Sonny Styles and Lorenzo Styles Jr. are nearing the completion of a successful family legacy at Ohio State. And they made good on important choices along the way to do it.
Columbus, OH – To play football at Ohio State, to trod where Dad toiled, to do it together, the Styles brothers followed through on difficult choices.
Their paths, once divergent, converge for the final time on the Ohio Stadium turf Saturday on their senior day, the No.1 Buckeyes’ final home game against Rutgers. Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Sonny Styles know exactly how many family members will be in the Horseshoe: 17.
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“I would never have thought me and my brother would be walking on the same senior day,” Lorenzo said. “It’s just a blessing. Everything’s coming together how it’s supposed to be.”
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Here, together, and the timing of it all is far from how this journey began, a journey in which both have bet on themselves and won those bets.
Lorenzo graduated from nearby Pickerington Central High School in 2021 and left the state to be a wide receiver at Notre Dame. After two years of playing for the Fighting Irish, he came home to be a Buckeye and his brother’s teammate.
But he didn’t come to Wide Receiver U to catch passes. He came to defend passes.
“When I transferred here, I knew I was going to play defense,” he said.
Learning to be a defensive back took time. He played in six games during his first season but accumulated no stats. He played situationally in every game last year and made 16 tackles.
Lorenzo Styles, Jr., gets an across the field lateral from Brandon Innis and scores against Minnesota.
This year, as a graduate student, Lorenzo is a starter who primarily covers slot receivers. He’s made 40 tackles. He is a regular on the field except when the situation calls for three linebackers.
“He was a solid receiver, but he’s happy he made the switch,” Sonny said. “He’s going to end up being an even better player for it.”
Sonny first bet on himself when he decided to graduate from Central a year early and enroll at Ohio State as a 17-year-old safety. At 6-foot-5 and 243 pounds, he is four inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than his brother. He started every game as a sophomore. Last year he moved to linebacker and became an immediate starter. This year he wears the coveted Block O jersey, a symbol of leadership.
“I made the right decision,” Sonny said. “Coming into college, I figured I was going to play linebacker eventually. I knew safety was only going to last for so long, but I’m super happy about it, and I’m glad that I did play safety for my first two years.”
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Sonny is projected to be a late first-round NFL Draft pick in keeping with his 5-star status as a recruit. Lorenzo is faster with sub-4.4 second times in the 40-yard dash, but he’s had less opportunity to prove himself as draftable. He’s not giving up on his NFL dream.
“There were ups and downs, but everything is starting to pay off,” Lorenzo said. “We got a lot of more games to play, a lot of more opportunities to go become the player I want to be, the player I set out to be when I came here.”
Linebacker Sonny Styles is a projected first round pick in April’s NFL draft.
Lorenzo can also make an impression on NFL teams as a kick returner. Last Saturday against UCLA, he returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. He was happy to get the opportunity because offensive players have been favored as returners at Ohio State.
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“If you really go back and watch it, it was easy for me,” he said. “My teammates did a great job blocking. I was untouched. And shout out to Miles Lockhart, that’s one of my dudes, Leroy Roker, and really Joey Velazquez, he held his block for like 15 seconds, which is crazy.”
When Lorenzo returned to the sideline his younger brother was at the front of the line.
“The kick return was cool, but the best feeling was celebrating with your teammates, most of all my brother,” he said. “To have my brother there and him being so excited for me, telling me how sweet that play was, it felt great. It’s a blessing.”
At noon Saturday, on national television, the Styles brothers will complete a family legacy in the Horseshoe that began with their dad, Lorenzo Styles. He played three seasons at linebacker for the Buckeyes and entered the NFL Draft after his junior season in 1995. He was drafted in the third round, playing two seasons for Atlanta and four for St. Louis where he won a Super Bowl.
Perhaps, one or both of them will have a son play for the Buckeyes. Regardless, part of their legacy will be tied to the 2024 national championship and perhaps a second one. Yet, that’s only one thing on the list when they consider how they want their senior class to remembered.
“I want it to be remembered as beating the team up north, winning the Big 10 championship, national championships, and then just glorify God,” Lorenzo said.
Sonny added to the list: “It’s bigger than football players – good men, good teammates. A lot of guys on this team are going to end up being great fathers, great husbands and stuff like that. And obviously you want to be remembered as national champions. But it’s bigger than football. I think a lot of other guys will say the same thing.”
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Football, though, dominates their thoughts after a 10-0 start. They expect to be tested by Rutgers’ offense, which averages 30 points a game, passes for 277 yards a game and boasts the nation’s No. 11 rusher in Antwan Raymond at 100 yards a game.
“We have some of the best guys in the country, but this is a real team coming in, and we’re taking them serious,” Lorenzo said.
Distractions have not been a factor this season. That’s why Sonny, along with his brother and fellow senior defenders Caden Curry, Davison Igbinosun and Tywone Malone, have been leaders in keeping the Buckeyes focused against a string of inferior opponents.
“This year we’re so hard on ourselves and we’re so nitpicky with each game, whether if we win by 40 or whatever it is,” Sonny said. “We’re staying on top of our stuff, and we’re ready for the hard games.”
The hard games begin next week at Michigan. That will open another line of questioning for everyone, especially the seniors who have yet to beat Michigan or play in the Big Ten title game. They have the biggest prize of a national championship, but they want it all.
“We have a lot of goals ahead of us,” Sonny said. “No one’s been to Indy. No one’s beat the team up north. No one here has been a back-to-back national champion. So there’s a lot of goals to achieve.”
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