-7 W)
Sept. 6 — vs. Grambling (70-0 W)
Sept. 13 — vs. Ohio (37-9 W)
Sept. 20 — IDLE
Sept. 27 — at Washington (24-6 W)
Oct. 4 — vs. Minnesota (42-3 W)
Oct. 11 — at Illinois (34-16 W)
Oct. 18 — at Wisconsin (34-0 W)
Oct. 25 — IDLE
Nov. 1 — vs. Penn State (38-14 W)
Nov. 8 — at Purdue (1 p.m., Big Ten Network)
Nov. 15 — vs. UCLA (7:30 p.m., NBC)
Nov. 22 — vs. Rutgers
Nov. 29 — at Michigan (Noon, FOX)