Audio By Carbonatix
Ryder Lyons is likely going to get paid a lot of NIL money to play college football at BYU. Not one single dollar will come from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or through tithing.
All of the agreed upon payments will be made through the university’s affiliated NIL collective, which is funded entirely by the people on a voluntary basis.
Lyons, a five-star quarterback in the college football recruiting Class of 2026, ranks as the fourth-best player at his position behind Tennessee commit Faizon Brandon, Houston commit Keisean Henderson and Georgia commit Jared Curtis. He holds more than 30 offers from schools all over the country and boasts more than 230,000 followers on TikTok. His highlight tape is legit.
The entirety of Lyons’ recruitment has been documented on social media— either by him or his sister Kapri. She often posts behind-the-scenes videos from their visits to different college campuses. They most recently stopped over in Provo to check out Brigham Young University.
Ryder (tried to) cut up in the locker room while he was there.
It seems as though BYU made Ryder Lyons an offer he could not refuse because he committed to the Cougars on Tuesday morning. Oregon was likely the runner-up. It is a huge get for Kalani Sitake!
BREAKING NEWS: “I will be going to Brigham Young University..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 24, 2025
GO COUGS” ~ @ryderly0ns #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/RsRhMyVm0Q
I cannot say for certain because NIL numbers are rarely made public, but I would imagine BYU presented Lyons with a lucrative financial package. The Cougars paid out a lot of money to assemble one of the best rosters in college basketball through the transfer portal. They will also pay No. 1 overall recruit A.J. Dybantsa more than $4 million for just one season.
All of that happened after one of the university’s big money boosters vowed to spend whatever money necessary to land top talent. Paul Liljenquist serves as the CEO of Focus Services, a $500 million company based out of Utah. He made it abundantly clear that “you’re not going to outbid BYU.”
Ryder Lyons said in February that NIL can show “how much [a program] is invested in you” so money absolutely played a huge role in his commitment. As did his faith. The five-star quarterback will not play college football until 2027. He is going to take a year to serve his Mormon mission before he enrolls. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is important to him. Provo directly aligns with his values.
With that being said, the Church does not have anything to do with the financial side of Lyons’ recruitment. BYU Advancement Vice President Keith Vorkink made sure to debunk that popular narrative.
Just to be clear, because there are all sorts of strange narratives out there, I would just reiterate that there is absolutely no church or university financial support of any student-athlete agreements. Tithing will never be used to support our athletics department in any way, including revenue sharing with student-athletes.
— Keith Vorkink, via Deseret News
Ryder Lyons chose BYU because of faith. Ryder Lyons also chose BYU because of money. Those two things do not overlap. There is a separation of Church and football.