How Ohio State's Sonny Styles unlocked top-10 draft potential at LB after a position switch

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A few days before leaving Columbus for his last college game, Sonny Styles searched his phone for a text message from 2024.“I’m so happy for you man,” James Laurinaitis told him then. “You’re going to be a first-round linebacker here. I’m telling you, right now.”Laurinaitis was an All-American linebacker at Ohio State who won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defender in 2006. In 2024, he was promoted from graduate assistant to linebackers coach of the Buckeyes. He couldn’t contain his excitement about Styles, a 6-foot-4 safety, moving full-time to linebacker.Advertisement