Before Sonny Styles begins his Ohio State football career this summer, he’s trying to win a high school basketball state championship first.
Although he reclassified into Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2022, which means he will skip his senior year at Pickerington Central High School to join the Buckeyes a year early, his high school sports career isn’t quite done yet. He’s hoping it will continue for at least one more week, as he’s trying to help lead the Pickerington Central boys’ basketball team to its second state championship.
Styles, who picked up a handful of Division I basketball offers over the summer but has since decided to focus exclusively on football in college, is an impact player on both ends of the floor for the Tigers, who have gone 23-2 this season and are set to play Gahanna Lincoln in the Columbus regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ohio Dominican University. (Update: Pickerington Central defeated Gahanna Lincoln on Saturday night, 59-42, to win the regional title and advance to the state semifinals.)
While he’s Pickerington Central’s second-leading scorer with 9.5 points per game this season, Styles’ impact on the Tigers has gone far beyond his scoring ability, as evidenced by his performance in Pickerington Central’s regional semifinal win over Upper Arlington, in which Styles scored just three points but added seven assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block while serving as the primary ballhandler in the Tigers’ 53-40 win over the Golden Bears on Wednesday night.
One of seven assists for Ohio State football signee Sonny Styles in Pickerington Centrals win over Upper Arlington tonight.
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) March 10, 2022
On the receiving end: Devin Royal, who has an Ohio State basketball offer and scored 24 points tonight.
PC plays Gahanna Lincoln in regional finals Sat. pic.twitter.com/ojVi1WSV8p
Pickerington Central leading scorer Devin Royal, who has more than a dozen Division I basketball offers including one from Ohio State, said the energy and athleticism Styles brings to the Tigers has played a crucial role in their success this season.
“He’s crazy athletic,” Royal said. “So that brings a lot of energy, for real. He adds energy, defensive effort too. It’s a great value to have him out there.”
While Pickerington Central won a football state championship during Styles’ freshman year, he didn’t get to actually play that year due to a fractured tibia. The Tigers suffered a 44-3 loss in the Division I state football championship game in Styles’ sophomore year, then lost to Upper Arlington in the football regional finals this past fall in what would end up being Styles’ final high school football season. So Styles is hungry to win a state title on the basketball court before he concludes his high school sports career.
“I haven’t really got to experience a state championship while I’m actually playing, so I’m trying to do that this year,” Styles said after Wednesday night’s regional semifinal win. “I think we’ve got a special group, we’re real bonded together, we’ve got our own little swag and we’ve gotten different guys to step up each night.”
With the Tigers’ win over Gahanna Lincoln on Saturday night, they’ll face a matchup with St. Edward in the state semifinals, which are set for next Saturday, March 19, before the state championship game at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 20.
But Styles, who earned third-team All-Central District honors, is highly motivated to finish his high school career strong. Not only for himself but for Pickerington Central’s seniors, and he believes he and his teammates have what it takes to win it all.
“I think we want to take this season to its last breath as much as we can. You want to know it’s your last game, you know it’s your last game if you get all the way. So we’re gonna keep fighting,” Styles said.
“I think we definitely can make a run. We gotta just keep fighting, giving it our all every game. Every game will be a tough one from here on out.”
Over the course of the season, Styles has received support from soon-to-be Ohio State teammates like C.J. Hicks and even from coaches like new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who attended one of his basketball games during the recruiting contact period in January. He’s appreciated seeing their faces in the stands.
“I’m excited to come play with them here in a few months, but it means a lot for them to come out and support,” Styles said. “Sometimes you commit and they forget about you, that’s not how it is at Ohio State. The relationship’s still going.”
While Styles’ focus is on finishing his final semester of high school right now, he says he has been getting to know Knowles and new Ohio State safeties coach Perry Eliano and is excited about playing for them in the Buckeyes’ new defense. He says he expects Knowles to do an “amazing job” rebuilding Ohio State’s defense, in which he knows he will play one of the three safety positions and believes he will likely play the boundary safety position, which Knowles calls “bandit.”
Although he isn’t able to participate in spring football like the 11 members of Ohio State’s 2022 class who enrolled early, he believes the time he’s put in on the basketball court has helped him become a better football player.
“I think just moving laterally, guarding man-to-man,” Styles said when asked how he thinks basketball translates to football. “A lot of times, I'm chasing around the best player most of the game. So that helps a lot with conditioning, just the competitive atmosphere, just staying in something, being active.”
Styles doesn’t have any plans to play basketball for Chris Holtmann’s squad at Ohio State, so his competitive basketball career will likely end once Pickerington Central’s playoff run ends. But it was important for Styles to play one more season on the hardwood before he shifted his full attention to playing college football.
“Guys like Devin Royal, a few other guys, I’ve been playing with them a long time, like my whole basketball career,” Styles said. “I know this is like my last bit of high school athletics, so I’m trying to take it as far as I can.”
Royal appreciates how committed Styles has remained to their team this season despite his decision to reclassify and begin his college football career early.
“We’ve been playing together since like fifth grade, sixth grade so we’ve always had a connection,” Royal said of Styles. “Football’s his main sport, so if he’s gotta do that, he’s gotta do that. But it’s great having him for this last season.”
Knowing he only has a maximum of three more high school games left before he’ll trade in his purple and white basketball uniform for a scarlet and gray football uniform, Styles is trying to soak in every moment he has left at Pickerington Central, and he says it’s starting to hit him that his time in high school is almost over. Nonetheless, he has no regrets about his decision to reclassify, as he’s confident he’ll be ready to begin life as a college student when that time comes this summer.
“It might seem like a rush and everything's coming up on me fast, but I think I'm ready to go put in some work and see what happens,” Styles said. “I think it definitely hit me, but like I said, it’s not like it’s rushing up on me. I think I'm ready for it.”
