“Payton Pierce might be the least impactful linebacker I can remember us having. He either just runs right into a scrum every time or makes the tackle…6 yards downfield”
4 stories in the last 60 days, from 4 outlets.
OSU linebacker Payton Pierce in action: Photos from 2026 football season
The Columbus Dispatch Oct 7
As of
The Ohio State linebacker story before the season was a subtraction problem: Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese both went in the top ten of the 2026 NFL Draft, and the beat has spent the spring asking who steadies the room behind them. The answer keeps coming back to Pierce. He didn't start much in 2025 — three starts across all 14 games, 43 tackles, 1.5 for loss, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery — but he played every game as the heir apparent, the same path Reese walked the year before. Eleven Warriors framed his ascension as a lifelong dream realized; 247Sports slotted him 16th on its top-20 Buckeyes list and called him a "throwback Mike." The detail that matters most: he's slated to wear the green dot, the in-helmet signal-caller, which means the defense's calls run through a junior making his first real run as a starter.
The counter-narrative is loud too. Land-Grant Holy Land ran a whole "biggest concerns" beat arguing the Ohio State defense takes a step back in 2026 under Matt Patricia, with linebacker the unit's softest question. Pierce profiles as the closest stylistic replacement for the stabilizing things Styles did — "albeit without the same elite frame or athleticism," as the room's own observers keep noting. That's the tension: the staff trusts him enough to hand him the green dot, but nobody outside the building is sure trust equals production yet.
What tips it toward optimism is the spring. Multiple writers said no defender had a better one, and Pierce credited Patricia with "putting guys in the right spot." He's a four-star, top-200 Lovejoy product who picked Ohio State over Notre Dame, Texas and Tennessee, and he's been pointed at this moment since he enrolled early. The forward stake is simple and it's the whole season: does Pierce's reliability hold up the green dot, or does the defense slide the way the doubters expect?
Update (Nov. 2, 2026): Through eight games Pierce has 43 tackles (16 solo), a half sack, a half tackle for loss, three pass breakups and two quarterback hurries, plus a fumble recovery.
Sources
Play style
Pierce plays the Mike the old-fashioned way — a downhill, between-the-tackles thumper at 6-1, 228 who diagnoses run fits fast and arrives with pop. The 2025 tape (43 tackles, 1.5 TFL, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in a rotational role) reads as a sound, instinctive player who finds the ball rather than an explosive sideline-to-sideline athlete; observers flag that he lacks the elite frame and range Sonny Styles offered. His value is between his ears as much as his pads: he's trusted with the green dot, so the projection is a smart, physical run-game anchor whose 2026 swing skill is proving he can cover enough grass in space to not be hunted in the pass game. No play-by-play percentiles are available for him, so this is a scouting read.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
43 tackles. 3 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 0.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
from 4 outlets
OSU linebacker Payton Pierce in action: Photos from 2026 football season
The Columbus Dispatch Oct 7 · 1 outlet
from 6 outlets
OSU linebacker Payton Pierce in action: Photos from 2026 football season
The Columbus Dispatch Oct 7 · 1 outlet
The Columbus Dispatch
On3
Land-Grant Holy LandEach week: his team’s game, the stories about him that week, and the week’s biggest news headline.
Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Nov 4.
Fans first named Payton Pierce vs Kent State.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Ohio State | 43 | 16 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 3 | -- |
| 2025 | Ohio State | 44 | 24 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -- | 1 |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 91 | 41 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 3 | 1 |
Last game (Wk 9): 6 tackles, 1 pass breakup.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 8 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 56-3vs Ball State | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | L 23-24@ No. 4 Texas | 9 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 9 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 59-3vs Kent State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 42-19vs Illinois | 6 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 31-14@ No. 14 Iowa | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 45-16vs Maryland | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 19-15@ No. 5 Indiana | 7 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 18-30@ USC | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 43 | 16 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 3 |
Oct. 31 · L 18-30 at USC, play by play
6 tackles, including 1 pass broken up.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
His game this year: coverage — 3 passes defended in the 8 games with play by play.
How Ohio State’s defense played that day
USC’s 11 drives: 5 stopped (1 takeaway) · 6 scored. While the game was within a score they held 1 of 5. His pbu came with Ohio State down 4.
7 tackles, including 1 pass broken up.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
4 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
6 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
6 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
Sacked the quarterback for a 9-yard loss. Fourth quarter, up 42-19.
2 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
9 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play: 7 of his 9, sacks included.
Forced a fumble on 3rd and 8. Third quarter, up 23-3.
3 tackles, including 1 pass broken up. He hurried the quarterback twice.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
Week 7 · 2026
W 19-15
at Indiana
7 tackles · 1 pass breakup · 1 solo tackle
A close one, won by 4 on the road.
Ratings of the games shown run from -21 to +24 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
43tackles this seasonTFL rate
1%0 TFLSack rate
1%0 sacksPD rate
7%3 pass breakups43 tackles · 0.5 for loss · 0.5 sacks.
3 seasons under Ryan Day — 32-6 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 3.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Road4g | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 5.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+1g | 6.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Ryan Day
Pass share
45.0%
250 pass / 306 run
Plays / game
69.5
8 games
Team sack rate
5.8%
275 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2026
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS linebacker who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former four-star. Now #276 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big Ten
Based on 2025: #52 of 72 Big Ten LBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
Returning starter at linebacker for a 12-2 Ohio State team that went -21 in the portal.
2026 is in progress.
A stat line in 24 games over three seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2024–2026
1 coachPlayed every college season under Ryan Day.
