Lee attended Blue Springs High School, where he played football under head coach Kelly Donohoe. He was a teammate of current Kansas State running back Dalvin Warmack. During his high school career, Lee was a two-time Kansas City Star All-Metro honoree and was a two-time recipient of the Buck Buchanan Memorial Award, given to the best lineman or linebacker in the top two high school classes in Kansas or Missouri high school football in the Kansas City area, being only the second two-time winner of the award. Lee was named to the MaxPreps Junior All-American team as a junior in 2012 after collecting 71 tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss and 18.5 sacks. He was also a first-team All-State honoree by both the coaches and media. As a senior in 2013, Lee recorded 85 tackles, including 36 for loss and 12 sacks. He was selected as the Missouri Football Coaches’ Association (MFCA) Class 6 Defensive Player of the Year, while he was a unanimous pick for the MFCA All-State squad. He was also named first-team All-State by the Missouri media and was selected to the USA Today All-USA Missouri Team. Lee also participated in basketball, earning all-conference and all-district honors, and track and field at Blue Springs.

Lee was regarded as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com and was rated the 39th-best outside linebacker nationally by Scout.com and 41st by Rivals. Lee committed to Kansas State on March 26, 2013. He also had scholarship offers from Iowa and Nebraska, among others.

Lee made the transition from defensive end in high school to outside linebacker at Kansas State. A three-year letter winner, Lee became the first Wildcat linebacker to earn consecutive All-Big 12 honors since Arthur Brown in 2011 and 2012. Lee finished his collegiate career with 209 total tackles (153 solo), 18.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and five interceptions (the most by a Wildcat linebacker under head coach Bill Snyder). He is also tied for fourth in Kansas State bowl history with 20 career tackles. During his time at Kansas State, the Wildcats had a 24–15 record and three bowl berths prior to declaring to the NFL Draft after his junior year.

Lee went on to be drafted in the 7th round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings and is still currently in the NFL, recently signing another 1-year contract with the Cleveland Browns.