Reston Lehman

Physical Profile

The 6-4, 230 build is the exact tweener frame college staffs covet on the edge — long enough to set a hard edge and win with length, light enough right now to play in space and drop into coverage. He is not a finished physical product; at 230 he'll need to carry 245-255 to hold up as a hand-in-the-dirt end in the ACC, and Pitt's early-enrollment plan (January 2026 arrival, two full offseasons of strength work before meaningful snaps) is built around exactly that. Athletically he checks out beyond football: a javelin thrower in track, which speaks to rotational power and hip explosion through a throwing motion that translates directly to converting speed to power at the point of attack, and a lacrosse player whose man-to-man footwork he himself credits for his coverage comfort. The multi-sport background shows up as unusual change-of-direction and short-area body control for a player his height.

Play Style

A high-motor, long-levered edge defender who plays with his hair on fire and wins first with effort and length before technique. On film he's most comfortable attacking downhill from a two-point stance, working the edge with active hands to keep tackles off his frame and chasing hard in pursuit — the profile of a player who accumulates tackles for loss by beating blockers to a spot rather than bull-rushing through them. What separates him from the average high-effort WPIAL edge is coverage credibility: three interceptions as a junior, plus the lacrosse-derived man-coverage footwork he cites himself, mean he can be dropped into a curl-flat or spy role without it being a giveaway. Against overmatched competition he was the clear best athlete on the field and was frequently allowed to freelance; that will not be available to him in the ACC. His best trait is that he plays to the whistle in every phase — his signature high school play was a hustle stop on fourth down in a one-point championship game, not a highlight sack.

Strengths

• Ball production, not just pressure: as a junior he posted 11 tackles for loss, four sacks, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries — three picks from an edge defender is a genuine outlier number and evidence of zone-drop awareness and hands, not merely a straight-line rusher's stat line
• Length and block deconstruction — his head coach's description of him 'moving around blocks' matches the film: he uses his 6-4 frame to keep offensive tackles off his chest and works half-man to disengage rather than absorbing and stalling
• Positional versatility with real reps behind it: 39 career starts across four varsity seasons playing both off-ball linebacker and defensive end, which is why Pitt could sign him as an EDGE and hold the option to move him inside or off the ball without projecting blind
• Situational toughness and finish — coach TJ Plack calls him 'ferocious' and a player who 'goes to the whistle'; he backed it up by forcing the game-sealing turnover on downs with 1:34 left in the WPIAL 5A championship, and the defense pitched five shutouts in a 13-1 season
• Established leadership and maturity: four-year starter, early graduate, early enrollee — he chose to give up his final high school semester for a spring practice

Areas to Improve

• Play strength and anchor. At 230 pounds against ACC-caliber tackles he can be rooted and displaced in the run game. The functional strength gap — not the athleticism — is what keeps him off the two-deep as a true freshman, and it's a 20-25 pound, two-offseason project
• Pass-rush plan. His high school wins come primarily off effort, length and athletic superiority over WPIAL tackles. There is limited evidence on film of a developed counter off a primary move (long-arm to inside spin, cross-chop, etc.). He needs a defined first move, a counter, and a rush conversion plan before he can win in college one-on-one
• Positional identity. Being listed as Edge, OLB and DE across services is a strength in flexibility but a risk in development — until Pitt fixes him at one spot, technique reps get split. The staff's early signals (working with the D-line) suggest hand-in-the-dirt end, which is the heavier of the two paths
• Sack volume relative to disruption. Four sacks against 11 TFL suggests he was better at closing space laterally and beating blocks than finishing at the quarterback; the rush-finish component lags the run-defense component

College Projection

Redshirt or heavy special-teams contributor in Year 1 (2026), with the January enrollment buying him a spring practice and a jump on the strength program that most true freshmen don't get. The realistic path: 2026 develop and add weight, 2027 rotational pass-rush and special-teams role, 2028-2029 full-time starter as a 250-pound edge in Pitt's four-man front. He is not a plug-and-play freshman — the frame is right but the mass isn't — and the honest projection is a Year 3 starter and Year 4-5 producer. The upside case is that the coverage ability and multi-sport athleticism let a staff use him situationally as a stand-up rusher/dropper earlier than his weight would suggest. He's a strong bet to become a multi-year ACC starter; the variance is in whether he becomes an all-conference disruptor or a solid rotational piece, and that answer lives in the weight room and the pass-rush plan.

NFL Outlook

Too early for a meaningful draft grade, but the ingredients are legitimate: 6-4 with room on the frame, verified production in coverage and against the run, and a track/lacrosse athletic base. If he develops into a 250-255-pound ACC starter with double-digit TFL production by his junior year, he's a Day 3 draftable projection with the traits to climb into Day 2 conversation. The realistic ceiling is a rotational NFL edge/SAM in an odd or hybrid front where his ability to drop is an asset rather than a compromise. The floor risk is the classic tweener outcome — not stout enough to play the run at 4-3 end, not twitchy enough off the ball at linebacker. Weight gain without losing bend is the entire evaluation.

Best Fit

A four-man-front, defense-first program that develops its own edge players over four years rather than transfer-portal-flipping the position — which is precisely why Pitt under Pat Narduzzi, a defensive head coach with a long track record of building NFL defensive linemen, is a genuinely good fit rather than just a proximity-to-home decision (Lehman cited both). Scheme-wise, a system that lets him play from a two-point stance on early downs and puts his hand down on passing downs maximizes him; a hybrid/multiple front that values a SAM who can set the edge and drop into coverage would use every tool he has. The worst fit would be a pure 0-1 tech-heavy scheme that asks him to two-gap at 230 pounds, or a program that needs immediate freshman production.