Sonny Styles, 5-Star Safety Prospect, Commits to Ohio State Over Notre Dame, Alabama

Ohio State received a commitment from 5-star safety Sonny Styles on Saturday.

Styles, who is part of the 2023 recruiting class, confirmed his commitment to OSU with the following tweet:

Styles is rated as a 5-star prospect by 247Sports, and he is ranked as the No. 8 overall player, No. 1 safety and No. 1 player from the state of Ohio in the 2023 class.

Given Styles' status as the top safety in his class, many of the top programs in college football pursued him.

Per 247Sports, Styles received scholarship offers from Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas and many more.

As noted by ESPN's Tom VanHaaren, Styles comes from a football family. His father, Lorenzo Styles, was a linebacker at Ohio State.

Styles' brother, Lorenzo Styles Jr., currently plays wide receiver at Notre Dame as well.

Despite having plenty of time left before making the leap from high school to college, Styles is already a physically imposing figure. He stands 6'4" and 215 pounds, making him bigger than most safeties at both the collegiate and NFL levels.

Allen Trieu of 247Sports views Styles as a future first-round pick in the NFL draft and compares him to former Clemson linebacker and safety Isaiah Simmons, who went eighth overall to the Arizona Cardinals in 2020.

As a star at Pickering Central High School in Pickering, Ohio, Styles committing to Ohio State continues what has been a recent trend for the Buckeyes.

According to VanHaaren, OSU has now secured a commitment from the top-ranked player from the state of Ohio in five consecutive recruiting classes.

Ohio State has been one of the dominant programs in college football over the past several years, losing two or fewer games in nine straight seasons from 2012-20.

The Buckeyes are 8-1 so far this season, and they have gone 28-3 in three full seasons under head coach Ryan Day.

Ohio State is trending toward another Big Ten title and College Football Playoff appearance this season, and continuing to bring in players of Styles' ilk should keep the Buckeyes moving in the right direction.