Notre Dame wide receiver Lorenzo Styles enters transfer portal
Lorenzo Styles explored a move from receiver to cornerback in the second half of spring practice. Now he’s looking to move on from Notre Dame.
Styles is in the transfer portal, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. He will presumably not participate in Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game (2 p.m. ET, Peacock). The junior-to-be has two seasons of eligibility left.
The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Styles led all Notre Dame wide receivers in catches (30) and was second among them in yards (340) last year. His role decreased as the season went on, though, mainly due to issues with drops that he and head coach Marcus Freeman later admitted became a mental hurdle. Pro Football Focus credited him with six drops, including four in a five-game span. He had just seven catches in the final six games of the 2022 season.
It was a sharp turn in a promising career arc and followed a standout freshman year.
“I just had a little bit of a mental challenge,” Styles said of the drops. “But I definitely got past that.”
Notre Dame, in response, initially kept him at receiver in spring practice. It experimented with him at cornerback for a couple team drills in an April 12 open practice. He played exclusively wide receiver in an April 15 closed scrimmage and exclusively cornerback in an April 18 practice. He was selected in the team’s Blue-Gold Game draft Thursday as an “athlete” who would play both ways. One day later, he entered the transfer portal.
The idea of Styles playing cornerback in college wouldn’t have surprised anyone during his recruitment. He had FBS offers to play receiver, cornerback or as an athlete who could end up at either. His upbringing was defensive-focused. His father, Lorenzo, played linebacker at Ohio State and for six years in the NFL. His younger brother, Sonny, is a sophomore safety at Ohio State.
“Growing up, I had that defensive background,” Styles said. “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.”
Styles wanted to play wide receiver, though, and chose Notre Dame as the place to do it. But the cornerback skills and traits never left him.
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“I always knew he was a very good athlete since he first got here, seeing him move around,” Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens said. “When I look at receivers, I can kind of see if that guy can play on the other side of the ball.”
Styles was open to the idea when the staff presented it to him this spring. The decision on where to go would ultimately be his and would have been finalized sometime after the Blue-Gold Game.
“It was him ultimately that said, ‘OK, I want to try it,’” Freeman said April 15. “We’ll see after next week what we decide to do.”
A position move even being discussed, though, was unthinkable just a year earlier. Styles ended his freshman year looking like Notre Dame’s next go-to receiver. He arrived in January 2021 from Pickerington (Ohio) Central as the No. 70 overall recruit in the 2021 On3 Industry Ranking. He was a four-star prospect and the third highest-ranked player in the Irish’s 2021 class.
Styles delivered on that acclaim right away, with 24 catches for 344 yards and 1 touchdown as a freshman. His role grew as the season went on and culminated with an 8-catch, 136-yard, 1-touchdown performance in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State.
Styles was not among the first three receivers to take the field with the first-team offense in the most recent open practice.
