Chip Trayanum sheds black stripe, finding spot in linebackers pecking order
COLUMBUS — Chip Trayanum is seeing normalcy on the field.
The Arizona State transfer came in as a running back but spent the entire spring now opens his training camp in the linebacker room.
It’s the position he knows best, too.
He was a Division II All-Ohio linebacker at his high school Archbishop Hoban in Akron, Ohio. Trayanum led his team to three state championships in his four years there. He was also a top-five prospect out of Ohio in the 2020 class.
His skill set has put the Ohio State defense on notice, and some of his teammates as well.
“Chip is probably one of the most athletic people I’ve seen come through this facility,” linebacker Teradja Mitchell said. “He’s made a great transition from running back to linebacker.”
Chip Trayanum put in the offseason work in the weight room where his transition from running back to linebacker truly started. He’s a listed 5-foot-11, 229-pounds and according to Mitchell, he’s every bit the part.
“He looks crazy, he’s jacked up for sure.”
Ohio State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jim Knowles has seen the transformation in Trayanum’s game too. The Buckeyes linebacker room is a crowded one with Tommy Eichenberg, Steele Chambers, Teradja Mitchell and former five-star C.J. Hicks.
The rotation and depth chart are already starting to take form, and Trayanum is rearranging the pecking order.
“I think Tommy and Steele have been really solidifying things at linebacker,” Knowles said. “Cody and Teradja mixing in, and Chip and C.J.”
Trayanum is one of many new pieces to a new defense for the Buckeyes this season. They added him from Arizona State and graduate transfer safety, Tanner McCalister, from Oklahoma State.
And now after his black stripe was removed — signaling his official status within the program — Trayanum only has to worry about one thing: continuing to make strides every day.
