Despite arriving at Ohio State as the No. 7 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, C.J. Hicks has played only sparingly in his first two seasons as a Buckeye.
After playing only on special teams as a true freshman, Hicks played just 75 snaps on defense as a sophomore. Nearly all of those snaps came in late-game situations where the Buckeyes had already secured a win, aside from a four-snap stint at Will linebacker in the Cotton Bowl when Steele Chambers briefly left the game with an injury.
Hicks’ lack of playing time over the past two seasons was partially because he had a trusted trio of veterans in front of him in Chambers, Tommy Eichenberg and Cody Simon who played the vast majority of linebacker snaps in 2022 and 2023.