Jr. safety with some big time offers

One of the top defensive back prospects from south Florida for the Class of 2011 will be Wayne Lyons. Lyons is from Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. So far this season he has racked up 59 tackles, 16 tackles for a loss, six forced fumbles, four pass deflections, a blocked field goal, one touchdown from a fumble recovery and two safeties.

"I have been playing pretty good but the team is not so hot," Lyons said. "The quarterback situation is not where it needs to be and we have lost some low scoring games."

Lyons, 6-0 and 180 pounds, is a hard hitting safety prospect that is terrific in run support.

"I play strong safety and I love flying to the football. People don't me as a cover guy. I am known as a big hitter. So I need to work on my coverage skills. I am going to the US Army Combine in Jaunary and a bunch of other events so I will work hard this off-season on playing in coverage. It also doesn't help that we play a lot of run teams."

According to Lyons he has scholarship offers from Stanford, Tennessee, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Duke, and Vanderbilt. As you could imagine, Lyons has some pretty impressive grades.

"I have a 4.8 GPA. I take a lot of AP classes and I am taking college classes at Broward Community College. I am hoping to be our Valedictorian. I want to major in engineering. I do that and I can do anything."

The first team to offer Lyons was Stanford. In fact, he has already visited Stanford (vs Washington) as well as Notre Dame.

"Stanford was great. That place was beautiful. It was my first time in California and I really liked it. Coah (Jim) Harbaugh is doing great things and turning the program around. They, of course, have great academics.

"Notre Dame was nice to. I like the coaches there, I like everyone up there. The campus is real nice as well."

So far this season Lyons has been to in-state game in Gainesville and Coral Gables.

"All the Florida schools are recruiting me pretty hard. I went to the Tennessee/Florida game and the Oklahoma/Miami game. My mom graduated from Florida and my sister is there now. She's in their medical program. So I grew up a Florida fan. I am also trying to get to Tallahassee for a Florida State game. I want to check them out.

"I know I just want to play for a good staff and I would like to play early. Of course academics are very important and I have to feel comfortable with the school and everything else."

This weekend Dillard takes on one of their big rivals, Ely, in their annual Soul Bowl. It's big in more ways than one because the winner advances to the playoffs.