PICKERINGTON, Ohio — CJ Hicks was like a proud brother court side at Pickerington Central’s basketball game Friday night.

He sat in the front row of the middle of the home stands flanked by new Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles on one side and Alex “Sonny” Styles’ mother Laverna on the other, talking, yelling, cheering for his future Buckeye teammate.

This was not a new relationship, one that had just been cultivated since Styles committed to Ohio State in November. It's been growing for the past year and a half, through Styles' decision to reclassify from the 2023 class to 2022.

Hicks and Styles talk every day about anything and everything.

“Whatever, anything that’s going on throughout the day,” Styles said. “I feel like I call him a brother, for real.”

But over the past week, Hicks’ world has completely shifted.