'Junkyard Dog' Lyons Reflects on Injury, Ready to Make Impact in 2025

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- There are your regular football bumps and bruises, and then there's what Jamari Lyons suffered over a year ago.

The Florida Gators defensive tackle, poised for a breakout 2024 season, nearly saw his career come to an end with a broken ankle suffered in the team's first scrimmage of fall camp on Aug. 10.

"It was like the last play of the rep, and I remember going to start the guard, the runner was coming and I was playing the secondary gap. And as I was making the tackle, the pile kind of rolled over me and my ankle got caught and it just popped right out right on the field," Lyons recalled Wednesday.

The injury, which required two surgeries, ended his 2024 season before it began. However, the severity of the injury put losing a year of football on the backburner. Lyons' day-to-day life was completely changed in an instant.

“Shoot, I wasn't able to walk for six months," he said. "I was in a wheelchair for probably like three weeks until I got crutches. And then from crutches I was able to go on the scooter and then back to crutches and put some more pressure on it towards the end of my injury or recovery process."

While the physical aspect was as difficult as anything he's ever faced before, the mental aspect and emotional side of the injury was just as tough. Lyons remembered the first time he returned to practice after his injury as an observer in a wheelchair.

“It just hurt to see my boys go practice without me, had to sit back and get wheeled around practice," he said. "So that really just hurt me. I'm the type of guy like I always love to practice, like to attack that day. So it would just hurt my heart just being, just being pretty much sat down or forced to sit down, and it kind of like messed me up in my head a little bit."

Florida Gators defensive lineman Jamari Lyons missed all of 2024 with an injury. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

Seeing defensive line coach Gerald Chatman, who was entering his first season with the program, for the first time after his injury was just as emotional.

“When I was injured, he came to visit me. It was hard. We both had some tears," Lyons said. "He just kept making sure that I was out of my head and he kept reminding me that I was going to get back to healthy and being 100 percent. Every day he saw me when I was in a wheelchair in the building or when I was in the hospital, he came to visit me at my house as well. So he was making sure that I’m out of my head and doing the right things."

Now, over a year since his gruesome injury, Lyons enters the 2025 season healthy thanks to a will to return and strong work ethic during the recovery process. Strength and conditioning coordinator Tyler Miles reflected on Lyons' injury at the beginning of fall camp.

"Jamari’s injury was so bad," Miles said. "For him to come back from that and to not give up and to come and be pushing himself and have a really good offseason and put on muscle and all of these things, there were a lot of people out there after that kind of injury could have hung it up. And he didn’t. He kept pushing, and he’s really had a good offseason and hasn’t held back one bit.”

Lyons first returned to the practice field during spring camp, albeit in a black non-contact jersey. While feeling comfortable back on the field, Lyons wasn't sure he would be allowed to shed the non-contact jersey during spring camp. He was positively surprised during the last week of camp.

“I go to my locker, we're getting ready to suit up, I see a blue jersey. I just looked at the blue jersey and started tearing up a little bit, I was like ‘wow, I’m really back 100 percent,'" he said. "It just felt good just to be out there, running around, striking, just having fun like being a big kid. It’s just all great.”

#Gators DL Jamari Lyons returning from injury pic.twitter.com/SCs7GObGkb
— Cam Parker (@camparker25) March 8, 2025

After four months of not being able to put weight on his foot, Lyons only needed a little over three months between January to mid-April to be a full participant in practice. Once he shed the boot in January, Lyons told trainers he was ready to run immediately before being told to slow down and take his return day-by-day.

He relented despite his excitement, but now that he's able to run, Lyons is now relentless as he continues to refamiliarize himself with the speed of the game.

"My ankle completely popped off the bone. Bone was hanging out of my own skin," Lyons said. "Being able to come back from there, it took a long time to even start walking and a little bit more time to start running after that. But obviously I was able to push through, keep going. And now I'm out there running around, striking blocks, getting off the ball, making plays, making tackles during camp and practice.”

That work ethic to return, though, was something Lyons had already been known for among his teammates and coaches predating his injury. It even earned him a nickname during his freshman season in 2022.

"We gave him a nickname a long time ago -- the junkyard dog," Tyreak Sapp said. "Jamari just goes in there and he makes a mess. He makes it easy for the edge guys to make plays. And having Jamari back is going to be a big help."

Florida Gators defensive line coach Gerald Chatman and defensive lineman Jamari Lyons have forged a close bond since he joined the staff ahead of the 2024 season. | Matt Pendleton / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The nickname, which came from then-UF defensive line coach Sean Spencer, described Lyons being an instant playmaker and disrupter on defense despite inexperience and needing proper development with technique.

"It kind of like lift me up, just being able to get a nickname, especially your freshman year, everyone want a nickname," Lyons said. "So again, a junkyard dog, it’s like ‘oh I'm grinding, I'm in the mud, I'm in the mesh, I'm in the sticks’.”

The nickname combined with his effort helped carry him through what head coach Billy Napier described as a "terrible" first summer for the former prospect out of Viera (Fla.) High School.

"Jamari, he's one of the originals," Napier said. "We went to see him the first couple weeks we were on the job. I remember going to his high school, watching the tape. Big, long, twitchy, but didn't get off to a great start in his career here. He had shoulder surgery, wasn't midyear, showed up way out of shape. Me and him joke around about that first summer a lot. I mean, it was terrible."

Lyons agrees.

“It was a real wake-up call," he said. "It’s a big transition from high school to college, so like I had to make sure I get on time with the schedule, It was a lot of me being late, me not eating right, they had a lot of food in front of us so I was just eating anything and everything, so I was out of shape real bad."

Quickly realizing he needed to make changes, Lyons relied on a group of veterans in front of him to learn how to do things the right way. Little did he know, he would have to put those lessons into practice two years later while recovering from his injury.

Lyons, a Type 2 diabetic, emphasized the extra work in the preparation and recovery processes, including extra time in the training room, consistently eating the right foods and taking his insulin on time.

"I just took every step more seriously than I was before. I was kind of slacking," he said. "I was young, so I wasn't doing all the things I needed to do to keep my body healthy. But now I have a pro mindset, keep pushing and stuff.”

With the 2025 season nearly two weeks away, not only does Lyons find himself back on the field but also in contention for a starting position at nose tackle. The redshirt junior is currently competing with rising sophomore Michai Boireau and true freshman Joseph Mbatchou at the role.

"He's back and I think he's chomping at the bit," Napier said. "... He continues to get better and better. He's getting in football shape. You can see some of the twitch coming back and then obviously he plays with passion. He's a guy who helps keep everybody accountable. Good temperament. The kind of temperament you want with a defensive lineman."

Overall, the journey has been as difficult as it could be for Lyons. Nonetheless, he's managed to spin the injury positively and is looking forward to making an impact for Florida in 2025.

“It just taught that it can be taken away at any moment. I was very down inside and don’t want to feel that way ever again," Lyons said. "So every opportunity, every chance I get to go on that field, I just make it my best and give it all I got.”

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