Who is Sonny Styles? Meet Ohio State LB whose NFL Draft stock is soaring after crushing NFL combine

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Who is Sonny Styles? Meet Ohio State LB whose NFL Draft stock is soaring after crushing NFL combine originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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The NFL Scouting Combine is well underway in Indianapolis. Every year, the combine marks the official start of the NFL draft evaluation season. In Indy, scouts and coaches are typically seeing prospects work out specifically for them for the first time.

One name popping off the page is Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. The 6-foot-5 linebacker had a huge performance on the first day of on-field workouts Thursday and became the talk of the event.

Let’s take a look at the buzz surrounding Styles after his combine performance, a look back at his Ohio State career and more.

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Who is Sonny Styles?

Sonny Styles is a former Ohio State linebacker who spent the last four seasons with the Buckeyes. He helped lead the Buckeyes to a national title during the 2024 season, and racked up 244 total tackles with 22.5 for loss and nine sacks across his Buckeye career. 

Coming out of high school, Styles was the No. 1 overall safety prospect in the country per 247Sports, a 5-star out of Pickerington, Ohio. Although he started his career as a safety in Columbus, he converted to a linebacker ahead of the 2024 season. He played in 12 games as a true freshman in 2022, most of them when he was still just 17 years old.   

Although Styles entered Indianapolis expected to go somewhere in the first round, his combine performance could be enough to vault him into the top five or 10 first picks.   

MORE: Deep dive into Sonny Styles's combine performance

Sonny Styles combine stats

Here's a look at Styles' combine measurement and workout times. He led all linebackers in the 40-yard dash, vertical jump and broad jump, tying for tied for first in the 10-yard split with TCU's Nambi Obizor: 

EventResult40-yard dash4.4610-yard split1.56Vertical Jump43.5''Broad Jump11' 2''3-Cone Drill7.0920-yard shuttle4.26Bench Press

At one point during his workouts, Styles was given a RAS score of a 10.00.  That faded a bit when he had a great but not historic agility drill potion of the workout. 

Sonny Styles is a LB prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored an unofficial 10.00 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1 out of 3215 LB from 1987 to 2026.

Splits projected, all times unofficial, agilities left, bench tmrw, but 10.00 RAS watch is officially on!… pic.twitter.com/f2JFhymsXH

— RAS.football (@MathBomb) February 27, 2026

Relative Athletic Score (RAS) is a metric that was developed by Kent Lee Platte to help add numerical grades to NFL draft prospects. It takes the data from their Combine and/or pro day performance and helps to give them a result relative to the history of their position. 

MORE: NFL combine results tracker

Reactions to Sonny Styles’ combine performance

Styles' combine performance has generated plenty of buzz. For starters, some of his numbers measure up to some NFL greats, and guys that don't even play the same position as him: 

His vertical jump was even higher than some NBA players! 

Sonny Styles draft projections

Most mock drafts heading into the combine had Styles as a first-rounder. TSN's Vinnie Iyer and NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah  had him going No. 15 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but ESPN's Mel Kiper had him go as high as No. 7 overall to the Washington Commanders. 

Post-combine, it looks like Styles will move further into the top 10, with a definite possibility for him to land somewhere inside the top-five: 

Here's NFL.com's Lance Zierlein on Styles' outlook as a prospect: 

Styles began his Ohio State career as a safety, but he settled in at linebacker in 2024. He’s improved in diagnosing play development. The former Buckeye diffuses block attempts with crisp hand strikes and leverages run fits with force/anchor strength. There are times when he slips back into a containment-based approach, but he has plenty of short-area quickness and pursuit speed to get where he needs to go.

He can make an impact from multiple spots on the field and is a plus man-cover talent. Styles is an emerging player with the traits and versatility to garner longer looks by NFL evaluators. He could see his stock soar leading up to draft day. 

Sonny Styles’ Ohio State stats 

Styles had his best season at Ohio State as a junior, finishing second on the team in total tackles (100), adding six sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss

SeasonTeamPosGSoloAstCombTFLSkIntPDFRFF2022Ohio StateS105491000002023Ohio StateS133221534.5201012024Ohio StateLB16485210010.5605112025Ohio StateLB144636826.511301

Where is Sonny Styles from?

Sonny Styles is from Pickerington, Ohio, which has produced a number of big-name NFL stars. The suburb of Columbus has produced the likes of Jack Sawyer, Taco Charlton, Roger Lewis Jr. and Brian Peters.

MORE: The Sporting News' latest 2026 mock draft

How old is Sonny Styles?

Sonny Styles is 21 years old, born Nov. 24. 2004. He'll be just 22 in the middle of his rookie season, wherever that may be. 

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