Jameial Lyons committed to a position switch and becoming Penn State’s edge rusher of the future

When Rick Prete first approached Jameial Lyons with the idea of playing defensive line, the soon-to-be edge rusher resisted the idea. The 6-foot-4 Lyons had just arrived at Prete’s Roman Catholic football program by way of Bishop McDevitt of Wyncote, which had shut down at the conclusion of Lyons’ sophomore year.

Lyons was just 6-1 when he first arrived at McDevitt, and he had yet to break 200 pounds. He put on weight ahead of his sophomore year, taking advantage of quarantine training time to bulk up to around 210 pounds as a sophomore. That frame put him at the perfect size to play safety for McDevitt, and when Lyons transferred to Roman Catholic, he planned to fill that spot in the Cahillites secondary.

Prete, however, had different ideas. After watching some of Lyons’ film and seeing his athletic profile, Roman’s head coach knew that the best place for Lyons wasn’t in the secondary, but in the trenches.

“He was doing some different things positionally than what we would’ve done with him, so I wasn’t able to get a clear read on him as a position player,” Prete said. “But I would say one thing you saw was the athletic ability, and you saw the frame.

“When he walked in, one of the first conversations we had was, ‘You’re a five-tech [lineman], you’re putting your hand on the ground.’”

Lyons, who was still in the middle of putting on weight to his frame, committed to the position switch — and a year later he committed to Penn State.

He has adjusted to the demands of playing on the defensive line.

“It was kind of different [going] from me guarding a shifty wide receiver to me getting in a three tech and three space,” Lyons said. “I came from me backpedaling, getting from zone to zone [to] me actually trying to get the quarterback and me going against some of the best tackles in the country.”

Although he lacked experience at the position, Lyons had both the skill set and athletic profile necessary to excel on the defensive line. He proved that throughout the season, using his length to disrupt offenses in a variety of ways.

“He makes it very difficult to throw perimeter pass plays,” Prete said. “He picked off a slant last year in a big game for us … I think he is an elite pass rusher. Right now, I think he knows how to use his hands really well … [and] he’s really strong in run defense.”

Throughout this past season, Lyons also continued to build up his frame, working his way up to his current weight of 255 pounds. Two years removed from being a wiry, 180-pound safety, Lyons had transformed into an FBS-caliber defensive lineman. After coming to Roman with just two scholarship offers, he left his junior season with offers from the likes of Penn State, Maryland, Cincinnati, and West Virginia.

While recruiting interest eventually caught up to Lyons’ talent, that wasn’t always the case. As a result, Lyons had to learn how to stay locked in amid uncertainty in his recruitment.

“I just had to stay gravitated, stay levelheaded, and stay focused,” Lyons said. “[I was] staying in the weight room, working 24-7. … In quarantine, I was out with my defensive line coach working four days a week.

“It was more of me saying if you want to be the best, then you’ve got to train like you’re the best, and I think that’s something that stuck with me.”

When his recruitment began to heat up, Lyons wasted no time in narrowing down his list of schools. In March, he announced his top five, a list that included West Virginia, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Illinois, and Cincinnati. Less than a month later, Lyons privately informed James Franklin and his staff that he would be attending Penn State, and a few days after that, Lyons made the announcement public.

Although all five schools were in play ahead of Lyons’ public announcement, it was West Virginia and Penn State that topped his list. West Virginia started out as Lyons’ most likely destination, but he felt his best fit was at Penn State.

“With me going to Penn State at least a good eight, nine, 10 times since my freshman [year], I just got to feel at home there,” Lyons said.

Penn State also had a strong history of players matching Lyons’ athletic profile and position exceeding both in college and beyond. This year’s NFL draft was a great example, with four Penn State defensive players getting selected in the first four rounds. Lyons pointed to that NFL pipeline, as well as the Nittany Lions’ on-field success on defense, as other key reasons for his decision.

Yet perhaps one of the strongest forces in Lyons’ commitment decision was the chance to stay local and play for a program in his home state. Franklin has prioritized recruiting in Philadelphia in recent years, and several members of his staff have ties to the city.

Penn State graduate assistant Deion Barnes first met Lyons when the former was coaching at Northeast High School, and analytics coordinator Gabe Infante, whose previous stops include time as an assistant at Temple and as the head coach at St. Joseph’s Prep, was the one to offer Lyons his scholarship.

Those Philly ties, paired with the chance to be a sort of hometown hero, were a major draw for Lyons.

“The hometown hero was a main part,” Lyons said. “Why not play for your state [and] show why Pa. is one of the best football places in the country?”