As the 2014 college football season came to a close, Ryan Ramcyzk was a second-team All-WIAC offensive lineman for the Division III UW-Stevens Point Pointers. Less than three years later, he’s now a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
Saints draft Ryan Ramczyk, the latest Wisconsin 1st-round tackle
It’s been quite a journey for the former Division III tackle.
Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
The New Orleans Saints bet big on Ramczyk’s meteoric rise, taking the former DIII standout with the 32nd overall pick. New Orleans is hoping the Wisconsin standout will be the latest Badger to develop into a Pro Bowl blocker, joining fellow alumni like Joe Thomas and Travis Frederick as elite pass protectors.
Ramczyk took the long road to the NFL. He was an all-state lineman at Stevens Point Area Senior High School, but as a two-star prospect, he turned down Paul Chryst’s scholarship offer at Pitt. Instead, he intended to play his college ball at Winona State University in Minnesota, but never enrolled.
Ramczyk’s long collegiate road ended at the NFL Draft.
Two semesters at two technical colleges later, he wound up back in Stevens Point, playing in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Association and playing a relatively tough Division III schedule that featured NCAA tournament mainstays like UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Platteville. He earned all-WIAA honors in each of his seasons, then found an unexpected opportunity knocking at his door. Chryst, the coach who had tried to lure him to Pittsburgh, was now at Wisconsin.
Chryst found a spot for him on the Badgers’ roster, and after sitting out the 2015 season due to NCAA transfer rules, he was named the team’s starting left tackle before 2016’s spring practices could even begin. One year working in front of Bart Houston and Alex Hornibrook made him one of the NFL Draft’s hottest line prospects.
Ramczyk belongs in the NFL, but is he a true next-level left tackle?
“Ramczyk handled some of the best pass rushers in the country last season. He fires off the ball well and keeps good pad level. Looks natural in his kick slide, effectively able to mirror the rusher. He successfully transitions his weight from outside to inside, cutting off inside moves. He’s a mauler in the run game, getting good movement on defensive linemen. Also shows the athleticism in the open field to successfully block linebackers at the second level.” — Read More at Bucky’s 5th Quarter
SB Nation’s Stephen White doesn’t think so. Instead, he sees him more as a Jack Conklin-type player on the other end of the line. While that may sound like a slight, there are much worse things to be compared to than a player who was a first-team All-Pro selection his first season in the league.
Ramczyk is a bruising tackle who gets his pads low and drives defensive ends back in run support, which helped clear a path for a rushing offense that gained more than 200 yards per game last fall. He showed off a penchant for getting into the second level and occupying linebackers in a support role. Here’s one example, where he helps spring Corey Clement for a short gain while taking Iowa’s Bo Bower out of the play.
He has nimble feet and strong lateral movement that makes him a dependable piece in pass protection. Though his arm length isn’t ideal, he did a good job keeping edge rushers at bay by keeping a solid base and shadowing speed rushers, thus preventing pocket collapses for a team with two sub-optimal options at quarterback.
He missed most of this spring’s workouts after going under the knife for hip surgery to repair a torn labrum, though that was his only major injury in three years of college ball. Missing the Combine cost him a chance to showcase his athleticism, which helped him slip to the 32nd pick. Even so, he and Western Kentucky’s Forrest Lamp were two standouts among an otherwise underwhelming crop of offensive line prospects.
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