Last January around this time I was busy setting up my spring garden in Maricopa, Arizona. I had purchased two horse feeding troughs, and filled them with hundreds of pounds of compost and soil. I genuinely had no idea that in the ensuing days, my wife and I would start to entertain the idea of moving out of Arizona. By the end of January, I was on a factfinding tour of the southeast with my wife that stopped over in Athens, Georgia. I messaged former Saguaro DB Kelee Ringo while hanging out on the campus and he responded right away. I'd spent time around Ringo in the state of Georgia twice before, for the 2019 and 2020 Rivals 5-Star challenge events. The first year with @ChillyASU, and the second year with @codytcameron. I asked him how he liked living in Athens and he spoke glowingly of the environment, especially on game day. It made me happy to know that he felt at home, especially because it's often rare for an Arizona prospect to assimilate to life on the East Coast- especially one that was originally from the Pacific Northwest.
Ringo was part of a third consecutive #1 class in the nation for Georgia, and because of that, the competition for playing time, as well as the expectation for success on a national stage, were elevated beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He spend his freshman season in Athens nursing an injury, as well as dealing with his mother's cancer diagnosis. To start his sophomore campaign, he earned one of the starting corner roles on what would be a historic Georgia defense, but as I witnessed firsthand in their season opener against Clemson right here in my new hometown of Charlotte, he was going to need to elevate his discipline in order to keep hold on his starting job. I believe in that first game, Ringo drew two pass interference flags, and even though Clemson didn't score an offensive touchdown, there was plenty of criticism (or as the optimist says, growth opportunities) related to Ringo's play.
Seeing Kelee Ringo get a deflection in the end zone of the national championship was incredible enough, but watching him grab the interception that sealed Georgia's first National Championship in 42 years, as well as taking it to the house, has to be one of the coolest moments in the last 10 years of covering Arizona High School football. Not only that, but for Kirby Smart's first televised comments after the game to be about Ringo's improvement and character, and for him to reiterate those things from the podium during the trophy presentation was truly special. Ringo is one of the most unique people I have covered in my time doing this, and I've seen him grow from someone who thought he was going to be a receiver headed into his junior year at Saguaro, to someone who had to humble himself and earn his way back from a season ending suspension later that year, to a leader who helped elevate Saguaro to be able to compete for the first ever open division championship. I have a ton of favorite moments covering Ringo, whether that was watching him run a laser-timed 4.35 40-yard dash in front of the nation's top prospects in Atlanta, watching him share the field with guys like Jeremiah Trojan and Brendan Rice as part of 2020 Elite's 7v7 team in Mesquite, Nevada, or when he gave me an interview on signing day wearing an Oregon short despite having secretly signed with Georgia... but my favorite moment with Ringo actually happened field-side at Arizona State when he was there observing a 7v7 finals.
A kid of probably 10 or 11 years old was passing by as I was interviewing Ringo and you could hear him say "Oh wow that's Kelee Ringo," and Ringo broke out in a big smile, gave the kid a high five, and turned back to me, saying "I really love it that people know my name. That's what I want, for people to know my name." I told him that he wouldn't have a problem making that happen, and that it was all in what he did with that attention once he had it. "Yes sir," he said, smiling.
Now everybody knows his name. I can't wait to see what he does with the attention.
The NFL playoffs kick off this weekend, and by my count, there are 11 former Arizona High school football players participating. Some of the players are on their teams' respective practice squads, but some are regular contributors. I put a list of all the ones I could find up on our Instagram:
I'm an enormous Josh Allen fan, but at least I'll be able to stomach a Bills loss if it means N'Keal Harry gets a shot at the Super Bowl. While Harry's time with the Patriots has been disappointing, he's actually a big factor in their run packages, and if the previous matchups between these two teams are any indication, he'll get plenty of snaps. I'd love to see Tucson alum Levi Wallace lined up on him just once.
Bryce Perkins has been on the Rams active roster all year, but if he gets in the game against the Cardinals, that's a big problem for LA. Byron Murphy, Christian Kirk, and Devon Kennard all have prominent roles for the Cards, with Murphy growing into their best DB option, and Kirk nearly posting his first 1,000-yard receiving campaign.
The most important AZ HS alum in this postseason, however, is Tennessee Titans OL Taylor Lewan, who played his senior season at Chaparral before heading off to Michigan and becoming a first round pick. Lewan missed the Titans postseason run last year with an ACL injury, and this year despite being one of the most beat up teams in the history of the NFL, the Titans secured a first round bye in the AFC, and if they expect to win, they're going to need Lewan at his best.
