Ryder is a transfer student to McKinley High who arrives as a sophomore, is on the football team, has trouble with his grades, and is recruited by Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) to try out for the school musical, and later to join the glee club, New Directions.

Ryder Lynn (Blake Jenner), a new transfer student to McKinley High as a sophomore, is on the football team and is not getting good grades.

He is approached by Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), who was the team's quarterback before he graduated the previous year, and is co-directing the school musical, Grease.

He is eventually convinced by an online chat friend, Katie Fitzgerald, that Unique's reality is that she is a female inside, and apologizes to her and to Jake and Marley as well.

[4] Ryder and Katie develop a close online bond, telling each other their innermost secrets, and he pushes her to meet him in person, though she demurs.

Ryder, even though hurt by Katie's deception, decides to call her cell phone—he feels that close to her still—and a phone starts ringing in across the room, in one of the backpacks.

Two of the guys in the club, Sam and Artie, fail to understand why this was a traumatic thing, but Kitty does, and later tells Ryder that she herself had been molested.

[6] In the week before Regionals, Ryder announces that he will not participate in the competition unless the glee club member who is masquerading as Katie reveals her or himself.

[10] He last appear in the season when principal Sue Sylvester officially disbands the glee club because they did not win and share one last group hug with Marley, Jake, Unique, and Kitty before attending his upperclassmen graduation.

He briefly returns in the closing minutes of the series finale "Dreams Come True" for one last performance and takes a bow with the rest of the Glee Cast.

[12] Glee casting director Robert Ulrich, who was one of the mentors and judges of the competition, cited Jenner's versatility and skill as an actor, and noted that with the character of Finn having graduated at the end of the show's third season, Murphy, Glee's showrunner, said they needed a new "anchor in the choir room".

"[12] Jenner continued appearing as a recurring guest star for the remainder of the fourth season beyond the seven episodes he had won.

[8][13] In his first Glee episode, "The Role You Were Born to Play", Ryder performed Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero" with Finn, in what turned out to be an audition for Grease.

Entertainment Weekly's Erin Strecker gave the performance a "B" grade, and added, "Nice debut, Blake Jenner.

"[15] Slezak called Ryder "undeniable leading man material" in his review of the episode, though he was also unhappy with the bulimia sequence.