Notre Dame transfer Lorenzo Styles Jr. commits to Ohio State football
Former Notre Dame wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr., who entered the NCAA transfer portal last week, committed to Ohio State on Saturday.
“Thankful for this opportunity,” he wrote in a tweet. “Time to go to work.”
The announcement came as Styles was visiting the school.
The move reunites the rising junior with his younger brother, Sonny Styles, a safety who was a freshman last season after graduating a year early from Pickerington Central.
https://twitter.com/LorenzoStyles_/status/1652450194007392256
Lorenzo Jr. is expected to team up with Sonny in the secondary, continuing a transition to cornerback that began late in spring practice at Notre Dame.
He had been playing receiver over his first two seasons with the Irish and caught 54 passes for 684 yards and two touchdowns before beginning the position switch earlier this month. He did not appear in Notre Dame’s Blue-Gold game last weekend after putting his name in the portal.
Defense is in his blood as Lorenzo Styles Sr. was a linebacker for the Buckeyes in the 1990s and spent six seasons in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and St. Louis Rams.
Lorenzo Jr. played both receiver and cornerback at Pickerington Central as a top-150 prospect before starting out on the offensive side of the ball with the Irish. Ohio State had been among the schools recruiting him before he ended up at Notre Dame.
More: Lorenzo, Sonny Styles prepare for family affair when Ohio State football hosts Notre Dame
More: Ohio State football spring transfer tracker 2023: Latest portal news, updates
Since the spring transfer window opened on April 15, Lorenzo Jr. is the first to announce a commitment to join the Buckeyes, who have seen three of their scholarship players enter the portal.
While the Buckeyes have been thin at cornerback, their depth looked improved in spring practice.
Not only did Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock appear fully healthy after being banged up last fall, but Davison Igbinosun also gave them another important piece as a transfer from Mississippi who was a freshman All-American in 2022.
With the addition of Lorenzo Jr., Ohio State would be up to eight scholarship cornerbacks after carrying six last season.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU lands Notre Dame transfer Lorenzo Styles, older brother of Sonny
