BYU Offensive Coordinator Aaron Roderick Got His Guy in Ryder Lyons

What a difference 52 days can make. 52 days ago, BYU had only three scholarship quarterbacks on the 2025 roster: Jake Retzlaff, McCae Hillstead, and Treyson Bourguet. Fast forward to today and BYU has added true freshman Bear Bachmeier for 2025 and five-star quarterback Ryder Lyons for the future.

BYU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick has been recruiting Ryder Lyons for more than three years. Roderick hung in there while the nation's most prestigious programs tried to swoop in and win the Lyons' sweepstakes. Roderick's consistent recruiting style deserves a lot of credit for landing Lyons and reshaping the outlook of the BYU quarterback room.

Whether you agree with Aaron Roderick's offensive philosophy or not, or whether you agree with his play-calling or not, there is one thing that everyone should be able to agree on: Aaron Roderick has a proven track record of quarterback development.

Roderick turned a three-star quarterback in Zach Wilson into a first-round NFL Draft pick. He turned another three-star recruit in Jaren Hall into an NFL Draft selection. He also helped Jake Retzlaff, who really struggled in 2023, to make substantial improvements in his game, paving the way for an 11-2 campaign in 2024.

Roderick's track record of quarterback development speaks for itself. Also, it's unfair to talk about BYU quarterback development without mentioning Matt Mitchell. Mitchell was recently promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach. He has played a pivotal role in quarterback development during his time at BYU.

If there is one area where BYU has struggled in recent years, it's been landing high-profile quarterbacks. BYU has been close with a handful of recruits before ultimately falling short. BYU did land Jacob Conover, a four-star per some recruiting services, but Conover didn't ever meet his potential. He has bounced around during his career and is now at Utah State. Conover has completed 35% of his passes during his career.

Conover aside, BYU's evaluations have been great, they have just struggled to cross the finish line with a few of the top targets. BYU was really close to landing Jaxson Dart. If it wasn't for a global pandemic that shined a spotlight on Utah High School football in 2020, Dart might have ended up in BYU blue. BYU was near the top of the list for four-star Luke Moga before he committed to Oregon. Moga was a star in the most recent Oregon Spring game. Grady Adamson looked like a lock to BYU before he picked up an offer from Georgia Tech and committed almost immediately to the Yellow Jackets. Then there was Maealiuaki Smith whose recruitment was trending towards BYU. In a strange turn of events, Smith ended up at Oklahoma State and is now at Ole Miss.

You have to go back to Jaren Hall and Zach Wilson to find the last high school prospects that signed with BYU and became full-time starters at the position. Hall and Wilson signed in the 2016 and 2018 classes, respectively.

That all changed on Tuesday when Aaron Roderick got his guy. Ryder Lyons, a five-star quarterback, was a top target for the biggest brands in the sport. Roderick beat Oregon head-to-head in a battle went down to the wire. He also beat out USC who was considered the favorite during most of Lyons' recruitment. Schools like Michigan, Ohio State, and Ole Miss tried to enter the Lyons sweepstakes, but it was really a battle of the three schools out West.

Now, BYU fans get to see the combination of Lyons' talent with Roderick's history of quarterback development. If you could craft an ideal quarterback for Aaron Roderick's system, it would be Ryder Lyons. Lyons can make plays with him arm and his legs, and he is comfortable throwing in play-action situations. Lyons' skillset fits Roderick's offensive like a glove.

On top of that, Lyons has the quarterback super power that NFL executives covet most: making plays off-script.