Senior linebacker Christian Alliegro didn’t have to think much about where he wanted to be when he went into the portal after Ohio State reached out.
“Ultimately I just wanted to come somewhere that could help me for the next level,” he said. “Ohio State has the best players and the best coaches to do that. It was kind of a no-brainer.”
Linebackers coach James Laurinaitis knew that Alliegro would be a good fit for Ohio State when he put the film on, which he said he didn’t need to see much of.
“When I caught wind that Christian was going to get in the portal, I watched two games. I watched (him play against) Alabama and I watched him against us,” Laurinaitis said. “I know what our guys are at tight end. I knew what Will Kacmarek was as a blocker. To see him with the club on in that game fighting, and the toughness. … It’s another guy to bring in the room and compete for playing time.”
Alliegro had been at Wisconsin since the 2023 season, committing to the Badgers that year out of Avon (Conn.) OId Farms High School as a three-star prospect who was ranked outside of the overall top 1,000 and just missed the top 100 linebacker rankings.
Despite his lower ranking, Alliegro worked at Wisconsin to become a very productive player. He played in all 13 games in his freshman season and broke out as a sophomore for 66 tackles, with five tackles for loss and three sacks. Then, as a junior in 2025, he had 53 tackles, with eight of them going for loss and four sacks in 10 games.
He had been putting together the best season of his college career until he played against Ohio State on Oct. 18, losing to the Buckeyes 34-0. In the seventh game of the season, Alliegro broke his arm in the first quarter of the contest.
“It was actually on a screen play to Bo Jackson. He was running and I landed on it and it snapped,” Alliegro said.
But that didn’t deter him from trying to finish the season out. It didn’t even stop Alliegro from getting back into the game against Ohio State, despite the fact that Wisconsin wasn’t even going to be able to make a bowl game.
“I had never broken my arm before, so I got up like, ‘I’ll be good,’ ” he said. “I ran back out there for another play then I ran back out and I was like, ‘I think something’s wrong.’ So they ran me in, told me it was broken and told me if I wanted to play, (I could). I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ So they wrapped it up and I came back out.”
But now that Alliegro is in Columbus and fully healthy, he believes he can contribute in many different ways for what was the No. 1-ranked defense in the country last year in scoring and total defense under defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
Alliegro said on Thursday that he feels comfortable anywhere on the field and thinks he could make it playing on the ball, off the ball, coming off the edge, or even at safety.
“I can do a lot on the field, but ultimately I’m really aggressive,” he said. “You can put me on the edge, off the ball, wherever. I played safety in high school, too. I’m really good wherever on the field.”
Alliegro won’t be getting time at safety this season, but the versatility he brings is something that Laurinaitis surely loves to see after two soon-to-be first-round draft picks left the program this offseason.
Sonny Styles, the leading tackler for the Buckeyes in 2025, and Arvell Reese, who excelled in multiple roles enough to likely be a top-three pick in the NFL draft coming up later this month, were major parts of last season’s success on the defensive end.
Now without them, the Buckeyes will have big shoes to fill if they want to be as productive at keeping teams from scoring in the 2026 season.
But Alliegro thinks that he will be able to fill in well, and he said that Laurinaitis has been great at getting him ready to compete for a spot with the Buckeyes.
“He’s one of the first coaches I’ve been around who’s been in the game for such a long time,” Alliegro said. “He knows all the ins and outs, all the little details to football, especially as a linebacker. He’s been a great mentor.”
