Predicting how Ohio State will use Sonny Styles in 2023

The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing with our eighth positional week with the Buckeyes safeties unit.

COLUMBUS — Sonny Styles is a chess piece for the Ohio State defense. Not a pawn, a knight, a bishop or a rook. But a queen, because the Buckeyes can move him anywhere.

He stands 6-foot-4, 228 pounds, and he can make plays at all three levels. Styles is fluid in space except has the size to deliver big-time hits. He can play from the hash to the boundary, in part thanks to top-end closing speed. And his athleticism gives him a ceiling to go toe-to-toe with bonafide wide receivers.

Plus, he’s only 18 years old and has already played in a College Football Playoff.

After reclassifying and graduating from nearby Pickerington Central, Styles was still ranked the No. 4 overall prospect the 2022 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He played the second-most special teams snaps (224) of any Buckeyes player last year, per Pro Football Focus, and he also logged 69 total defensive snaps, 12 of which came against Georgia in the Peach Bowl CFP semifinal.

Styles, the younger brother of Lorenzo Styles Jr. — a Notre Dame transfer who now plays cornerback for the Buckeyes — and the son of Lorenzo Styles Sr. — an Ohio State linebacker from 1992-94 and Super Bowl champion — looks back at his decision to reclassify fondly.

“I never second guessed it,” Styles said this spring. “I knew why I came here early. I came here early to get better. I felt like coming here, I was going to get better every day, I was gonna go against the best every day.”

Styles continued: “And I actually got a chance to play.”

Styles will have an even more opportunities to play in 2023. The question is, how much? And, perhaps more importantly, where?

The role Sonny Styles played for Ohio State in the Peach Bowl…

STYLES’ PEACH BOWL SNAP BREAKDOWN

DEFENSIVE ALIGNMENTSNAP TOTALDefensive Line1Box 7Slot3Corner1Stat Source: PFF

There were a few Ohio State personnel surprises in the Peach Bowl. On offense, true freshman running back Dallan Hayden made his first career start. On other side of the ball, fellow true freshman Styles made his CFP debut on the Buckeyes’ first defensive series of the night.

Styles was on the field for every Ohio State kickoff, kickoff return, punt return and field goal/extra point block team snap during the semifinal. His defensive impact, however, really took place over the first two quarters of the game.

OUTLOOK

Of Styles’ 12 defensive snaps, seven occurred in the box. He served as an additional linebacker in these situations, taking the place of Tanner McCalister at the “nickel” safety spot in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ 4-2-5 system.

So Lathan Ransom was still at the “bandit,” or boundary side safety position, and Ronnie Hickman was still at the “adjuster,” or free safety position.

Here’s a look at how the above play turned out. Styles climbed the box during the Georgia play fake before ultimately rushing quarterback Stetson Bennett IV. Styles didn’t get there in time, and Bennett located his receiver to move the chains.

The next play, Styles split out into coverage, alongside Buckeyes cornerback Denzel Burke. Styles lined up to the inside of Georgia tight end Darnell Washington, a 6-foot-7, 270 pounder who wound up being a third-round selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers in this year’s NFL Draft.

The above play resulted in a Bennett incompletion, albeit to the other side of the field. That was a matchup Styles found himself in more than once. Below, you can see Styles dropping back in coverage from the box to track the inline Washington.

Styles wasn’t targeted in the Peach Bowl and, hence, didn’t allow a reception. It’s worth noting that Washington left the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter and didn’t return. Had Washington not suffered an early exit, would Styles have seen more run in the Peach Bowl? It’s possible.

Styles’ first defensive snap of the second quarter saw him back in the box: to the left of linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and to the right of linebacker Steele Chambers.

Chambers made his best play of the season, reading a wheel route and intercepting Bennett to set up a third Ohio State touchdown, which staked the Buckeyes to a 21-7 lead at the time.

Styles’ CFP debut did include a lowlight.

As Georgia bounced back on its second offensive series of the second quarter, Styles was on the receiving end of a bulldozing Kendall Minton. The Bulldogs back ran through Styles, taking the safety with him just past the pylon. Also on that play, Styles struggled to get off the block of Georgia tight end Oscar Delp.

