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Pete ThamelESPN
Notre Dame wide receiver Lorenzo Styles has entered the NCAA transfer portal, ESPN has learned.
Styles entered the portal Friday, and a source told ESPN that he will seek a position switch to defensive back at his new school.
He experimented at cornerback this spring and had planned to play both positions in Notre Dame’s spring game this weekend. Instead, he will attempt to play defensive back at another school this fall, with cornerback the most likely spot. Styles is a rising junior who has two years of eligibility remaining.
Styles finished with the second-most catches and third-most yards for Notre Dame in 2022, snagging 30 balls for 340 yards. As a true freshman in 2021, he caught 24 passes for 344 yards. He was also a valued special teams contributor, as he was the gunner on Notre Dame’s punt team.
Playing defense runs in the Styles family. His father, Lorenzo Styles Sr., played linebacker at Ohio State, was a third-round draft pick and played six seasons in the NFL, winning Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams.
Styles’ younger brother, Sonny, enrolled at Ohio State a year early last summer and is one of the most promising young players on the Buckeyes’ defense. Sonny Styles is a versatile safety who had the most snaps of anyone at that position in Ohio State’s spring game. He played meaningful snaps in the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Georgia, logging two tackles.
Lorenzo Styles made the switch, in part, because playing defensive back is expected to give him a better chance of continuing his career after college. He is a high-end athlete at 6-foot-1, 191 pounds and was an ESPN 300 recruit out of Pickerington (Ohio) Central High School.
