Lorenzo Styles Jr. wouldn’t have imagined he’d be in the same NFL draft class as his younger brother when he started his college career five years ago.
Sonny Styles was a high school junior at the time as Lorenzo started his career as a Notre Dame wide receiver. If Lorenzo had played only four years of college football and Sonny had remained in his original high school class, Sonny wouldn’t have even been eligible to enter the same draft as his brother.
But Sonny ended up starting his college career just one year after Lorenzo, skipping his senior year of high school and reclassifying to join Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class. One year later, Lorenzo transferred to Ohio State to become a defensive back, taking a redshirt year in the process. Now, after three years of playing at Ohio State together, the Styles brothers are set to become NFL players together as both are projected to be selected in this week’s NFL draft.
“Yeah, I did not think we were going to go through the combine together. I'm two years older than him,” Lorenzo said during his interview session at the NFL Scouting Combine. “He enrolled early to college, like there's a bunch of different elements in that, but we did talk about being in the NFL together and making it. And to have this moment and enjoy it with each other has been great.”
After winning a national championship together two seasons ago and starting together on Ohio State’s defense last season, the Styles brothers now have a chance to become the first-ever pair of brothers from Ohio State to be drafted in the same year.
“There's a lot of firsts we got to do as brothers here at Ohio State, so we're super grateful for that. It would mean a lot,” Lorenzo Jr. said at Ohio State’s pro day.
| Year | Round | Pick | Older Brother | Pos | Team | Year | Round | Pick | Younger Brother | Pos | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | 11 | 106 | LIN HOUSTON | G | BEARS | 1960 | 1 | 8 | JIM HOUSTON | LB | BROWNS |
| 1945 | 2 | 12 | JACK DUGGER | E | STEELERS | 1955 | 4 | 46 | DEAN DUGGER | E | EAGLES |
| 1976 | 1 | 24 | ARCHIE GRIFFIN | RB | BENGALS | 1978 | 2 | 35 | RAY GRIFFIN | DB | BENGALS |
| 2016 | 1 | 3 | JOEY BOSA | DE | CHARGERS | 2019 | 1 | 2 | NICK BOSA | DE | 49ERS |
| 2020 | 3 | 73 | DAVON HAMILTON | DT | JAGUARS | 2025 | 5 | 148 | TY HAMILTON | DT | RAMS |
They’ll continue a legacy of going from Ohio State to the NFL started by their father, also named Lorenzo Styles, who was an NFL linebacker for six seasons after the Atlanta Falcons picked him in the third round of the 1995 draft. It’ll be the fourth time a father/son combination of players from Ohio State has been selected in the NFL draft.
| Year | Round | Pick | Father | Pos | Team | Year | Round | Pick | Son | Pos | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 1 | 3 | HOPALONG CASSADY | RB | LIONS | 1976 | 8 | 213 | CRAIG CASSADY | DB | SAINTS |
| 1979 | 5 | 136 | RON SPRINGS | RB | COWBOYS | 1997 | 1 | 3 | SHAWN SPRINGS | CB | SEAHAWKS |
| 1983 | 11 | 307 | TIM SPENCER | RB | CHARGERS | 2015 | 6 | 187 | EVAN SPENCER | WR | COMMANDERS |
The Styles brothers have each had unique journeys to becoming 2026 NFL draft prospects. Both of them changed positions during their college careers, as Sonny played safety for his first two years at Ohio State before moving to linebacker in 2024.
Sonny always thought that could be a possibility as he got bigger, and there’s no question now that he made the right decision with that position change. An All-American linebacker for Ohio State last season, Sonny is now projected to be the first true linebacker drafted on Thursday (his Ohio State teammate, Arvell Reese, is expected to be an edge rusher in the NFL). He’ll very likely be a top-10 pick, and quite possibly a top-five pick, after a standout NFL Scouting Combine performance in which he posted a 43.5-inch vertical jump, 11-foot-2 broad jump and 4.46-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-5 and 244 pounds.
While the combine elevated Sonny’s profile as a draft prospect, his status as one of the draft’s top prospects was built on his play as a Buckeye, where he led the nation’s best defense with 82 tackles last season while wearing the Block O jersey as a team captain. Sonny is grateful to Ohio State, particularly linebackers coach James Laurinaitis, for believing in his ability to become an NFL linebacker, putting him in position to be one of the first players drafted during Thursday night’s first round.
“When I first switched from safety to linebacker, Coach Laurinaitis sent me a text, he said, ‘Hey man, you're going to be a first-round linebacker.’ And he kind of sent me that text before I even technically believed it. So for him to have that belief in me, it meant a lot,” Sonny said at the combine. “At the time I was doing it, I was trying to help the team. I felt like that was the best spot for us to win. And I felt like it was a spot I could do well at, but most importantly, help the team. So in the long run, it worked out, and I'm glad it did.”
Sonny will be in Pittsburgh on Thursday night to walk across the stage when his name is called during the first round of the draft. Lorenzo will be there, too, to support Sonny, but he’ll likely have to wait two more days to get his own call from the league.
While Sonny didn’t necessarily need his standout combine performance to be an early first-round draft pick, Lorenzo wasn’t widely projected to be drafted entering the combine. But he did exactly what he needed to do to propel himself into the draft’s late rounds by running a 4.27-second 40-yard dash, the fastest time of any defensive player at this year’s event.
Like his younger brother, though, Lorenzo takes more pride in his all-around ability as a football player than in how fast he can run or how high he can jump.
“I was really happy about my 40, but really the drill work, being able to show some of my ball skills, being able to show some of my fluidity working on my game and stuff, some things I've been working on, I feel like that was the best part,” Lorenzo said of his combine performance.
While Sonny became an undeniable star by the end of his Ohio State career, Lorenzo’s Buckeye career was more uneven. His only chance to be a full-time starter in Ohio State’s secondary was last season, and he battled a shoulder injury for much of the season, one that required surgery after the combine. But the former Buckeye nickelback still believes his time at Ohio State prepared him well for the NFL and that his best football is in front of him.
“Being honest, no. I definitely wanted to do more,” Lorenzo said when asked if his Ohio State career met his expectations. “But I feel like everything turned out the way it was supposed to be. Having the opportunity to go to Ohio State, I feel like it's developed me and prepared me for the NFL. There's going to be some hardships, so I had to go in and work my way up. Do special teams. If the situation was different, I might have not done those things, so I think it's prepared me to have a long NFL career and perform.”
There were many differences between Sonny and Lorenzo’s college careers, and the draft process has been different for each of them, too. But they’ve continued to be each other’s biggest supporters, as they each said they were more excited for their brother’s combine performance than they were for their own.
“I was super excited when he ran that fast. That was ridiculous, especially when he weighed almost 200 pounds. That's rolling. So I was super excited for him,” Sonny said of Lorenzo’s 40 time.
“Sonny's was crazy, dog. Being able to jump that high, be that big, that athletic,” Lorenzo said. “But I knew I had to go get something for myself, too, because I knew he might have jumped higher, so I had to run pretty fast. So I was happy for both of us.”
The Styles brothers are ready to carry on their family legacy
— NFL (@NFL) April 19, 2026
2026 NFL Draft April 23-25 on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
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They’ll be there for each other once more as Sonny becomes one of the draft’s top selections on Thursday and Lorenzo likely gets his phone call from the league on Saturday back home in Pickerington. The ultimate dream would be for both brothers to be drafted by the same team, but no matter where they end up, they feel fortunate that they have the opportunity to play in the NFL together.
“Maybe we go to the same team, maybe we play against each other, same conference, something like that. We'll see – it's just a blessing just to have this opportunity,” Lorenzo said.