That’s simply a reminder that Styles has room to grow, both in terms of physical maturation and play experience. But the bottom line is this: Styles did a bit of everything in those 12 snaps. He rushed the passer, he defended the run in the box like an additional linebacker and matched up in coverage, even in the slot and out wide.

Ohio State safeties coach Perry Eliano was asked in late March if Styles will build on the kind of role he had in the Peach Bowl.

“Yeah, to a certain degree,” Eliano said. “Absolutely.”

Eliano continued: “We’ve streamlined it for Sonny. So you’ll see Sonny more in a streamlined position to where he can excel and utilize his God-given ability. The beauty of it now is it’s Year Two. I’ve been around the guys. They’ve been around me. I know exactly what they are and where their strengths are. And we’re continuing to close the gap on their challenges.

“And so for Sonny, it’s just a matter of, now, first year in spring ball — you got to realize, Sonny didn’t have a spring ball last year. He came in in the summer, and then all of a sudden here comes fall camp as a 17-year-old. So now he’s 18 years old with his first full spring. And he’s excelling. And the beauty of it is, like I said, he’s coachable. He understands the game of football, and he’s hungry to continue to get better each and every day.”

Ohio State’s ‘dual plan’ for Styles?

There are pros and cons to being a chess piece for a defense. On one hand, a playmaker of that breed can do a lot of different things. On the other hand, such versatility can end up making them defensive nomads. Take Isaiah Simmons, for example.

Coming out of Clemson, he was the No. 8 overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals. Scouts marveled at his combination of size and speed. Then-Cardinals general manager Steve Keim called Simmons an “eraser,” another description of a “Swiss Army knife” defender. And, yet, it took Arizona more than a full season to figure out how to get consistent production from Simmons at the next level.

The issue? Getting lost in a player’s wide-ranging skill set and not finding a home for them in the defensive system.

Sometimes simple is better. That’s why Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer has his hand back in the dirt full time this season rather than him returning to the hybrid D-End/linebacker “JACK” position again. And that’s why Eliano and Knowles want to be intentional with Styles’ role.

“We’re kind of dabbling in some things,” Eliano said. “Really and truthfully, we want him to be great at specific things instead of OK at a lot of things. So that’s the conversation what I mean by streamlining. You won’t see him in a lot of places. You’ll see him pretty stationary in one-to-two spots.”

Eliano added: “I’m a truth teller. I know his strengths. I know where he’s challenged, and I know what we got to do to continue to get better. But he is definitely going to help this football team win games and execute at a high level.”

At times throughout the spring, Styles patrolled the line of scrimmage at nickel, blitzed and defended the run. That’s part of what Knowles calls a “dual plan” for the standout sophomore. The other half of that could include Styles playing up high or rotating in at the bandit, where Ransom will almost certainly start.

Styles repped at all three safety positions — nickel, adjuster and bandit — this spring.

“You adapt what he does best to the defense and what I call when he’s in there,” Knowles said in late May. “I think, really, the sky’s the limit with Sonny.”

Styles said this spring that, wherever the staff puts him, he’ll dial in on that position. He echoed Eliano’s earlier sentiment.

“I want to be good at one thing,” Styles said.

Prediction…

I’ll go back to what Eliano said: “You’ll see him pretty stationary in one-to-two spots.”

So, while it’s easy to get carried away with Styles’ unique play type, one-to-two spots it is. Here’s where I see Ohio State using him this season:

(1) Rotational nickel: Styles will oscillate in and out of the box and hover near the line of scrimmage like a linebacker or strong safety on early downs, especially against run-heavy, 12-personnel teams. Again, this package might not be included every series, given opponent and game situation, but it should allow Styles a more consistent snap count than a rotational role behind Ransom at bandit.

(2) Rotational bandit: Styles isn’t beating out Ransom for the bandit spot. Ransom was a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist last season and could very well emerge as the leader of Ohio State’s safety room in 2023. But Styles will still get snaps here and there at bandit, particularly in late-game situations when the Buckeyes already have a significant lead. This position suits Styles’ blend of speed and striking power well.

“I think when you look at the potential best 11 players for the 2023 defense, he’s a guy that our staff is gonna point at and say, ‘We need to find a way to get him in there,’” Knowles said of Styles in March.

“He held his own in the semifinal. And I think he’s just got all kinds of skills. So, yeah, we gotta experiment with him in different places. See what’s best for Sonny and our defense.”

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