The Decision
Ryan was a very smart kid. Graduating HS, a year early, with honors, was a great achievement. The “running start” program the HS had is what really set him apart from the other kids on football team and other athletes in the region. Having almost 2 full years’ worth of college credit to his name before ever setting foot on a college campus made his parents proud. Making his folks proud was always his greatest motivating factor growing up. His childhood is a story better saved for another time. Ryan’s father, was a stud HS lineman and earned his way onto the football field at Southern Cal in the late ‘70’s. His mother was from Roseville and played volleyball for the Cal – Golden Bears. They were both very prideful of their alma maters. Ryan felt pressure to choose a school to please his parents, but knew there would be no pleasing the both if he chose one school over the other.
Sierra, was being recruited as a quarterback out of high school. With his then 6’5”, 200 lb. frame, he was the prototypical size pro-style quarterback. This lead to many of the Pac-12 schools recruiting him along with some of the peripheral schools in surrounding conferences such as the WAC, Big West, and Big Sky. There seem to be some hesitancy throughout the recruiting process whenever he and his folks would talk to the coaches. There were two major concerns about Ryan and his potential career path, his age and experience. Ryan was still very young and wasn’t done growing. His 16-year-old frame would continue to grow and develop. While having such a sturdy frame, the coaches were not worried about his ability to work through the bumps and bruises of a Division – I football program. Their concerns were with how he would continue to grow and bulk up. Experience, the other dilemma these coaches faced with great concern. Having only played tackle football for 3 seasons, Ryan’s inexperience left these staff’s knowing they had a project on their hands.
Ryan had a fascination and affinity for the game of basketball, but in eighth grade made the decision to dedicate his high school’s years to playing football. This love for basketball never wavered off the court as he remained a fan through and through. Attending every HS game, he could and even frequenting the local university, University of Nevada to watch the Wolf Pack play and make their run at a couple conference championships and March madness runs. He just loved to support his friends and a sport he loved. For whatever reason, he became a University of Kentucky fan. Seeing the Wildcats during their own tournament runs on TV provided him a soft spot in his heart for the Big Blue. This soft spot for UK is what ultimately sparked his unsolicited, unofficial visit to Lexington, KY. The coaching staff at UK didn’t have Ryan on their recruiting board and only had heard his name in passing. Ryan was another high school standout, who never made the big boards for the power 5 conference schools because he never took the time to attend any of the prestigious football camps. Playing HS football in northern Nevada shielded him from any meaningful exposure to those B1G, SEC, ACC schools. This single visit to UK, sparked what would become his deciding factor in choosing a school, choosing THE school, choosing HIS school. After working all these years to make his parents proud of him, using their approval as motivation, he finally realized the one way he could make them both happy about choosing a college. Choose the school based on what HE wants, where HE wants. University of Kentucky was the school for him. There was the challenge of the SEC football, the challenge of being away from home for the first time, and there was Kentucky basketball. He was now going to be a part of something he always wanted, Big Blue Nation.
Graded
Ryan was a very smart kid. Graduating HS, a year early, with honors, was a great achievement. The “running start” program the HS had is what really set him apart from the other kids on football team and other athletes in the region. Having almost 2 full years’ worth of college credit to his name before ever setting foot on a college campus made his parents proud. Making his folks proud was always his greatest motivating factor growing up. His childhood is a story better saved for another time. Ryan’s father, was a stud HS lineman and earned his way onto the football field at Southern Cal in the late ‘70’s. His mother was from Roseville and played volleyball for the Cal – Golden Bears. They were both very prideful of their alma maters. Ryan felt pressure to choose a school to please his parents, but knew there would be no pleasing the both if he chose one school over the other.
Sierra, was being recruited as a quarterback out of high school. With his then 6’5”, 200 lb. frame, he was the prototypical size pro-style quarterback. This lead to many of the Pac-12 schools recruiting him along with some of the peripheral schools in surrounding conferences such as the WAC, Big West, and Big Sky. There seem to be some hesitancy throughout the recruiting process whenever he and his folks would talk to the coaches. There were two major concerns about Ryan and his potential career path, his age and experience. Ryan was still very young and wasn’t done growing. His 16-year-old frame would continue to grow and develop. While having such a sturdy frame, the coaches were not worried about his ability to work through the bumps and bruises of a Division – I football program. Their concerns were with how he would continue to grow and bulk up. Experience, the other dilemma these coaches faced with great concern. Having only played tackle football for 3 seasons, Ryan’s inexperience left these staff’s knowing they had a project on their hands.
Ryan had a fascination and affinity for the game of basketball, but in eighth grade made the decision to dedicate his high school’s years to playing football. This love for basketball never wavered off the court as he remained a fan through and through. Attending every HS game, he could and even frequenting the local university, University of Nevada to watch the Wolf Pack play and make their run at a couple conference championships and March madness runs. He just loved to support his friends and a sport he loved. For whatever reason, he became a University of Kentucky fan. Seeing the Wildcats during their own tournament runs on TV provided him a soft spot in his heart for the Big Blue. This soft spot for UK is what ultimately sparked his unsolicited, unofficial visit to Lexington, KY. The coaching staff at UK didn’t have Ryan on their recruiting board and only had heard his name in passing. Ryan was another high school standout, who never made the big boards for the power 5 conference schools because he never took the time to attend any of the prestigious football camps. Playing HS football in northern Nevada shielded him from any meaningful exposure to those B1G, SEC, ACC schools. This single visit to UK, sparked what would become his deciding factor in choosing a school, choosing THE school, choosing HIS school. After working all these years to make his parents proud of him, using their approval as motivation, he finally realized the one way he could make them both happy about choosing a college. Choose the school based on what HE wants, where HE wants. University of Kentucky was the school for him. There was the challenge of the SEC football, the challenge of being away from home for the first time, and there was Kentucky basketball. He was now going to be a part of something he always wanted, Big Blue Nation.
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Graded