Ohio State drops first trailer of season with LeBron James narrating

It's Thursday of game week for the Ohio State football team, and for the last few years, that meant the release of the trailer for the upcoming game to get fans hyped up. It's no different in 2026, apparently, because the Ohio State football creative team released quite the trailer to kick off the season against Ball State .

The team pulled out all the stops in this one. First, it's titled "The Bell Tolls," and if you think that pays homage to Metallica, then you are correct. The entire video is set to the background of "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and it's a little faster-paced and more fiery than what we've seen from previous trailers.

Ohio State called upon one of its biggest superfans to do the narrating. That's right, LeBron James takes you through this one with his recognizable voice that begins with the beginning of the lyrics for "Buckeye Battle Cry" and goes straight through to the end to set things up for the beginning of the season.

If you haven't seen the video, we implore you to do so and take in a trailer that's a little different than what we've seen before to kick things off for the 2026 season.

It's almost here. Ohio State kicks off the season when it hosts Ball State at 12:30 p.m. ET inside Ohio Stadium, which will have some new features to it.

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