OXFORD — Chuck Martin wasn’t completely sure what position Grant Lyons would play when Miami recruited him.
He was more certain about something else.
Lyons was a winner.
Sometimes that is enough to take a chance.
Four years later, Miami’s gamble looks pretty good.
Lyons enters his redshirt senior season as a major piece of the RedHawks’ defensive line after traveling one of the more unlikely paths on Miami’s roster — from celebrated St. Xavier linebacker, to undersized defensive end, to scout-team project, to special-teams contributor, to rotational defender and finally to a player Miami expects to rely on in 2026.
“I’m excited this year to kind of take on the role of being the guy in the room and playing more snaps this year than I have in years past,” Lyons said.
The 6-foot-3, 242-pound Cincinnati native played in all 14 games last season, finishing with 12 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. He recorded a sack and forced fumble at Buffalo and finished with a career-high three tackles against Western Michigan in the MAC championship game.
Those numbers represent something larger to Martin.
They represent persistence.
Lyons arrived from St. Xavier as a high school linebacker who had been a team captain and conference defensive player of the year after recording eight sacks and three interceptions as a senior.
But projecting his college position wasn’t easy.
“He’s a tweener for us,” Martin recalled. “Does he run quite good enough to be a backer? Does he have the athleticism quite? He’s on the fringe.”
Martin called longtime St. Xavier coach Steve Specht before deciding to take Lyons.
Martin knew Lyons might not fit perfectly on a recruiting spreadsheet.
But he knew what kind of player he was getting.
“I’m like, ‘I might just get myself a football player.’ We took him just as a guy,” Martin said. “Like, that’s a tough kid. What’s he going to be? I knew he’d help my team. I didn’t know in what capacity.”
Initially, Lyons landed on the scout team.
Then Miami moved him from linebacker to defensive end.
For some players, Martin said, that sort of move becomes the beginning of the end.
Lyons treated it like the beginning.
“You’re going to be a 220-pound D-end,” Martin said. “You’re undersized, you’ve never played D-end. They’re just pushing you aside. That’s what a lot of kids, when they get moved, they just fade away.”
Lyons refused. He worked. Then worked some more.
“I remember the first year he was on scout team, he had no idea what he was doing,” Martin said. “We’re kind of killing him. Then by the end of the year, I’m like, he’s starting to become functional.”
Soon Lyons was contributing on special teams. Then he became part of the defensive rotation. Last season came the production.
Martin particularly remembers Lyons’ sack at Buffalo, which came during a difficult stretch of Miami’s season and helped the RedHawks eventually pull away for a 37-20 victory.
“I look up and Grant gets a big sack,” Martin said. “At that moment in my life, it was much needed — not just the sack, but just like, ‘Look at Grant. Things are still OK.’”
Lyons has never forgotten the path.
“I was able to get game experience last year but wasn’t necessarily playing as many snaps as I would have liked,” Lyons said. “It’s frustrating, but all you can do is show up every day and be a great teammate and be the best that you can be, work hard.”
Now the payoff has arrived.
Miami lists Lyons as a defensive lineman, and Martin said the RedHawks could have as many as five starting-caliber defensive ends.
“We’re going to rely on a lot of guys,” Lyons said. “That’s fun, to see the growth that we’ve had.”
His role has changed beyond playing time.
With Miami bringing in more than 40 newcomers, Lyons has become one of the veterans responsible for teaching them what Martin expects.
“It was important for me to step up in the leadership aspect of my game,” Lyons said. “You bring in so many new faces, you have to get everybody rowing in the right direction. And you have to show them what Miami football is about.”
For Lyons, that means three things.
Fast. Smart. Physical.
“Coach Martin engraves in our head that we’re going to be fast, smart and physical,” Lyons said. “That’s what we emphasize every day.”
Miami’s defense has become one of the foundations of its run to three consecutive MAC championship games. Last season, the RedHawks produced 40 sacks, with 15 different players recording at least one. Lyons was among eight Miami players who established a career high in sacks.
The challenge now is rebuilding that production with a different cast.
“We don’t have guys out there trying to make plays,” Lyons said. “We have guys that are out there trying to be one-eleventh of our defense.
“That’s how you ultimately have success. You have every guy out there doing his job, not trying to do any more, not trying to do any less.”
Lyons also remains closely connected to the program that helped shape him.
His younger brother is now a junior captain at St. Xavier, giving Lyons another reason to follow the Bombers. He said he sometimes watches St. Xavier games from Miami’s team hotel on Friday nights whenever possible.
“Watching him play is my favorite thing to do,” Lyons said. “Going to his games and kind of seeing him live the life that I lived, it’s like watching a mini-me out there.
“It’s fun to kind of be a part of a community that’s bigger than yourself.”
Miami has become another such community.
Lyons has watched former teammates chase professional opportunities and points to players such as Jackson Kuwatch and Silas Walters as examples of what persistent work can produce.
Martin sees a similar quality in Lyons.
There was never any guarantee Lyons would become a starting-caliber defensive end.
There was never even a guarantee he would become a defensive end at all.
But every time Miami placed another obstacle in front of him, Lyons found a way around it.
“Grant’s going to find a way to play and help you win games,” Martin said. “That’s what he’s going to do. He’s competitive. He’s confident.”
Saturday, the journey reaches another stage.
Lyons will walk into Acrisure Stadium no longer as the high school linebacker without a clear college position or the scout-team defensive end trying to survive another practice.
He’ll enter as a fifth-year player Miami is counting on to help lead its defense against one of the most talented teams it will see all season.
“You show up out here every day with the mindset that I’m going to be a better player than I was the day before,” Lyons said. “Eventually you get to this part in your career where it’s like, all right, time to go cut it loose.”
And Saturday, finally, it is.
