SerpApi.Org
COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles walked out of Columbus as the No. 5 and No. 7 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, the natural reaction was worrisome.
How do you replace that? The answer, according to Stephen Means and Stefan Krajisnik on the latest episode of Buckeye Talk, isn’t to replace them at all — it’s to hand the keys to Payton Pierce and watch what happens.
The conversation on the podcast gets to the heart of something that Ohio State fans inside the bubble have been saying for months: Pierce isn’t a consolation prize. He’s a promise.
“I’ve never really wavered in what I think Payton Pierce is going to be because I think it’s going to click,” Krajisnik said during the episode, laying out his confidence in the linebacker room heading into 2026.
That confidence isn’t built on blind faith. It’s built on film, on flashes and on one particular moment in Dallas that a lot of people seem to have glossed over. In the Cotton Bowl against Miami, when Ohio State was grinding through a game that never quite felt like it was going their way, Pierce came up with a forced fumble and recovery. In a game where, as Means described it, the ball seemed to bounce the wrong way for the Buckeyes at every turn, Pierce was the one time it didn’t.
“And when it came time to make a play, he made the play,” Means said.
That moment matters more than its box score entry suggests. Pierce wasn’t playing 50 snaps per game last year. He earned 263 total snaps as a second-year linebacker, turned them into 44 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, an interception and that pivotal fumble. When opportunity came, he didn’t look like a guy who needed more seasoning. He looked like a guy who needed more reps.
The Buckeye Talk crew draws a fascinating parallel to Brian Hartline’s development of Jaxon Smith-Njigba — James Laurinaitis’ first true recruiting win as a full-time assistant was Pierce, a top-150 prospect he carried with him from Notre Dame. Just as Smith-Njigba became the foundational proof-of-concept for Hartline’s receiver factory, Pierce is poised to be that for Laurinaitis’ linebacker room.
The analogy even extends to the stakes. When Smith-Njigba broke out, it announced to the country that Hartline wasn’t just riding the wave of Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave — he was building something. A Pierce breakout in 2026 would send the same message about Laurinaitis.
And the stage is almost too perfect. Ohio State opens the season against Texas on Sept. 12. Laurinaitis had his own defining moment in Austin 20 years ago. Now, the linebacker he recruited and developed gets his shot on the same ground.
The hosts paint the picture clearly on the podcast: Reese and Styles showed you how high the ceiling can go. Pierce gets to show you what the floor looks like — and if Laurinaitis’ track record means anything, that floor is going to be a lot higher than most people expect.
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