Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese has found his role on the Ohio State defense and is excelling at a faster rate than many of the greats
Ohio State Buckeyes' linebacker Arvell Reese has officially burst onto the scene during the in 2025 college football season.
As the 2024 Buckeyes cruised to a National Championship, Reese wasn't a starter on the defense. As a matter of fact, he checked in during mop-up duty situations and was an ace special teams.
When the Buckeyes were set on replacing last year's "Block O", Cody Simon, Reese was the one to step in and fill the massive void. However, he was not the only newcomer to Ohio State's defense heading into this season, as one of the most important additions to the program was defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
The former highly-regarded NFL coordinator came in this offseason and turned the Buckeyes' defense into an NFL defense. He took them from a good unit, which they were last year, to the hands-down best unit in the country.
Part of the reason for that was that Patricia had some of the smartest players in college football in Caleb Downs and Sonny Styles to go along with this superhuman that no one really knew about in Reese.
The junior playmaker is labeled as a linebacker, but possesses a prototypical pass rusher build. He is the "Swiss-Army knife" who is nearly impossible for opposing offenses to game plan against on a weekly basis.
Reese can rush the passer from all areas of the line of scrimmage. If the offense has a weakness at center, he will line up there. Likewise, Reese can match up with guards and rush the interior, or if there is a tackle that the Buckeyes can attack, he will put his hand in the dirt and bull rush off the edge.
Unlike most defenders at the college level, Reese has a rare combination of speed, agility, power and strength. He went from a complete unknown to being regarded as the best player in the 2026 NFL Draft.
If his production on the field wasn't evidence enough, Gridiron Grading on X charted the 2026 prospects' productivity compare to some of the best players in the history of college football.
When you look at Reese's production, it certainly looks like a typo.
This chart factors in a player's "Career Pass Rushing Productivity" compared to the number of career pass rushing stats. In layman's terms, pass-rushing productivity is simply how effective the player is when rushing the passer.
With the least amount of career pass rushing snaps, Reese is by far and away the best pass rusher college football has ever seen. Micah Parsons is the only one in the same vicinity as Reese and he has made a fairly solid career out of rushing the passer.
Reese is continuing to play at an unfathomable level and is a major reason why the Buckeyes are the favorite to repeat as National Champions.