{"id":851197,"date":"2026-04-03T12:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851197\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:31:10","slug":"ohio-state-football-newcomer-who-starred-at-another-big-ten-program-confirmed-suspicion-about-his-decision-to-become-a-buckeye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851197\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State football newcomer who starred at another Big Ten program confirmed suspicion about his decision to become a Buckeye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio State went out and got a stud linebacker from Wisconsin from the transfer portal, and now former Badger Christian Alliegro is opening up about the decision. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOhio State Buckeyes linebackers coach James Laurinaitis warms up his players prior to the NCAA football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Nov. 1, 2025.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdam Cairns\/Columbus Dispatch-USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n

The transfer portal was very active for the Ohio State Buckeyes and one of their moves was adding a key Big Ten defender.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles heading to the NFL, Ohio State needed to add experience at the linebacker position. They did just that by adding former Wisconsin standout Christian Alliegro<\/a> into the mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ohio State\u2019s Christian Alliegro gets honest about his transfer decision across the Big Ten\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think ultimately I just wanted to come somewhere that can help me get to the next level,\u201d Alliegro said on his decision to transfer to Columbus. \u201cObviously, Ohio State has the best players and the best coaches to do that [with], so it\u2019s kind of a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"youtube<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tClick here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Leaving Wisconsin wasn\u2019t easy for Alliegro, he was a key defensive contributor for two seasons in Madison as a three-star recruit out of Connecticut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it was tough because I had such a great time in Wisconsin,\u201d Alliegro admitted. \u201cBut I think I understood ultimately what was best for me and my career for the future. It was tough to leave, but ultimately I had to do what\u2019s best for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing under former Ohio State coach Luke Fickell at Wisconsin, Alliegro made 53 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and four sacks in 10 games last season. A year before as a sophomore, the 6-foot-4, 241-pound linebacker made 66 tackles and three sacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aliegro is going to give Ohio State some pass-rush help from the linebacker position in a similar way Reese did last season. The Buckeyes will have Payton Pierce, Riley Pettijohn, Garrett Stover, and in some order along with Alliegro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In what will be a one-year run in Columbus, Alliegro has a great chance to have a special season in Matt Patricia\u2019s disguising defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohio State went out and got a stud linebacker from Wisconsin from the transfer portal, and now former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[112583,7,49,48,69,1570,2787],"class_list":{"0":"post-851197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-christian-alliegro","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","13":"tag-ohio-state-football","14":"tag-wisconsin-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116340794473437438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}