The Lorenzo Styles Cornerback Experiment Continues For Notre Dame

The Lorenzo Styles cornerback experiment has escalated quickly at Notre Dame. The junior wide receiver was first witnessed by media eyes practicing with the cornerbacks just last week. Styles was still wearing a blue practice jersey in practice last Wednesday, which signifies an offensive player, but when he spoke with the media after this Tuesday’s practice, he did so wearing the white jersey of a defensive player.

"Athletically, I feel like I’m a pretty gifted athlete,” Styles said when asked how his skillset suits him for playing cornerback. "It’s just the technical skills. Growing up, I had that defensive background, I’ve had some defensive coaches. Being honest, when I came into college, I really didn’t have a receivers coach who I worked on that much. So that was a big transition for me when I first came here, just to get to the point where I’m at now.”

Styles has spent his first two seasons at Notre Dame focusing solely on playing wide receiver. He has played 26 of a possible 26 games in those two seasons, with none of those snaps coming on defense. He did see extensive special teams duty as a freshman in 2021, though.

But defense is certainly in his blood. His father, Lorenzo Styles, was a two-year starting linebacker at Ohio State, where he racked up 249 tackles in his final two seasons to go with 20 tackles for loss. The elder Styles was a third round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in the 1995 NFL Draft. His younger brother, Sonny Styles, is currently a linebacker for the Buckeyes.

The athleticism that you want in a cornerback didn't go unnoticed by the Irish coaches.

"I always knew he was a very good athlete since he first got here, seeing him move around,” Irish cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens said of Styles. "When I look at receivers, I can kind of see if that guy can play on the other side of the ball. It’s mental, he wants to help the team and be a great football player. He wanted to come over, dabble in the corner world. He’s growing every day.”

The idea for Styles to try playing defense started with Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, who saw traits in the former high school receiver and defensive back that he thought could translate for him in the Notre Dame secondary.

"I want him to feel good about what position he’s playing,” Freeman recalled. "So, I said, ‘Hey, if you want to experiment, play a little bit of DB in 1-on-1s, play man.’ Now he did it in high school, and I know a lot of people from where he's from — in Columbus, Ohio — and they said he was a dang good DB in high school. I've always just kind of put that carrot in his ear. But it was him ultimately that said, ‘Okay, I want to try it. I want to try it, coach. I know you said it.’ We'll see after next week what we decide to do.”

Styles finished last season with 30 receptions, which were second to Michael Mayer’s team-leading 67. His 340 yards were the third-most by any Fighting Irish pass catcher. He had several drops and six games with two or fewer receptions that typified an inconsistent level of play.

"I just had a little bit of a mental challenge,” Styles said. “But I definitely got past that. I’ve been making plays all spring ball. I feel real confident gaining trust with the quarterback when I was playing receiver, gaining my trust back with the coaches. I feel really good.”

Styles has now fully embraced the opportunity to play defense, but he also doesn’t sound ready to give up playing offense, either.

"I’m a football player,” Styles said when asked if he wants to make playing defense his full-time job. "So, if they want me to go catch some passes, I’ll go catch some passes and make some plays. If they want me to go lock some people down, I can go do that too. I feel pretty confident in both.”

The former Pickerington (Ohio) Central standout played on both sides of the ball for the Tigers, and some programs - including Ohio State - wanted him to play cornerback in college. He has been able to pick those defensive skills back up quickly this spring.

"If I’m being honest, it felt like riding a bike a little bit,” Styles began. "I was out there today and felt really good, really confident. I don’t fully grasp the defense yet, just because I’ve only been in like one or two meetings. So that was a little bit hard for me. Then there’s definitely some technical things [to work on]. Already playing in the college game, I’m already caught up with the pace of the game and the speed of it. I felt good today.”

With the Blue-Gold Game this weekend, spring is winding down quickly, but there will be plenty of work Styles can put in this summer to prepare himself for August’s fall training camp.

"Just grow mentally, growing with technique,” Mickens said of what Styles summer priorities will be. "That’s the case all the time. Repetition is a big part of that. Having a mature group, they’re helping him a lot in the summer getting out there with techniques. Mentally, we’ll progress him. Part two of that creed is play fast, so knowing what to do and understanding the little details.”

Styles is expected to see time on both offense and defense in this Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game.

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