He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, earning consensus All-American honors.

He was selected as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following a six-tackle, two-sack performance in Penn State's 48–7 defeat of Wisconsin, in which he also forced two key fumbles.

[22] In his first regular season game with the Jets, Maybin recorded his first career sack, a strip-sack, against Joe Flacco on October 2, 2011.

[26] On December 4, 2011, against the Washington Redskins, Maybin sacked Rex Grossman and forced a fumble that was recovered by Calvin Pace.

Maybin, in limited playing time, recorded one tackle and no sacks and was credited with nine quarterback hits through ten games.

[36] During his career his paintings were a major part of the Hard Knocks reality television show when it covered the Bengals.

[37][38] During this time, Maybin claims to have used the pressure and stress of performing in professional football to influence his artistic output.

For example, following an incident he had with a police officer racial profiling him in Baltimore following in the first two weeks of the death of Freddie Gray, Maybin began a photography project in the surrounding area and painted images of the neighborhood as it reacted to the social trauma.

[43] He is also the founder of "Project Mayhem", taking his college football nickname, which performs non-profit artistic activities in the public.

In describing the book, The Undefeated wrote, "The work is both an ode to Maybin's hometown and a lament of the city's many challenges.

[38] His parents sought out alternatives to drug treatment which included sketching, sculpting, wrestling, baseball and football, which he began play at the Pee-Wee level at the age of 5.

[47] While at Penn State, Maybin spoke frequently by phone with former Nittany Lion linebacker LaVar Arrington.

The two first met during Arrington's stint with the Washington Redskins, when Maybin was playing at nearby Mount Hebron High School.

[50] In 2009, Maybin founded Project Mayhem, a charitable organization established to "provide aid, both personal and economic, to help underprivileged and at risk youth excel beyond their current conditions.