Alex "Sonny" Styles (born November 24, 2004) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Early life

Styles attended Pickerington Central High School in Pickerington, Ohio, where he notched 88 tackles with one going for a loss, a sack, two pass deflections, six interceptions, and a forced fumble in his career. On August 30, 2020, in a televised game against rival Pickerington High School North, he had nine tackles, an interception and blocked a punt. Styles also teamed with Devin Royal to help the basketball team win the 2022

OHSAA The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of comp ...

Division I state championship. He was rated a five-star recruit and committed to play

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

over other schools such as Clemson,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, Notre Dame, and Ole Miss.

College career

As a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

, Styles notched nine tackles with one going for a loss. He was named a starting safety for the Buckeyes ahead of the 2023 season. In his first start, Styles played 49 snaps where he had four tackles with 1.5 being for a loss, as he helped Ohio State beat

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. Styles was converted to a linebacker.

Personal life

His dad is former NFL

Lorenzo Styles, and his brother is Ohio State

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

Lorenzo Styles Jr.

References

External links

Ohio State Buckeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Styles, Sonny Living people Players of American football from Ohio American football safeties Ohio State Buckeyes football players 2004 births