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BREAKING: Buckeyes LB Sonny Styles returning for senior season

Spencer-Holbrookby:Spencer Holbrook•01/24/25•

SpencerHolbrook

Sonny
Ohio State LB Sonny Styles (© Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

COLUMBUS — Sonny Styles already has a national championship ring to show for his Ohio State career. He’s not finished with his time with the Buckeyes, though.

Styles is returning for his senior season, he announced on social media, giving the Buckeyes defense a massive boost as it prepares to replace eight starters from a championship team.

Styles started all 16 games at linebacker for the Buckeyes — in his first year as a college football linebacker. He tallied 100 combined tackles, 11 tackles for loss and six sacks during the national championship run, making a major leap between the regular season and the four-game College Football Playoff run to the national title.

During his three-year career, Styles has 162 total tackles to go with 17 tackles for loss and eight sacks. He also had six pass deflections, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery at Ohio State during his three-year career.

After playing two years at safety and starting during his second of those two years, he played a pivotal linebacker role alongside senior captain Cody Simon on the road to an emphatic national championship. Both of those players helped the Buckeyes replace Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers as the starting linebackers for the defense, which finished in the top three of every major defensive category that matters in college football.

Styles was part of a defense that was absolutely dominant this season, finishing the national championship run with these defensive statistics to show for it:

+ No. 1 scoring defense
+ No. 1 total defense
+ No. 1 defense in yards per play
+ No. 1 in total touchdowns per game
+ No. 1 in redzone touchdowns allowed (in 16 games)
+ No. 2 sack yards defense
+ No. 2 tackles for loss yards
+ No. 2 total defensive sacks
+ No. 2 in passing touchdowns allowed per game
+ No. 2 in opponent red zone scoring percentage
+ No. 2 in opponent red zone touchdowns
+ No. 3 run defense
+ No. 3 in pass defense
+ No. 3 in sacks per game

That’s truly remarkable for the national title-winning Buckeyes defensive unit

Now he’s returning for one more season as a leader and linebacker at Ohio State — still with some unfinished business despite winning a national title.

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