Ohio State needed to keep up the momentum on the defensive side of the ball.
The Buckeyes announced Tuesday night that former Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles would join the staff in the same role, looking to turn around a defense that was dreadful in stopping opposing passing offenses and holding teams on third down.
The defensive momentum rolled into Wednesday as 2023 five-star athlete Alex “Sonny” Styles announced he would be reclassifying to the 2022 class and will play for Ohio State next season.
For Styles, it’s really the perfect time to join a defense that’s about to start a makeover process.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said Sunday, when asked about the transfer portal, that the linebacker position was thin during the 2021 season and looks to be thin heading into the 2022 campaign.
At 6-foot-5, 216 pounds, Styles has the body to join that room right away along with five-star CJ Hicks and four-star Gabe Powers, who just won Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year for football. Along with returners like Steele Chambers, Cody Simon and Tommy Eichenberg, the linebackers room could have a mix of experience and talent that puts it over the top in 2022.
However, Styles also has experience playing safety and could be transformed into a “bullet,” joining 2022 four-star safety Kye Stokes in the secondary in a room with players like Ronnie Hickman, Bryson Shaw and Lathan Ransom set to return.
Styles played a mix of both safety and linebacker at Pickerington Central High School outside of Columbus, whether it was high at safety or in the middle of the field at linebacker. No matter where he was, though, it seems like he still made a difference, showing an explosiveness off the snap and tenacity with each tackle he made.
It’s an explosiveness that Ohio State seemed to be missing at times defensively, getting manhandled up front by the Michigan offensive line to allow running backs Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins to get consistently to the second level of the defense and keep the Wolverines ahead of schedule.
However, the last time Ohio State brought in a reclassified recruit, it did not go as the program would have hoped.
Freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers announced his intention to enter the transfer portal Friday, one season after reclassifying from the 2022 class and joining the Buckeyes a year earlier than expected. All throughout the season, as redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud led the No. 1 total offense in the country, Day made it clear that Ewers was progressing, but nowhere close to being ready to take the field.
However, Styles is not going across the country, just 30 minutes west. And he has the family experience to back him up too: his father, being a former Ohio State linebacker Lorenzo Styles Sr. and the brother of current Notre Dame wide receiver Lorenzo Style Jr., who the Buckeyes will open the 2022 season against Sept. 3.
With five-star safety Xavier Nwankpa making his decision Wednesday between Ohio State, Iowa and Notre Dame, but seemingly trending toward remaining in his home state, with four-star safety Zion Branch trending toward USC, Ohio State’s defense needed a win.
With the announcement of Knowles and the transformation he’s going to bring, the Buckeyes needed another face to signify the start of something new.
Alex "Sonny" Styles’ arrival may do just that.