Ryder Lyons is the most viral quarterback in high school football. The five-star BYU commit hit absurd numbers on Instagram after his first game of his senior season.
He out-performed college stars like Arch Manning as well as NFL stars like Justin Herbert.
His social media fame is even more impressive based on follower count. I don’t know if it stems entirely from the chaos over the weekend or if it is because the Cougars’ college football fanbase is just that faithful.
Who is Ryder Lyons?
Lyons ranks as the No. 5 player at his position in the recruiting Class of 2026 and a top-25 player overall. He committed to BYU over Oregon and USC, among others.
However, the California-native will not arrive to Provo until 2027 after he serves his Mormon mission. The Cougars consider Lyons to be their quarterback of the future and it is not hard to see why.
Lyons completed 31 of 37 pass attempts for 408 yards and four passing touchdowns against Grant High Schoo’. He also ran for a touchdown during Folsom’s 51-13 blowout win on ESPN.
Stats aside, Ryder Lyons was the center of attention throughout the entire evening as his opponents tried to tear him down at every opportunity. He wanted all of the smoke.
Flared tempers also led to multiple physical altercations before, during and after the game. The star quarterback needed protection in more ways than one.
He was flanked by two coaches during the postgame handshake line.
His offensive line also stepped up in a big way.
Although it was a fantastic senior debut for Lyons, it proved that his opponents are out to get him.
Instagram fame is a dual-edged sword.
Part of that target on Ryder Lyons’ back stems from his status as a five-star quarterback. The target also stems from his presence on social media.
Lyons has more than 200,000 followers on both Instagram and TikTok.
That follower count, while big, is not as big as other quarterbacks like Manning or Herbert.
Arch Manning has 500,000 followers on Instagram. Justin Herbert has 629,000. And yet, Ryder Lyons’ most recent post far out-performed the other two in terms of likes.
This post alone received 94,000 likes — and counting:
Lyons also has three posts out of his last six that exceeded 100,000 likes. None of his highest-performing posts are in partnership with the account of another person and/or brand.
The same cannot be said for Manning or Herbert and they do not get nearly as many likes.
Arch Manning has more than twice the amount of followers as Lyons. His highest-performing post on Instagram hit 344,000 likes because it was in partnership with Raising Cane’s and featured the rest of his family. Everything else hovers around 50-75k.
Justin Herbert has more than three times the amount of followers as Lyons. His posts rarely exceed 85k.
Why does Ryder Lyons out-perform two of the biggest quarterback names in football as a high schooler? Is it the BYU effect? Did his viral opening weekend boost his numbers by that much? Does he get more likes because he is more polarizing?
Lyons is a bigger star on social media than Manning and Herbert. I am fascinated by this discrepancy.