Lorenzo Cavelle Styles (born January 31, 1974) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for six seasons for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

, and spent half a season as the

Head Coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Marion Blue Racers The Marion Blue Racers were a professional indoor football team based in Marion, Ohio. The Blue Racers began play as an expansion team in the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) in 2011, before moving to the United Indoor Football League (U ...

Early life

As a prep star at Farrell High School in

Farrell, Pennsylvania Farrell is a city in western Mercer County, Pennsylvania, along the Shenango River. The population was 4,258 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area. History Once dubbed "The Magic City," Farrell sprang up pr ...

from 1990 and 1991, Styles was inducted into the Mercer County Hall of Fame. He also attended Independence High School in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

College career

Styles played three seasons at linebacker for

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. He forsook his senior season as a Buckeye to enter the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons

Styles was selected in the third round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the

. He played for two seasons with the Falcons as linebacker and on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

St. Louis Rams

Styles was traded to the

in 1996, where he would play the final four seasons of his NFL career as a linebacker and special teams player. Styles was a member of the Rams team that won

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 NFL season, 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champ ...

Coaching career

Ohio Dominican

In 2009 and 2010, Styles was the linebackers' coach for the

Ohio Dominican University Ohio Dominican University is a Private university, private Dominican Order, Dominican liberal arts university in Columbus, Ohio. The university has approximately 1,700 students and offers undergraduate degrees in 40 majors as well as nine graduat ...

Panthers.

Marion Mayhem

In 2010, Styles was named the defensive line coach for the

Marion Mayhem The Marion Mayhem were a professional indoor football team based in Marion, Ohio. The team was a charter member of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL), later renamed the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL), joining in 2006 as an ...

, an indoor football team in the

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIF ...

. There he worked with league sack record holder,

Thomas McKenzie Thomas "T.J." McKenzie is a former indoor football defensive lineman. Early life McKenzie graduated from Etiwanda High School in Etiwanda, Ca. Professional career Marion Mayhem Following the 2006 season,it was announced that McKenzie had sig ...

. The Mayhem lacked financial stability and were unable to finish the season. McKenzie went on to play for the Fort Wayne FireHawks, and was named 1st Team All- CIFL.

Dayton Silverbacks

In 2011, Styles became the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for the

Dayton Silverbacks The Dayton Silverbacks were a professional indoor football team based in Dayton, Ohio. The team was a member of the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). The franchise started as the Miami Valley Silverbacks and joined the CIFL in 2007 afte ...

, also of the CIFL. The Silverbacks went on to the playoffs as the 3rd best team in the league.

Chris Respress Christopher Eugene Respress is former indoor American football defensive back. He played football and also ran track & field collegiately at Defiance College. Early life Chris was a graduate of Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio. He excell ...

won the Defensive Player of the Year after playing under Styles.

Marion Blue Racers

On August 17, 2011, Styles was named the

for the

for the 2012 season. He led the Blue Racers into their first year as a member of the

United Indoor Football League The Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) was a regional professional indoor American football, indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011 UIFL season, 2011 as the Ultimate Indoor Football League before playing a ...

Pickerington Central Tigers

In 2012, Styles became outside linebacker coach for the Pickerington Central Tigers, a

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

team in the OCC (Ohio Capital Conference), and was on staff as the Tigers won Division I state championships in 2017 and 2019. In the 2019 state championship game, Styles' son Lorenzo Jr., who later signed with Notre Dame, caught the game-winning touchdown pass.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Styles, Lorenzo 1974 births American football linebackers Ohio State Buckeyes football players St. Louis Rams players Atlanta Falcons players Living people