I'm curious- who are you rooting for in this year's playoffs? I'm a lifelong Cardinals fan, but I'm also a fan of anyone who played high school ball in Arizona, or college ball at Wyoming, so there's a lot for me to enjoy this year. Before the season, however, I did have the Cowboys heading to the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. I'm not sure either one of those teams has any of the three things I root for...
Ringo was part of a third consecutive #1 class in the nation for Georgia, and because of that, the competition for playing time, as well as the expectation for success on a national stage, were elevated beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He spend his freshman season in Athens nursing an injury, as well as dealing with his mother's cancer diagnosis. To start his sophomore campaign, he earned one of the starting corner roles on what would be a historic Georgia defense, but as I witnessed firsthand in their season opener against Clemson right here in my new hometown of Charlotte, he was going to need to elevate his discipline in order to keep hold on his starting job. I believe in that first game, Ringo drew two pass interference flags, and even though Clemson didn't score an offensive touchdown, there was plenty of criticism (or as the optimist says, growth opportunities) related to Ringo's play.
Seeing Kelee Ringo get a deflection in the end zone of the national championship was incredible enough, but watching him grab the interception that sealed Georgia's first National Championship in 42 years, as well as taking it to the house, has to be one of the coolest moments in the last 10 years of covering Arizona High School football. Not only that, but for Kirby Smart's first televised comments after the game to be about Ringo's improvement and character, and for him to reiterate those things from the podium during the trophy presentation was truly special. Ringo is one of the most unique people I have covered in my time doing this, and I've seen him grow from someone who thought he was going to be a receiver headed into his junior year at Saguaro, to someone who had to humble himself and earn his way back from a season ending suspension later that year, to a leader who helped elevate Saguaro to be able to compete for the first ever open division championship. I have a ton of favorite moments covering Ringo, whether that was watching him run a laser-timed 4.35 40-yard dash in front of the nation's top prospects in Atlanta, watching him share the field with guys like Jeremiah Trojan and Brendan Rice as part of 2020 Elite's 7v7 team in Mesquite, Nevada, or when he gave me an interview on signing day wearing an Oregon short despite having secretly signed with Georgia... but my favorite moment with Ringo actually happened field-side at Arizona State when he was there observing a 7v7 finals.
A kid of probably 10 or 11 years old was passing by as I was interviewing Ringo and you could hear him say "Oh wow that's Kelee Ringo," and Ringo broke out in a big smile, gave the kid a high five, and turned back to me, saying "I really love it that people know my name. That's what I want, for people to know my name." I told him that he wouldn't have a problem making that happen, and that it was all in what he did with that attention once he had it. "Yes sir," he said, smiling.
Now everybody knows his name. I can't wait to see what he does with the attention.
The NFL playoffs kick off this weekend, and by my count, there are 11 former Arizona High school football players participating. Some of the players are on their teams' respective practice squads, but some are regular contributors. I put a list of all the ones I could find up on our Instagram:
I'm an enormous Josh Allen fan, but at least I'll be able to stomach a Bills loss if it means N'Keal Harry gets a shot at the Super Bowl. While Harry's time with the Patriots has been disappointing, he's actually a big factor in their run packages, and if the previous matchups between these two teams are any indication, he'll get plenty of snaps. I'd love to see Tucson alum Levi Wallace lined up on him just once.
Bryce Perkins has been on the Rams active roster all year, but if he gets in the game against the Cardinals, that's a big problem for LA. Byron Murphy, Christian Kirk, and Devon Kennard all have prominent roles for the Cards, with Murphy growing into their best DB option, and Kirk nearly posting his first 1,000-yard receiving campaign.
The most important AZ HS alum in this postseason, however, is Tennessee Titans OL Taylor Lewan, who played his senior season at Chaparral before heading off to Michigan and becoming a first round pick. Lewan missed the Titans postseason run last year with an ACL injury, and this year despite being one of the most beat up teams in the history of the NFL, the Titans secured a first round bye in the AFC, and if they expect to win, they're going to need Lewan at his best.
I'm curious- who are you rooting for in this year's playoffs? I'm a lifelong Cardinals fan, but I'm also a fan of anyone who played high school ball in Arizona, or college ball at Wyoming, so there's a lot for me to enjoy this year. Before the season, however, I did have the Cowboys heading to the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. I'm not sure either one of those teams has any of the three things I root for...
