Ohio State linebackers coach James Laurinaitis remembers one particular play against Miami in the Cotton Bowl on Christmas Eve. The Buckeyes lost the game — and their hopes of repeating as national champions — but it was a moment when Sonny Styles flashed his smarts.
Miami star receiver Malachi Toney, lined up in the slot, started a jet motion across the formation. Feeling that the jet sweep was coming, Styles shot the C-gap (outside the tackle) for a tackle for loss.
“He has a really uncanny sense of when it’s time to pull your trigger,” Laurinaitis told me.
The NFL world is buzzing about Styles coming out of the combine, where he was one of the biggest risers in on-field drills. He showed world-class athleticism.
The 6-foot-5, 244-pound linebacker registered a 43.5-inch vertical, a 4.46-second 40-yard dash and an 11-foot-2 broad jump in Indianapolis last week. Since 2003, he’s the only player at least 230 pounds to run a sub-4.5 40 with a 40-plus inch vertical and an 11-foot-plus broad jump, according to NFL Research. The breathtaking numbers solidified his projection as a top-10 draft pick.
At the NFL Combine, Sonny Styles showed his athleticism even before running a 4.46-second 40-yard dash. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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But Laurinaitis pointed to Styles’ approach and processing ability as evidence of his desire to be “special.”
As the green dot in Ohio State’s defense, Styles communicated everything. With the OSU offense on the field, the defensive coaching staff would watch the previous defensive series together on their tablets. By the time the coaches finished talking, Styles already had a tablet in hand, knowing the corrections that needed to be made.
“I’ll just go over to him and be like, ‘Hey, you see play 3?’ [He’s like,] ‘Yeah, I already saw. I have to get here or so-and-so has got to get here, or maybe I should make this stunt call,’” Laurinaitis told me. “It’s already been processed in his brain, so it’s more collaborative.
“He didn’t need a ton of reps at practice to go see [a tweak]. He would just go in the next series, and you could expect him to adjust and start changing up the stunts just because he’s super smart.”
A five-star recruit in high school, Styles played his first two college seasons as a safety. But Laurinaitis, who was an OSU graduate assistant in 2023, never projected him as a safety at the NFL level. He saw a future first-round pick as an “elite cover linebacker.” He’d tell him, too.
Laurinaitis, the former NFL linebacker and Ohio State great, saw Styles as a player with the size and skills to make a seamless transition.
Over the past two years as a linebacker, Styles recorded 182 tackles (17 for loss), seven sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles and an interception.
“Every NFL person I’ve talked to about Sonny Styles, I’ve said, ‘Look, he’s only played linebacker two seasons of his entire life,’” Laurinaitis told me. “So you’re getting a guy who’s going to get way more comfortable [because] the game is finally slowing down for him at that level on the defense. You’re not getting a fully formed guy yet, which I think is very scary.”
Buckeyes linebackers coach James Laurinaitis, who played the position in the NFL for eight years, thinks Styles will be “very scary” at the next level. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
One of Laurinaitis’ favorite memories of Styles last season was his game against Michigan, which the Buckeyes beat to snap a four-game losing streak against their bitter rival. He saw Styles’ physicality hit a new gear.
“He just felt like he couldn’t be blocked,” Laurinaitis said. “Every block that he was taking on, it was like he was letting it be known. It was the most I’d seen him kind of talk trash, and it was just like he played big boy football that day. And it continued on against Indiana [in the Big Ten title game]. He was in a stretch of games at the end of the season where you could just tell the physicality and violence he was playing with.”
In addition to Styles being an incredible athlete, Laurinaitis said the team that drafts him will also be getting a “first class” individual.
“He balances that looseness of clowning around and having fun with the guys with this seriousness of locking in and when to lock in,” Laurinaitis told me. “He has a good feel for both. So you’re never too uptight at practice, but I think he’s tuned into what’s happening to everybody around him. He’s always paying attention. He’s always inquiring.
“He’ll be at every single community outreach and charity function that an organization does. And then you match all the freakish athletic ability to it with the work ethic, you’re like, ‘Holy smokes, no wonder this dude is such a special talent and person.’”
