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scarletngray
Gold Pants
SS is very new to the position. The more comfortable he gets the more his athleticism will take over. Let's give him time.
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Come onnnnnnnn
Next thing you know you’ll be expecting that this unicorn coach be an alumnus with a young family that is putting down roots in C-bus
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Jim Knowles Happy With Sonny Styles’ Progress Switching From Safety to Linebacker for Buckeyes: “I'm Very Pleased”
Jim Knowles thinks Sonny Styles is a really good player who listens to coaching, meaning any mistakes the former safety-turned-linebacker makes are on him as a coach.
Jim Knowles Happy With Sonny Styles’ Progress Switching From Safety to Linebacker for Buckeyes: “I'm Very Pleased”
A course of development still lies ahead for Sonny Styles.
For all the progress he made transitioning from safety to linebacker in spring practice and preseason camp, nothing matches in-game reps. His first month starting at linebacker has included a start at all three of Ohio State's linebacker positions: Will, his primary spot where he's spent a majority of his snaps; Mike, where he started in place of Cody Simon in Week 1; and Sam, as the Buckeyes used their three-linebacker package heavily against Michigan State in last weekend’s 38-7 win.
Styles hasn’t been perfect in his first four games as a linebacker. But because Jim Knowles believes in who Styles is as a player and person, the defensive coordinator places any mistakes the junior makes on himself.
"I'm very pleased with Sonny," Knowles said. "I think he's being put into a lot of different situations. Playing Sam, playing Will, he's played Mike. All of those positions have their nuances to them. And I know this, that sometimes when you see him or any of our players being off on a play or looking like they're out of position, that to me goes back to me and training and coaching."
Knowles has moved safeties to linebacker before and did so successfully with Malcolm Rodriguez at Oklahoma State. Rodriguez started his career at safety and turned into a key player by his third year under Knowles in 2019, with 103 tackles and an interception. Out of need, he switched to Will linebacker for the Cowboys in 2020. Rodriguez built off a solid year during COVID-19 with 82 tackles and three sacks in 11 games to a big 2021 where he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors with 130 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and three sacks with an interception and four forced fumbles. The Detroit Lions scooped him up in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft and he has 124 tackles with two sacks thus far in his career, the second of which came on Monday.
Styles and Rodriguez have different physical profiles. Styles is 6-4, 235 pounds while Rodriguez was 5-11, 225 when he played at the other OSU. Rodriguez was also a starting safety for two years before moving to linebacker whereas Styles had only been a starter for one, rotating at nickel with Jordan Hancock in the first half of last season before sliding back to strong safety in the back half of the campaign to replace an injured Lathan Ransom.
That said, there’s an expectation for players to come along more rapidly at Ohio State.
"Malcolm, he was on the top of his game in year three," Knowles said. "I think Sonny and Malcolm are a little different. You can look at them and see that. And plus, at Ohio State, we don't have time for year three. So Sonny's in an accelerated program, that's all I can say, and it's just going to keep getting better."
There have certainly been coachable moments in Styles’ first four games as a linebacker that could use correction.
It's clear Styles, the linebacker nearest the camera in the above clip, has been slow to react on some plays. On this run, which some may have already seen in yesterday's Stock Up/Down, Styles doesn't fill the open C-gap in nearly enough time, then gets blocked as Michigan State rattles off its longest run of the game.
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The bolded bit is true
But it was also the longest run given up by the team all season
It drives me crazy to see them start slow game after game
what I failed to appreciate during the game was just how much they tightened up after this play
For the entire rest of the game the Buckeyes allowed 28 yards on 24 carries
Yes, Sonny was flat footed on that play
But whether it was him or the coaching, he improved a great deal from there
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ALWAYS SONNY IN COLUMBUS. I was critical of Sonny Styles’ performance through four games. I said I had concerns with his development (or lack thereof). I said he looked “lost.” I said his transition has been “less than smooth.” I said the patience of Ohio State coaches and fans “could continue to wear thin” if he didn’t pick up the slack.
I think he heard me — and all the other people who critiqued his performance in 2024.
Styles was one of Ohio State’s best defenders versus Iowa, collecting a team-best seven tackles, four solo stops and two tackles for loss. While it should be noted all 105,135 people in Ohio Stadium — and the millions watching on television — knew Iowa wanted to run the football on Saturday, Styles still looked instinctual and violent as he ran crashed into Kaleb Johnson and several other Hawkeyes for three-and-a-half quarters.
“I just played free,” Styles said of his performance. “I started doing a tradition with my grandparents where I pray with them before games. I just pray for confidence in God, myself and things like that. I feel like when you play with that confidence, you play more free and go fast. You don’t worry about anything.”
When Eleven Warriors editor Dan Hope asked Styles if he didn’t play as free in the previous four games, the Pickerington native offered a brief response.
