Maybe when Lorenzo Styles spoke with reporters Tuesday about attempting to switch positions from wide receiver to cornerback, the Notre Dame junior-to-be was pitching future schools on the possibility as well.
The 6-foto-1, 192-pound Styles officially entered the NCAA's transfer portal Friday, Inside ND Sports confirmed.
“It all goes back to I love playing football,” Styles said after Tuesday's practice. “I’m a great football player. That can be on offense or defense, special teams, whatever that may be. Any way I can make an impact. Being able to play both ways or focusing on either, I can have an impact on the game.”
On Thursday, Styles was drafted by the Gold team to play cornerback in Saturday's Blue-Gold Game (2 p.m. EDT on Peacock). Styles said Tuesday the plan was for him to play both ways. Now he's unlikely to play at all.
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The promising future for the former Rivals100 prospect hit a bit of a speed bump as a sophomore last season. Despite finishing the year as the team's second-leading pass catcher behind tight end Michael Mayer (67), Styles caught only 30 passes for 340 yards and one touchdown.
That production wasn't much different than the 24 catches for 344 yards and one touchdown Styles totaled as a freshman when the majority of his action came in the final seven games of the 2021 season.
Styles started to see less action last season after he dropped four passes in the first seven games of the season. He finished the season with a team-high six drops on 47 targets, per Pro Football Focus. After catching 23 passes for 287 yards and one touchdown in the first seven games of 2022, Styles caught only seven more passes for 53 yards in the final six games.
Both head coach Marcus Freeman and Styles described Styles' audition at cornerback as a decision made by Styles. Freeman encouraged him to give it a try.
"I felt like I could really help the team there," Styles said, "be a great player there, so that’s what it really came down to."
Styles, who was ranked by Rivals as the No. 6 wide receiver and No. 56 overall prospect in the 2022 class, played both wide receiver and cornerback at Pickerington (Ohio) Central just outside of Columbus. His father, also Lorenzo, and younger brother, Sonny, have defensive backgrounds. The elder Lorenzo Styles played linebacker at Ohio State and for six seasons in the NFL. Sonny Styles is entering his sophomore season as a safety at Ohio State.
“Athletically, I feel like I’m a pretty gifted athlete," the younger Lorenzo Styles said. "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. This transition is actually going to be a lot less, because I grew up doing that a lot of the time.”
It certainly wouldn't be surprising if Lorenzo Styles joined his brother at Ohio State, but the Buckeyes are never short on wide receiver talent. That would likely mean Styles' switch to cornerback would continue. Maybe another coaching staff can sell Styles on tapping back into his potential as a wide receiver.
Without Styles, Notre Dame is projected to have nine scholarship wide receivers on the depth chart next season: graduate senior Chris Salerno, senior Chris Tyree, juniors Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie, sophomore Tobias Merriweather and freshmen Rico Flores Jr., Jaden Greathouse, Braylon James and Kaleb Smith.
Wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey has previously expressed 10 being the magic number he'd like to have to best develop his position group.
Notre Dame still has eight scholarship cornerbacks on the expected roster not counting nickelback/safety Thomas Harper: graduate senior Cam Hart, senior Clarence Lewis, juniors Chance Tucker and Ryan Barnes, sophomores Benjamin Morrison and Jaden Mickey and freshmen Christian Gray and Micah Bell.
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