Signed: Sonny Styles Bringing Five-Star Talent to Ohio State One Year Early After Reclassifying to 2022

What Ohio State didn’t know at the time was just how soon Styles would be signing his National Letter of Intent.

Welcome to the Brotherhood, @sonnystyles_
From All-American @RyanShazier #BOOM22 pic.twitter.com/hMVZ5H3KxR

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 15, 2021

Originally, Styles was supposed to be the centerpiece of Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2023. Ranked as the state of Ohio’s top prospect in that class at the time, Styles was the Buckeyes’ top target among the crop of current high school juniors and was expected to be the player Ohio State would build the rest of that class around.

Instead, just over one month after his commitment, Styles has reclassified to the class of 2022 and will now be joining the Buckeyes next summer, giving him a chance to potentially be on the field when Ohio State plays Notre Dame – a school Styles also strongly considered because his older brother Lorenzo plays there – in its first game of next season.

Whether Styles actually will be ready to play right away as a true freshman is far less certain, considering that he’ll be only 17 years old, yet it’s a possibility that can’t be discounted for the five-star safety, who is ranked as the No. 13 overall prospect in the 2022 class after reclassifying.

Listed at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Styles has a rare blend of length, athleticism and coverage ability. While he has the frame to bulk up and play linebacker or even edge rusher, he played primarily as a safety for Pickerington Central and has more than enough speed and fluidity to stay in the secondary at the next level.

With his aptitude both playing in deep coverage and making plays closer to the line of scrimmage, Styles is a natural fit to play the bullet position in Ohio State’s current defense as a hybrid safety/linebacker. New defensive coordinator Jim Knowles utilized a similar position at Oklahoma State, but Styles offers the versatility to play a multitude of roles in a defensive scheme that will likely utilize a wider variety of formations and packages than this year’s defense did.

Ohio State likely had some trepidation about another five-star prospect reclassifying after the Quinn Ewers saga, but there’s reason to believe Styles’ early arrival will have a better outcome. For one, Styles is a local product from Pickerington, Ohio, whose father Lorenzo played for the Buckeyes. Secondly, he’ll have a path to earn playing time much more quickly than Ewers did.

RELATED Q&A: Lorenzo Styles Says Five-Star Son Will Have Opportunity to “Start His Own Footsteps” at Ohio State

The Buckeyes need more playmakers to emerge on their defense next season, and Styles is more than capable of becoming a difference-maker early in his Ohio State career. Even if Styles doesn’t play a big role in 2022, getting to campus about seven months early will give him a major head-start on being ready to contribute in 2023, which would have originally been his true freshman year.

Styles’ recruitment has ended earlier than expected, but the destination is no surprise, as Ohio State offered Styles after the first game of his sophomore season and made keeping the legacy prospect home one of its biggest recruiting priorities ever since. Now, instead of having to worry about recruiting Styles for another year, Ohio State can shift its focus to developing Styles and figuring out how to maximize his immense talent over the next three to four years.