http://www.tidesports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040710/NEWS/407100346/1011
Crimson Tide linebacker is thinking about the bigger picture
By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor July 10, 2004
TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama linebacker DeMeco Ryans would be a natural for the Bronko Nagurski Award in a couple of respects.
First, he’s adept enough as a football player to merit consideration. He holds the Alabama single-game record for tackles (25 against Arkansas last year), and may be the headliner for the Crimson Tide defense as he enters his junior season in 2004. Thus, he deserves the watch-list mention he got last week from the Nagurski Award (given by the Football Writers of America to the nation’s best defender, regardless of position) and will probably be a viable candidate, regardless of position, on statistics alone.
It’s not just performance, though. Ryans also has an attitude that is something of a throwback to the Nagurski days, when players seemed less concerned with attracting individual attention.
“The way I look at individual awards is this," Ryans said. “If I go out with a team attitude and give a team effort, then the awards will come. Awards are not something I strive for. I strive to make the team better. I have to think about the bigger picture."
Ryans carries that attitude even when talking to Crimson Tide fans.
“People would come up to me last year and say 'I recognize you’ and they would want to talk about the tackle record," Ryans said. “I didn’t have much to say. I’d just tell them that the defense shouldn’t have been on the field that much."
The low profile suits Ryans. He got some attention as a recruit out of Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer, but wasn’t the Tide’s highest-profile signee. That made little difference to the academic All-SEC performer.
“I’ve never been out for myself when playing sports," he said. I want to win. But you can’t win playing by yourself. It’s not a one-man sport like tennis or golf. You’ve got to have 10 other men on defense and 11 on offense who all have a team attitude."
Ryans stopped short of saying that the Crimson Tide lacked that unity in last year’s 4-9 season, but did admit that the long year took a toll.
“It was very tough," Ryans said. “I had been through something similar in high school and that helped me deal with it, but it was still rough. You keep going out and playing to the best of your ability, and you keep coming up short every time, and naturally it hurts.
“I’m just taking it all as motivation. When I think about the Arkansas game, I don’t think about making a lot of tackles. I think that we were one play short. So I do all the extra things like working out, so I will be able to make the play that takes us over the edge."
If Alabama is going to reverse things this season, the linebacking corps will play a strong part. With Ryans, Freddie Roach, Cornelius Wortham, Juwan Garth and Terrence Jones, among others, the group appears both talented and deep.
Ryans will be switching roles again this season, moving back to the strong side after spending a year as a weak-side linebacker.
“When I came in, I was actually a middle linebacker," Ryans said. “Then, when the season came, I was playing strong side. Then when Brooks left, they moved me to weak-side to replace him. Now, I’m back at strong.
“It really doesn’t matter to me. I don’t prefer a position as long as I’m out there."
The quiet Ryans may be shy when it comes to personal achievements, but he’s not bashful about the team goals for the coming season.
“My goals are, first, for this team to come together as a team and as a family," Ryans said. “Then, I want to go out and win all the games. I don’t want us to come up short again. If we do that, then hopefully that will put us in the spot to play for the national championship."
The words “national championship" haven’t been connected with the 2004 Alabama team often, but Ryans said he wouldn’t back down from that goal.
“I’m not just going out and trying to win six games so we can go to some bowl," Ryans said. “I want to go to the biggest bowl of all."
ROLL TIDE! Rick
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