Daniel Lyons has stuck it out at FSU in. anticipation of this moment

Daniel Lyons knows it's now or never.

Lyons is in his fifth year at FSU and the redshirt senior from Homestead has always shown a lot of potential, but that alone won't get it done in a make-or-break year. He has to become a dominant force on the interior defensive line like many of the greats that have come before him. Mike Norvell believes Lyons has the DNA to get it done this year and is ready to see it happen.

"Daniel's been a guy....he's seen it, he's done it. You take Deante [McCray] and Daniel, those guys have seen so much, and they have a lot of ownership in this group and this team," Norvell said.

Daniel Lyons is ready to make the most of his final year

In 2025, Lyons went from a primary rotation guy to a full-time starter. Like most of the players on the defensive line, it took a while for Lyons to get adjusted to Tony White's defense, which required him to take on more blockers. The numbers were a little down from the previous season, but still solid with 26 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a couple of sacks. Now Lyons is comfortable with the defense, and he's coming into spring heathy and ready to hunt.

"Last year I missed spring, so I was kind of behind and I had to catch up. I didn't have the whole offseason to get right, but now I've got spring...I've got the whole year, so I'm going to be way better," Lyons said.

You can go back to the days of Odell Haggins or even further back to Ron Simmons and know that FSU has had great defensive tackles for as long as most fans can remember. Guys like Jerry Johnson, Corey Simon, Jeff Womble, Timmy Jernigan, Braden Fiske (for one year) and so forth. When FSU is at its best as a program, they have a dominant presence in the middle of the line. 

Darrell Jackson proved to be great at taking on the double teams and that proved to be a major asset for Mandrell Desir to post the numbers he did as a freshman. Now Desir is going to get a lot more attention, and that should leave Lyons with a ton of opportunities to get pressure in the backfield from the interior. If he can put together an All-ACC type of season, the Seminoles will win more games than the pundits are predicting.