A Sea Of Red

From Medic's hometown fishwrap ...

Pennridge's Greiser captaining Liberty defense

October 2, 2008

Question: Whatever happened to Pennridge football player Ryan Greiser?

Cat Davies, via e-mail

Answer: Greiser, the former Pennridge standout who was The Morning Call's 2004 Player of the Year, is now a senior at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., where he is the defensive team captain for the 4-0 Flames, ranked No. 20 in the nation in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision.

Greiser of Sellersville was a standout high school tailback who left Pennridge with a slew of school records, including most touchdowns in a season (33), most rushing yards in a game (295), most rushing yards in a season (2,030) and most rushing yards in a career (4,060). During his senior season, he averaged an impressive 9.3 yards per carry and led Pennridge to a 10-3 record and the second round of the District One Class 4A playoffs.

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Medic is going to have a joygasm!

Very impressive

Although he was recruited by a number of bigger schools, including Stanford and Syracuse, Greiser chose to attend Christian-based Liberty largely as a result of his spiritual beliefs...

Gresier, a kinesiology major, also has been a standout student in the classroom at Liberty and was named to the Big South all-academic team in both 2006 and 2007.

he's not forgotten around here, put it that way.

Apparently Ryan is still playing football. Now he suits up for the Mahoning Valley Thunder of Youngstown, Ohio:

Vindy.com wrote:The coach, now 0-3 since taking over May 26, blamed a young secondary, too, for some of the ills in Albany.

“They got better as the game went on but they blew some coverages early that gave Albany some easy scores,” MacKeown said of new players Ryan Greiser and Pat Wells. Greiser played college ball as recently as last fall for Liberty University.

“We have the people here that we can win with, it’s just getting Brad [Roach] and getting our defensive backs the experience and time they need to form a chemistry,” said MacKeown, who acknowledged that time is short for the Thunder.

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Ryan was a reall trooper. He came as a great running back, but realized that the team needed him to be a great... safety?

ReKlef wrote:Ryan was a reall trooper. He came as a great running back, but realized that the team needed him to be a great... safety?

Greiser switched to safety due to a very big/skilled running back from the University of Pittsburgh transferring in. it became apparent he would not be given a shot to play RB so they switched him to S to keep him on the field...

manoftheisland wrote:

ReKlef wrote:Ryan was a reall trooper. He came as a great running back, but realized that the team needed him to be a great... safety?

Greiser switched to safety due to a very big/skilled running back from the University of Pittsburgh transferring in. it became apparent he would not be given a shot to play RB so they switched him to S to keep him on the field...

Yep, he took one for the team. Lowered his pride and didn't look back... He understood that Shad was better than him, so he didn't fight for the position.

Actually, RK, while I would not want to minimize Ryan's desire to do what is best for the team, there is no need to declare him as some kind of a saint or imply he made a huge "sacrifice". First of all, it was not necessarily his choice, and "fighting for your job" is not an option in college football if the coach wants you to play another position. You play the position they want you to, or you transfer. Those are your options. Secondly, this was a great career move for Ryan. Instead of being a third string tailback behind Shad and Zack, he was a starter at safety and a team captain. It was a "no-brainer".

olldflame wrote:Actually, RK, while I would not want to minimize Ryan's desire to do what is best for the team, there is no need to declare him as some kind of a saint or imply he made a huge "sacrifice". First of all, it was not necessarily his choice, and "fighting for your job" is not an option in college football if the coach wants you to play another position. You play the position they want you to, or you transfer. Those are your options. Secondly, this was a great career move for Ryan. Instead of being a third string tailback behind Shad and Zack, he was a starter at safety and a team captain. It was a "no-brainer".

I like this post.

ReKlef wrote:Ryan was a real trooper.

There's a metaphor that Medic will eat up.

olldflame wrote:Actually, RK, while I would not want to minimize Ryan's desire to do what is best for the team, there is no need to declare him as some kind of a saint or imply he made a huge "sacrifice". First of all, it was not necessarily his choice, and "fighting for your job" is not an option in college football if the coach wants you to play another position.

exactly ryan was never any of his coach's recruits which really hurt him... he really never got a shot to play RB. but its all water under the bridge now.

manoftheisland wrote: exactly ryan was never any of his coach's recruits which really hurt him... he really never got a shot to play RB.

This is pure unadulterated crap. Ryan was a multi-talented player who was considered the "great hope" at RB as a freshman in 2005 and was really given more than his fair share of opportunities to prove himself at that position. Unfortunately, he also had a history of injury problems in high school that followed him into college where the hits just came faster and harder. When Rocco took over, he worked out every single player on the team to find out what their strengths and abilities were. Given Ryan's athleticism and injury history (as well as the fact that he was not going to be a better ball carrier than either Rashad Jennings or Zach Terrell), it was decided to move Ryan to defense because he could more than fill a void at safety as well as to protect his body from the every-play pounding that running back's take. Ryan not originally being a "Rocco recruit" had nothing to do with it.

and in hindsight- it was a great move.

he did a very good job back there

not that I'm biased or anything

Libertine wrote:

manoftheisland wrote: exactly ryan was never any of his coach's recruits which really hurt him... he really never got a shot to play RB.

This is pure unadulterated crap. Ryan was a multi-talented player who was considered the "great hope" at RB as a freshman in 2005 and was really given more than his fair share of opportunities to prove himself at that position. Unfortunately, he also had a history of injury problems in high school that followed him into college where the hits just came faster and harder. When Rocco took over, he worked out every single player on the team to find out what their strengths and abilities were. Given Ryan's athleticism and injury history (as well as the fact that he was not going to be a better ball carrier than either Rashad Jennings or Zach Terrell), it was decided to move Ryan to defense because he could more than fill a void at safety as well as to protect his body from the every-play pounding that running back's take. Ryan not originally being a "Rocco recruit" had nothing to do with it.

i didn't mean he didn't get a shot just because of the coach changes but also due to the jennings coming in and the injuries he sustained. it all worked out with him playing safety, i didnt intend to imply that it was just b/c of the coaching changes.