Buckeyes Set to Welcome Home a Legend As the Victory Bell Ringer on Saturday

The Ohio State Buckeyes are batting 1.000 with Victory Bell ringers this season. It began with Jim Tressell, Malcolm Jenkins, and  Cardale Jones, just to name a few of the names that have done it so far this year.

The list is growing this weekend against the Northwestern Wildcats as they welcome home a legend, Sonny Styles, back into the Horseshoe for the weekend. 

Styles' Washington Commanders team is playing on Thursday Night Football in a game in which he took on his former teammate, Arvell Reese. As we have come to expect, these two players were making plays all night long and are proving to be two of the young stars in the league.

For Styles specifically, he had a few growing pains in the first couple of games of the season, but he has settled in and is considered to be one of the great linebackers in the entire game as a rookie.

So far on the NFL season, Styles has 32 tackles on the year, one sack, one forced fumble, and one interception. It's been an impressive beginning to his career, and he is looking to continue it.

For this weekend, he gets to be a Buckeye, if only for a day. Styles gets to go back home to a place where he continued his greatness. His Buckeyes' story is one of the best ones. 

He is a Central Ohio kid who went to Ohio State as a safety while Ryan Day and the Buckeyes just waited until he was ready to make the switch to linebacker. When he did, it unlocked the entire Buckeyes defense. 

The first year that he played the position, he ran with Cody Simon, and boy, were they amazing together. They were a huge reason that the Buckeyes went all the way to win the National Championship in 2024.

Then, in his best season, he and Arvell Reese became the best one-two punch maybe ever to play the linebacker position. There was just nothing to do on the field last year when that defense was on the field. 

It's unbelievable that they didn't repeat as Champions, but he got his one ring. When he comes back to Columbus, he needs to bring whatever good juju he has because the Buckeyes need it badly. 

They are in a rut right now, and it is hard to see the exit. It's a must-win for the Buckeyes, and they're bringing out all of the big guns. Styles comes home for the first time as a pro and will try to get the Buckeyes a win.