Self-belief is essential to becoming good at any endeavor. And to hear former teammates talk about it, one Ohio State player with no shortage of self-belief is Lorenzo Styles Jr.
“Zo is the most confident dude I know in the world,” former Buckeye safety Lathan Ransom said on the Bobby Carpenter Show on March 17. “Having him go out there and fly around and compete, I'm excited to watch it.”
That confidence needs to come into play now more than ever for Styles.
Entering his fifth and final collegiate season as the heir apparent to Jordan Hancock at nickel, Styles will have a fight on his hands for every rep this offseason as young, hungry talent surrounds him at both the cornerback and safety positions. But the self-belief from Styles is that this is his year.
“You've got to be a little delusional,” Styles said. “You've got to be a little delusional coming into such a competitive place. I came here playing receiver. I want to show my boy (Ransom) that I wasn't delusional. So I'm going to put it all together this year. I've always been a guy who's still talking trash, even when I might not have it all together yet. I'm just still trying to get better every day.”
Styles isn’t devoid of experience to build on entering his redshirt senior year, but he’s had to play catchup in his three-year Ohio State career.
Arriving to Columbus as a transfer from Notre Dame in 2023, Styles spent his first two years as a wide receiver before switching to defensive back as he joined his brother, linebacker Sonny Styles, at Ohio State. He became a rare player to use a mid-career redshirt in his junior season while soaking up what he could from secondary coach Tim Walton.
Even then, Lorenzo Styles felt it was crucial to talk his trash and put on some bravado.
“When I came here, I was seventh on the depth chart,” Styles said. “I was nowhere near where I needed to be at. But I always knew you've got to have that confidence to be able to play DB here at a high level. I think it's just going to show. I'm excited to go out here and ball this year.”
In his second year as a cornerback, however, Styles played in all 16 of Ohio State’s games during its run to a national championship in 2025, both spelling Hancock and providing the Buckeyes with a sixth defensive back in their dime packages. He played 161 snaps in total last year, including 26 in the College Football Playoff, collecting 16 tackles and four pass breakups.
With the basics of the cornerback position under his belt through his redshirt year, Styles felt he made the most strides in his game knowledge and the way the nickel spot fit into the broader defensive picture.
“Honestly, understanding the game, understanding what my assignment is, how to win my assignment, just understanding the spacing on the field,” Styles said. “Continuing to still get better on that, but understanding the space on this field, where to win at, and where they want to get the ball to, just by the formation setup, splits, things like that.”
Styles will also need to diversify his game if he’s to eat a lion’s share of the snaps at nickel in 2025. Hancock’s ability to roll to deep safety as well as play close in and around the box freed up Caleb Downs to play some of his best football 10 to 12 yards off the line of scrimmage during Ohio State’s CFP run.
“I already had an understanding from last year, because being Jordan's backup last year, I was doing some of the same things,” Styles said. “But honestly, with the new defense, I'm just understanding, trying to learn what that looks like and getting with (safeties coach Matt) Guerrieri, he's a great teacher as well, always in there with Coach Walt and all of us, helping us learn. We're practicing, but I also do some drills after practice, too, just to hone my skill set.”
Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr. are in line to start at outside corner, though Mathews has the ability and is training to play nickel if needed. That further opens the door for young cornerbacks Aaron Scott Jr. and Devin Sanchez, two of the primary names that could eat into Styles’ playing time or even challenge for his starting job.
There are likely to be, at the very least, packages featuring both Malik Hartford and Jaylen McClain at safety alongside Downs, too, as new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia continues to work through the right mix of personnel for Ohio State in 2025. So Styles will have work to do to lock down the nickel job.
“He's coming along well. He's learning,” Walton said of Styles. “He's growing, because he hasn't played a lot of ball as well. So he's continuing to process stuff. Some things are a little different than we did in the past. So he's doing well, but he's competing, he's learning, and like I said, he really works at the game. So he's making good progress.”
Styles says his sole focus, for now, is on development through his final spring practice. But he’ll always remain self-assured.
“Trying to be always a player on the rise, continually getting better every single day,” Styles said. “It's the spring right now, so I still got to just keep going and trying to get better. But I think if I continue to get better, continue to be a guy on the rise, my season will turn out the way I want it to.”
