Rylee Arnold, professional dancer on Dancing With the Stars, made her relationship with USC football player Walker Lyons Instagram official over the weekend, sharing a series of sweet photos with the Trojans’ tight end. Arnold, 19, posted a collection of snapshots featuring her and Lyons after USC’s recent 42-20 victory over Rutgers, including a cozy photo of the couple hugging on the field at United Airlines Field in Los Angeles.
Captioning the post with, “Is this a hard launch?? ?????,” Arnold confirmed their romance with playful emojis.
The post quickly caught the attention of fans and friends, including actor Taylor Lautner, who commented, “Definitely ain’t a soft launch,” adding to the buzz. Other photos from Arnold’s post showed her with her sister Brynley and Brynley’s husband, Donny McGinnis, cheering on USC at the game.
In addition to her Instagram reveal, Arnold shared a TikTok video from the stands at the LA Memorial Coliseum, where she humorously captioned it, “Really into football these days,” tagging Lyons. Later, she posted more moments from a recent Disneyland date with Lyons on her Instagram Stories, including a photo of her kissing him on the cheek and captioning it, “The best night at Disneyland.”
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In another Disneyland snapshot, Arnold’s young niece, Sage, was smiling as she held onto Arnold’s leg, captioned, “Do we think Sage approves?!” suggesting the dancer’s family is in on the new romance as well.
Hints of Arnold’s budding relationship surfaced earlier this month, when she posted a “get ready with me” TikTok on October 4, sharing details about someone she was seeing. “He was so easy to talk to,” Arnold said, explaining how they had enjoyed back-to-back dates, grabbing food, driving around, and connecting over shared interests.
“He is so sweet and humble and just all the amazing qualities,” she added.
Though she didn’t name Lyons at the time, Arnold hinted that their schedules aligned, making it easier to see each other despite both having busy lives.
Meanwhile, Lyons, a freshman tight end for USC, has shown promise on the field with five catches for 25 yards across five games. As he balances football and college life, he now also has Arnold cheering him on from the stands.
