It won’t become clear until preseason camp begins whether Lorenzo Styles can contribute immediately in Ohio State’s secondary this season. But Tim Walton doesn’t expect Styles’ transition to his new position to be too difficult.
Styles never played any defensive snaps in his two seasons at Notre Dame, where he played wide receiver. But Styles played on both sides of the ball at Pickerington Central High School and was recruited by Ohio State at the time as a cornerback, the position he’ll now be playing for the Buckeyes after transferring to Ohio State in April.
“It'll take a little time, but he has a good football IQ. He played it in high school, so it's not like he's never played the position before,” Walton said when asked about Styles’ position change during a May interview session. “He played both ways in high school, and he’s a guy that has a pretty good football IQ, so I don't see it being a hard transition.”
Walton confirmed last month that the plan is for Styles to be an outside cornerback at Ohio State. While it’s not out of the question that Styles could also be an option at nickel or another safety position down the line, considering he has enough size to play anywhere in the secondary at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, he’ll focus on playing cornerback as he starts his OSU career.
“It’s all fluid,” Walton said. “We haven't really had a chance to get deep into the summer yet. Once we do, we'll kind of see what the best fit for that stuff is. But yeah, he’s a corner.”
Because Styles hasn’t gone through any actual practices yet as a Buckeye, Walton hasn’t made any proclamations yet for what Styles’ role for Ohio State could be this year and beyond. But Walton believes Styles has both the physical tools and mental makeup to be a quality addition to the Buckeyes’ secondary.
“He's a mature guy that works hard, has a good brain on his shoulders. Good size, good speed. Obviously has the genes, and man, loves to play football,” Walton said. “He's strong. He can run. He’s physical. He's 195 pounds, so you’re talking about a guy that has good size. He's played the game. He's mature. He has the knowledge. Now he just has to go get the experience back on that side of the ball, get the technique and take time to go back through the transition of drill work and understanding the different movement skills that come with that instead of receiver.”
Even though it came on the other side of the ball, Walton believes Styles’ experience playing wide receiver at Notre Dame can be an asset to him as a cornerback.
“It’ll help him understand route progressions. Playing that position, it helps you dissect stems, how to finish at the top of the route, the formations on what route teams like to run because he played the position a little bit. So that all helps,” Walton said. “And like I said, he played it before. So he has the understanding that he's not just totally foreign to the position. He did play it in high school, so there'll be some carryover. Now he's just got to get back into the different movement skills.”
While Walton was coaching in the NFL when Styles was a high school recruit, he’s been familiar with Styles for a long time because he played at Ohio State with Styles’ father, also named Lorenzo Styles. That gave Walton reason to believe that Styles would be a good fit for the Buckeyes, and he says Styles has done all the right things since arriving at Ohio State.
“The adjustment has been good. He's fitting in well with the players,” Walton said. “Obviously with (his younger brother Sonny, a safety for the Buckeyes) being here, the relationship and the chemistry with the other guys has mended well so far.”
“He's a mature guy that works hard, has a good brain on his shoulders. Good size, good speed. Obviously has the genes, and man, loves to play football.”– Tim Walton on Lorenzo Styles
Ohio State offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, who has known Styles since he was a recruit, is also confident Styles will fit in well with the Buckeyes.
“He's a great athlete. Always was in high school. I thought he was a heck of a player,” Hartline said. “I don't want to speak on it for him, but I felt like coming out of high school, he was a good athlete. I may have told him, I thought his best position was corner. So I know it's always tough finding the path and believing in what you want to do and then maybe switching; I can only guess how hard that would be. But I'm really excited he's back. As an individual, as a person, he's awesome. So to add more and more people like that to our locker room is only a bonus for us.”
Styles’ Outlook for 2023
Styles’ move to cornerback will mark the third straight year that an Ohio State player makes the move to defense after two years of playing offense at the collegiate level. Steele Chambers’ transition from running back to linebacker proved successful in 2021, as he became a starter on Ohio State’s defense by the end of the season, even though he didn’t make the move until preseason camp. Chip Trayanum’s position change last season proved short-lived, as he moved back to running back midseason after initially transferring from Arizona State to Ohio State to play linebacker.
Styles’ transition is likely to fit somewhere in between those two. Ohio State won’t expect him to compete for an immediate starting job with Denzel Burke, Davison Igbinosun, Jordan Hancock and Jyaire Brown likely to make up the two-deep at cornerback in some order. But it’s also doubtful he will move back to wide receiver, considering Ohio State's depth at that position.
Given his collegiate inexperience at cornerback, it would be logical for Styles to use his redshirt this season to preserve his two remaining seasons of eligibility to potentially play a more prominent role in 2024 and 2025. But Walton isn’t ruling anything out, saying he’s “looking for big things from him,” and Chambers’ rapid climb up the depth chart shows it’s not out of the question for Styles to earn playing time quickly – though Ohio State’s cornerback depth chart entering this season appears to be in a much better place than the Buckeyes’ linebacker depth chart was two years ago.
There’s also a possibility that Styles could quickly carve out a role for himself on special teams, where he played more than 100 snaps over his two years at Notre Dame, according to Pro Football Focus. Styles has experience returning kicks (gaining 64 yards on just two returns last season) as well as playing on the punt coverage and punt return teams. Special teams coordinator Parker Fleming sees potential for Styles to contribute in that phase of the game – though, like Walton, he wants to see what Styles does in practice first before projecting any roles for the new Buckeye.
“He's got speed, speed. And so there's always a threat there that you'd like to be able to take advantage of,” Fleming said. “We'll see how it plays out.”
