The recruitment of Ryder Lyons — who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from California and one of the top quarterback prospects in the entire country in the Class of 2026 — could be nearing its end.
Will BYU land him?
Earlier this week, Lyons told recruiting website Rivals that “Yeah, it’s decision time.” Then on Friday, Rivals lead recruiting analyst Adam Gorney wrote that, “The five-star quarterback from Folsom, Calif., visits Oregon this weekend, BYU next weekend and then could come to a decision.”
Furthermore, Gorney wrote that, “Michigan, Ohio State, Ole Miss, USC and others have been involved since the beginning but this feels like a two-team race down the stretch. As much as the outsider sees the Ducks as the front-runner here, BYU is under very serious consideration and as a bonus, his sister lives in Provo.”
Listed by various recruiting websites at 6-foot-2 and somewhere north of 200 pounds, Lyons is a consensus top five quarterback prospect in the Class of 2026 and ranked No. 2 by Rivals.
Lyons’ older brother Walker was an elite tight end prospect in the Class of 2023 and is now at USC after serving a church mission to Norway, though the Trojans fell off the pace for Ryder Lyons’ services several months ago.
According to 247 Sports’ rankings, Ryder Lyons would be just the third five-star prospect to commit to the Cougars in the last 25 years and first since 2003, when offensive lineman Ofa Mohetau did so. The year prior, quarterback Ben Olson committed.
Ryder Lyons would also obviously slot in among the 10 best prospects to commit to BYU since 247 began tracking, and third in this calendar year alone.
Pine View tight end Brock Harris, who is in the 2026 class with Lyons, ranks No. 4, and offensive lineman Alai Kalaniuvalu, who is in the 2025 class, ranks No. 8.