“I was just playing a little slow. I could (have gone) more. A few plays I could have made that I didn’t. I feel like today I was playing a little more free — just playing fast, just getting on it,” he said.
I like Styles when he’s free. I like Styles when he’s fast.
Let’s hope he continues in both this weekend.
www.elevenwarriors.com
I think he heard me — and all the other people who critiqued his performance in 2024.
Styles was one of Ohio State’s best defenders versus Iowa, collecting a team-best seven tackles, four solo stops and two tackles for loss. While it should be noted all 105,135 people in Ohio Stadium — and the millions watching on television — knew Iowa wanted to run the football on Saturday, Styles still looked instinctual and violent as he ran crashed into Kaleb Johnson and several other Hawkeyes for three-and-a-half quarters.
“I just played free,” Styles said of his performance. “I started doing a tradition with my grandparents where I pray with them before games. I just pray for confidence in God, myself and things like that. I feel like when you play with that confidence, you play more free and go fast. You don’t worry about anything.”
When Eleven Warriors editor Dan Hope asked Styles if he didn’t play as free in the previous four games, the Pickerington native offered a brief response.
“I was just playing a little slow. I could (have gone) more. A few plays I could have made that I didn’t. I feel like today I was playing a little more free — just playing fast, just getting on it,” he said.
I like Styles when he’s free. I like Styles when he’s fast.
Let’s hope he continues in both this weekend.
Skull Session: Ohio State “Super Excited” for Top-Three Showdown with Oregon, the Buckeyes’ Offensive Line Flexes on Iowa and Sonny Styles Shines Versus the Hawkeyes
Ohio State is "super excited" for its top-three showdown with Oregon, the Buckeyes' O-line flexes on Iowa and Sonny Styles shines against Iowa.
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Sonny Styles Named Semifinalist for Butkus Award
By Garrick Hodge on November 4, 2024 at 3:15 pm @garrick_hodge
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Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles is one of 15 semifinalists for the most prestigious honor given to a linebacker in college football.
The Butkus Foundation announced Monday that Styles is a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, which honors college football’s best linebacker.
Styles converted to linebacker after primarily lining up at safety last season and leads Ohio State with 52 tackles. He's added 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery.
Ohio State commit Riley Pettijohn was also named Monday as a semifinalist for the high school version of the Butkus Award.
Finalists for the Butkus Award will be selected on Nov. 25 with a winner announced on Dec. 10. The last Ohio State player to win the award is now coaching Styles, as James Laurinaitis won the Butkus Award as a senior in 2007.
Sonny Styles Named Semifinalist for Butkus Award
Ohio State’s Sonny Styles is a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, which honors college football’s best linebacker.
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OregonBuckeye
Semper Fi Buckeyes
I think he should be used more like Browning was in 2019. He is lost in space as a traditional LB.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Sonny Styles Showing He Can Be a Weapon At Linebacker for Ohio State With Two-Sack, Two-PBU Performance vs. Northwestern
Two sacks and two pass breakups must be close to the most impact one can expect a linebacker to have on an opposing passing game.A litany of teams across college football will go their entire season without getting multiple quarterback takedowns and multiple pass deflections in a single contest from a linebacker. But that's what Ohio State got from Sonny Styles against Northwestern on Saturday.
"We need Sonny to be as productive as he was today," Ryan Day said postgame. "When you can do it in man coverage, you can do it in zone coverage, you can blitz, you start to mix in all these different things you can do, then you just become more of a weapon."
Racking up six tackles with his pair of sacks and PBUs, Styles continued emerging as a weapon at linebacker for the Buckeyes vs. the Wildcats, now with 20 tackles, three sacks and three PBUs in his last three games.
"It feels good," Styles said. "I think I made the plays I should have. Like the plays that were there, I made them. And I think I missed out on some plays too. So I'm kind of more focused on the plays that I didn't make. Like I said, there's issues always."
The most iconic way for a linebacker to influence opposing passing attacks is by blitzing.
Storm downhill and sack the quarterback or at least pressure him. It's something the best linebackers throughout football lore are known for. Since the Oregon loss earlier this year, Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has dialed up more blitzes and simulated pressures to get more men involved in the pass rush than just defensive linemen.
The problem is that they haven't always finished those plays when given opportunities. Quarterbacks have been able to step up in the pocket or otherwise evade pressure from Ohio State's defense at various points this season, even when they get a free run. As such, the Buckeyes have drilled down on both how to get by offensive linemen and running backs blocking their blitzers and how to finish plays in the backfield.
"That's something that we've been working on," Day said. "The linebackers, DBs, everybody blitzing a little bit better and more efficiently with some of the tools that they need. You don't just run on a blitz and go sack the quarterback. There's a lot that goes with that. There's a couple in the last few weeks (where) we've gone right by the quarterback full speed, but have missed him."
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