Oregon Ducks Trending For Elite Quarterback Recruit Ryder Lyons Over USC Trojans

Despite holding multiple predictions in favor of Lyons early on during his recruitment, the Trojans never got the commitment they were searching for. Even with his brother on the team and after reeling in his teammate, three-star offensive tackle Vlad Dyakonov, Lyons has not pledged to the Trojans.

With 2026 four-star quarterback Jonas Williams flipping from the Ducks to the Trojans in February, it threw a wrench into Lyons' potential plans to commit to USC, and it gave the Ducks a chance to make leeway in their pursuit of him.

Wiltfong broke down his decision to move his prediction from the Trojans to the Ducks and said that the Trojans have been overlapped not only by Oregon, but BYU as well.

"My On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine expert pick had been on USC since the fall for Lyons when it looked like he was close to committing to the Trojans. Now, the intel is starting to favor Oregon. BYU looks to be second in the battle for Lyons currently. While Lyons could certainly end up with BYU, and that will be something to monitor, I’m going to move my predictions for Lyons to the Ducks," Wiltfong said.

On3's RPM has the Ducks with a 52.5 percent chance of landing the four-star quarterback from Folsom.

Lyons is one of the most interesting prospects in a long time due to the fashion of his recruitment. Similarly to former five-star recruit and Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee, Lyons will be taking a multi-yearlong mission and will enter college as a 2028 recruit despite graduating as a member of the 2026 class.

Regardless of who lands the talented gunslinger, they won't be getting him for at least a couple of seasons, which makes teams, like USC, hesitant to take just a singular quarterback because of Lyons' delayed enrollment.

Greg Biggins of 247Sports said that Lyons could be the best quarterback from the 2026 recruiting cycle when it's all said and done.

"Lyons is on the short list when talking about the top overall signal caller in the ’26 class. He's coming off a huge sophomore season where he showed off his rare ability as a thrower and runner and accounted for 61 all-purpose touchdowns...combines rare physical tools with an advanced feel for the position as well," Biggins said.