- August 24th, 2006, 8:14 am
#26114
This has PAmedic written all over it from his own neighborhood fishwrap:
Greiser gets secondary educationhttp://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/ ... 02083.html
By TODD THORPE
The Intelligencer
He thought his goals for his freshman season were reasonable.
He'd step on campus and compete for playing time at halfback.
But for Pennridge graduate Ryan Greiser it didn't go so smoothly, as one of the things that plagued him during his high school career nagged at him during the early parts of his first training camp at Liberty University.
“Last year was pretty frustrating for me health wise,” he said. “The first couple of weeks of camp I was fine, and then I had a flare up of a stinger (neck injury) I had in high school. It kept me out for half of camp. It was kind of a nagging injury.”
It was so nagging that Greiser's playing time for what turned out to be a 1-10 Liberty squad was limited. He played in six games, rushing 15 times for 42 yards and a touchdown.
“(The injury) kind of came and went,” he said. “Every time I worked my way up the depth chart, it would flare back up. Toward the end of the season, I played some special teams. It was great to be part of that. It made me feel like more part of the team.
“Throughout the season, though, was kind of frustrating. At one point I dropped back to like fifth on the depth chart.”
Liberty, a Division I-AA school in Lynchburg, Va., founded by televangelist Dr. Jerry Falwell, underwent a coaching shakeup in the offseason, and Greiser made the move to the other side of the ball this season, where he'll start at free safety for the Flames, who open their season Aug. 31 at home against St. Paul's College.
After his disappointing freshman year, Greiser can hardly wait for the season to get underway.
“The people down here are great,” he said. “The community really supports the team. Last year, as the season went on and we were losing, things were quiet, but they're supporting the team now, especially with new coaching staff.
“There is a buzz around campus, and a buzz around town. The community is really behind us now. Our first home game is already sold out. We're looking to have a great season.”
As far as the move to safety, Greiser said there was a logjam of returning running backs and, when new coach Danny Rocco was hired, each player was evaluated and the decision was made to switch Greiser to defense.
“Ryan's a great kid,” said defensive backs coach Marshall Roberts, an Abington grad and former Galloping Ghosts coach. “He understands that's the best place for him — on field. I expect him to have great success on our defense. Make no doubt about it, Ryan Greiser can play both sides of the ball, but in the long run, his future here is in the secondary.”
While he garnered major attention at Pennridge for his ability to run the football, setting six school rushing records, including total rushing yards (4,046), Greiser was also very successful as a defensive back. His ability to read plays and make tackles is one instinct that it didn't take long to rediscover during spring practices.
“Ryan is what I consider a very good overall football player,” Roberts said. “He has a lot of natural ability. He sees things that football players should see ahead of time.”
The differences between playing defense in high school and college were remarkably different, as Greiser found out, but he's confident that his sophomore year will be more successful than his first year in Lynchburg.
“Surprisingly, it's a whole lot different, especially after taking a whole year off from playing defense,” he said. “The defenses are a lot more complex. It took me some time to get adjusted, but through spring I adjusted to it. I was able to get a good grasp on it.”
Todd Thorpe can be reached at (215) 345-3059 or tthorpe@phillyBurbs.com.
- By LUOrange
- By ECC29