Jameial Lyons is up next on a Penn State defense that has plenty of Philly flavor

ATLANTA — Jameial Lyons’ best stretch of football this season might have come here during a recent practice. That’s no knock against the freshman from Roman Catholic. It’s just life as a first-year college player. They rarely make a major impact, especially at positions that do their work in the trenches.

Tenth-ranked Penn State was practicing a two-minute drill ahead of its Peach Bowl matchup with No. 11 Ole Miss, and Lyons, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end, recorded a strip sack, a tackle for loss, and a pass breakup on three consecutive plays, according to his teammates.

“He’s just all over the field in different ways,” Penn State defensive end Adisa Isaac said. “He’s not just getting back in the quarterback. He’s coming downhill from coverage, which is, like, weird sometimes. It’s like, where did you come from? That right there, that’s the kind of flashes you want to see in a D-end especially.”

Lyons has appeared in just four games for the top defense in the nation, but it’s those flashes that give his teammates and coaches confidence that he is on the path they imagined he’d be on when the former four-star recruit committed to State College in April 2022.

Isaac was the latest Penn State player to declare for the NFL draft this week. The Nittany Lions are also losing the defensive end on the opposite side of the line, Chop Robinson, who is projected to be a first-round pick. Isaac will play in Saturday’s Peach Bowl, Robinson won’t.

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With those two gone, there will be ample opportunity for Lyons to show he’s ready for a much larger role as a sophomore when spring ball begins, and then during camp leading into next fall.

Linebacker Curtis Jacobs, who is also heading to the draft, saw what Isaac saw in practice here and during the season.

“I just see those type of plays, those type of high-motor, high-effort plays, and I think that’s what’s going to take him,” Jacobs said of Lyons. “He just has to keep pushing, keep doing it, and keep doing it consistently. Once he adds the technique to his game ... along with speed and athleticism, I think he’s going to be one of the best in the country.

“I think he’s a first-round pick.”

Isaac and Robinson have been two of Lyons’ mentors since he arrived on campus, Lyons said during an interview with Penn State’s team media in October. But Jacobs said he knows exactly what Lyons and other freshmen are going through as they wrap up a season that features less real football than they’re used to.

“I was one of those guys,” Jacobs said. “I just feel like the best way to approach that is to scratch and claw for your playing time.”

Lyons has made his mark in four appearances. He tallied five tackles, including one sack.

“He’s just a special talent,” interim defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter said. “He’s got quickness, twitch, size, he loves football. We’re excited about his future.”

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Lyons isn’t the only Philadelphian set to make his mark on Penn State’s defense under new coordinator Tom Allen next season. La Salle College High School’s Abdul Carter is, of course, already one of the top linebackers in the conference as a sophomore. Jacobs said the next step for Carter is becoming the best linebacker in the country.

There’s also Keon Wylie, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Imhotep Charter who has seen action mostly on special teams. Wylie, Jacobs said, has done a good job of that scratching and clawing to see time on the field.

“Now it’s time to take the next step and compete in spring ball, compete in camp, and give yourself the best opportunity to be in the best position,” Jacobs said.

The problem for Wylie is that mostly everyone is back at linebacker next season, and he’ll likely only see the field on defense in certain packages. Northeast High grad Tyrece Mills, a defensive back, appeared in four games, primarily, like Wylie, on special teams.

It’s Lyons, however, who stands to make the biggest leap next season for a team that has aspirations of making a run in the expanded playoff system. He seems to have greatly improved working with Penn State’s defensive line coach, Deion Barnes, a Philadelphia native from Northeast High who played at Penn State and had a brief professional career before getting into coaching.

Barnes, Lyons said, is like “another father figure.”

“He did a lot of things I want to do,” Lyons said.

So has Isaac, a senior defensive end who tallied 7½ sacks this season and will likely be drafted by the end of the third round, according to most projections.

“His potential is his ceiling,” Isaac said of Lyons. “I’m just excited to see him grow and develop, and just get comfortable.

“He might be slim like me, but he’s very powerful and knows his ways of using his leverage and finding out how to get there. He just has a knack to get to the quarterback. Some people, you don’t really teach them it, they just kind of have a feel for it, just an instinct, and that’s what he has.”

Soon enough, all that talent will be on display in games, not just in practice.