Sports

Five-Star Quarterback Makes Surprise Recruiting Visit To FCS Football Team With Monster NIL Budget

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Ryder Lyons Sacramento State Recruiting Football NIL
iStockphoto / © JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR / USA TODAY NETWORK

Ryder Lyons is currently on campus at Sacramento State for an unofficial recruiting visit. The five-star quarterback will at the very least consider the idea of playing college football for the Hornets.

That is a sentence that would not make any sense whatsoever prior to 2019 but here we are!

Lyons is widely considered one of the five-best signal-callers in the college football recruiting Class of 2026. He ranks along fellow five-star prospects Jared Curtis, Faizon Brandon, Dia Bell and Keisean Henderson with 33 scholarship offers from schools like Alabama, Utah, Ohio State, Notre Dame and UNC. However, it seems like USC is the leader in the clubhouse with Oregon, Michigan, BYU and Ole Miss also in the mix.

Enter Sacramento State…

As a native of Folsom, California, Lyons grew up approximately 30 minutes from the nearby California State University. A trip to campus only requires a quick shot down Highway 50 so it’s not like this visit requires him to travel across the country over multiple days. He’ll be in and out by day’s end. No big deal.

And yet it is. For Sacramento State to meet with a five-star quarterback is a very big deal!

The Hornets never won more than six games from 2001-2012. They won only two games in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Troy Taylor took over as head coach in 2019 and won three Big Sky Championships in three-straight years with a 12-1 record in 2022. It was a run that completely changed the program. New head coach Brennan Marion hopes to continue that success.

Sacramento State desperately wants to make the jump from FCS to FBS and continues to beg the Pac-12 for an invite. To help sweeten the deal, the athletic department supposedly secured at least $35 million in NIL money from local businesses. The exact number is unclear and there are questions about its legitimacy and/or any potential contingencies attached to the financial commitments, but the university continues to promote its capital and it seems to be working.

Although there is still a very long way to go in the 2026 recruiting cycle, the Hornets currently boast one of the best classes in college football on any level— FCS or FBS. This latest visit adds to the buzz.

The odds of Ryder Lyons committing to Sacramento State are slim to none but not zero. There is always a chance — especially in the era of Name, Image and Likeness, where the highest bidder can force its way into the mix with a monster financial offer. That could happen here. It won’t, but it could.

This recruiting visit from a five-star quarterback is a significant boost to the program regardless of the outcome. People are talking about the Hornets!