THE HEART OF THE MAN

Since ending his star-filled career at the University of Alabama in January, DeMeco Ryans has labored through the exhausting process of becoming an NFL player. The poking, prodding, jumping, running and medical testing have opened every aspect of his life to potential suitors. And if all that didn’t answer any questions they had, there was the “pose,” another name for standing in front of 300 plus NFL folks wearing only your tighty-whitees. In NFL circles they call it the process. It’s the process NFL teams use to find the secret ingredient that will make their team the worthy of the Super Bowl. Through all the testing, all the public posing, one ingredient that makes DeMeco Ryans may have been overlooked. It’s an ingredient that cannot be tested by a stopwatch, prodded by a doctor or seen by the most advanced MRI. It’s an ingredient that can only be seen through a person’s character. How the person plays the game, how the person reacts to what life has thrown them. That ingredient is heart and no one in this year’s NFL draft has more of it than Ryans.

When you mention his heart for the game, DeMeco perks up and lights the room with his pearly white smile as he explains its origin. “My mom has always been the example of what a person should be. I saw heart, sacrifice and hard work lived out in front of me each and every day.” The smile grows wider as Ryans’ continues to speak of his mom and the lessons learned. By his eagerness and tone of voice one begins to realize that the heart of DeMeco Ryans is filled with the love, faith and determination of Martha Ryans. “She was and still is the pillar of our family. She’s worked two or more jobs for as long as I can remember. She’s sacrificed what she may have wanted for what her kids and family needed. The amazing thing about it all is that not once have I ever heard of her complain about anything.”

Despite being tabbed as one of the best linebackers in the south when he signed with the University of Alabama in 2002, many said he was too small to play in the SEC. His freshman season he saw action in every game the Crimson Tide played and he started the season finale against Hawaii. He backed up his freshman performance with a sophomore season that saw him log 126 tackles and set a school record with 25 against Arkansas. “I came to the University of Alabama realizing it was a great opportunity get a great education and play football. It was an opportunity like this my mom always prepared for my family and me. I realized early on that I wasn’t just playing for DeMeco Ryans I was playing for my entire family it was an opportunity for my entire family. An opportunity that couldn’t be wasted.”

As his career took off between the lines, so did his impact outside the lines. When he began to hear his name mentioned as one of the best linebackers to ever play at the University of Alabama, DeMeco knew he had another opportunity. “To be mentioned with the likes of Lee Roy Jordan, Cornelius Bennett and Derrick Thomas is unbelievable. I realized then that I had a great opportunity to impact lives of people everywhere. Through television, football had allowed me into their homes. Playing in front of sell out crowds each Saturday allowed them to see me in person.” The 2006 business graduate continues, “What better platform could someone ask for than what was before me.”

In his junior season DeMeco racked up a team leading 84 tackles. In the classroom he earned 44 semester hours in just two full and two summer semesters. “It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” Ryans says of his class schedule, “but I had a goal of graduating early.” Ryans graduated in only seven semesters, an accomplishment that draws a cringe from career student everywhere. “I wanted my senior season to be the best. I wanted to not only help in returning the tradition of Alabama football but to make an impact in the lives of people who have helped me get to this point but also those who I’ve never met.”

With a 2005 schedule that included SEC powerhouses like Florida, Tennessee and Auburn on the horizon, Ryans knew that he had to increase his intensity on the field and leadership in the locker room. “I began to realize that all my life I had been raised for a moment like this. We had the opportunity to put this program back where it’s supposed to be. More importantly we had the opportunity to leave those freshman, sophomores and juniors a foundation both on and off the field that would sustain.”

Yet before Ryans and his Alabama teammates could begin the 2005 season, there was a crisis that hit the southeast not even a mature, fearless, all-American linebacker could envision. “When hurricane Katrina hit the gulf none of us could imagine how bad it was. That changed when refugees began staying the student center. All of a sudden it hit home and we knew we had to do something to help.” Remembering those motherly lessons of sacrifice and assistance, Ryans rallied several of his teammates and ventured to the student center to meet with refugees. While there, they served meals and spent time one-on-one time with refugees. It was a moment Ryans says helped refugees but may have helped him and his teammates even more. “Things like that, people losing their homes, not knowing where family members are, it really makes you humble for what you have. We went over there to be a blessing and they became a blessing for us.”

As an NCAA student-athlete, Ryans and his teammates were restricted to the benefits they received. However, the NCAA does allow a per-diem for game days and travel. That’s when those images of a lady back home in Bessemer reappeared in the mind of Ryans. “I was approached by Brandon Brooks about asking the team to donate their per-diems to the refugees. It was a natural thing to do. I’ve seen how my mom has been blessed and blessed others by her sacrifices. It was what we had to do.” Ryans and his teammates donated $3,000 to the refugees another $3,000 was donated by an awe struck head coach. “These players get no financial benefits for playing, I know what it means to get that per-diem. If they gave up their per-diem then I could certainly match it,” said Mike Shula.

DeMeco and his Alabama teammates finished the season with a 10-2 record including wins over Florida, Tennessee and a Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech. Ryans finished his senior season with 76 tackles, earning him the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. He became a household name across the nation racking up unanimous All-America selections. His work in the classroom, on the field and in the community earned him the 2005 Ronnie Lott Trophy. DeMeco Ryans is considered to be the most highly decorated student-athlete in University of Alabama history.

But behind the awards and accolades lies one ingredient NFL teams need not overlook when eyeing DeMeco Ryans. The ingredient is heart. A heart that is full of kindness, sacrifice and the lessons of a faithful mother. His is a heart that beats with the rhythm of compassion one moment and rhythm of destruction the next. A heart that gives to homeless refugees of a disaster one day and takes from a fleeing quarterback the next.

 When it comes to explaining DeMeco Ryans, author Robert Valett probably sums it best, “The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand.”