This Side Of Shutdown: Georgia CB Ryan Dillard

"He's going to be the next No. 1 pick in our family." Calvin Johnson (second overall pick to the Detroit Lions) about his first cousin Ryan Dillard at the 2007 NFL draft in New York City.
 
"I believe that. I'll expect to see you on this stage in eight years then!" Adrian Peterson (seventh overall pick to the Minnesota Vikings) responded.
 
*A 17-point second-half advantage against hated rival Calhoun had vanished. A last-second 45-yard field goal sent the Georgia state championship into overtime tied at 24. Momentum had clearly swung and the chances of tying West Rome High School's mark of four straight crowns in the Peach State were slipping away for Buford High School (Buford, GA).
 
"Honestly, I didn't know how our kids would react. We had never played in an overtime game before!" proclaimed Buford Head Coach Jess Simpson.
 
Calhoun won the overtime coin toss and opted to have Buford go on offense first. The Wolves responded with talented tailback Dominique Swope pinballing into the end zone for a 31-24 lead. Calhoun drove down on their first possession of the extra stanza. And on fourth down and needing a touchdown to continue the contest, a short pass in the flat was completed.

Immediately, the Yellow Jackets receiver was dropped to the artificial turf short of the goal line. The tackler was junior cornerback Ryan Dillard. The same player who had made the season's opening tackle on special teams had ended the marathon and sent Buford in to the Georgia state record books with their fourth consecutive state championship.
 
Ryan Dillard's initial football camp experience was as a second grader in Bobby Bowden's FSU event in Tallahassee. The seven-year-olds got to do drills just like the college guys. Ryan got to pose for a picture with the legendary coach. At the end of the camp, the second graders were allowed to play a scrimmage game.
 
After the first half of the practice tilt, the other parents were yelling, "Don't let that kid touch the ball!" They were referring to Ryan Dillard. Every time he touched the pigskin that day under the hot Florida sun, he took it all the way to the end zone. The other kids weren't getting their opportunity to shine. As would become the case his entire career, Ryan was showing up the other players. He wasn't doing it on purpose. He was just simply better.
 
After staring at Woodward Academy (College Park, GA) in grades six through ninth, Ryan's dad Oscar Dillard visited Buford High School. A long-time high school coach who produced multiple D-1 superstars (including his nephew Calvin Johnson), the elder Dillard was there to recruit several of Jess Simpson's stars to play in his annual All-Star event. While online at the school, Dillard asked the Wolves' coach if he wanted to see one of the better freshmen in the region. And when Simpson responded in the affirmative, the two watched the 9th graders' YouTube clip.
 
"Who is that kid? He's unreal!" exclaimed Coach Simpson.
 
"That's my son Ryan!" replied Oscar Dillard.
 
"I'll tell you right now, he's an All-American!" stated Buford's head man.
 
Not surprisingly, Ryan Dillard enrolled at Buford that Fall. The team had already won two consecutive state titles. He started at cornerback that season as a sophomore. In the state championship match-up against Calhoun, their 6'4" superstar receiver DaRick Rogers (now starring at the University of Tennessee) had been doing some social network smack talking.
 
"I can't wait to meet you (Dillard) in the Georgia Dome. Do some work. Light you up!" posted the bragadocious senior, who was averaging 176 yards and three TDs in the state playoffs.
 
In team meetings leading up to that title game his sophomore year, Ryan Dillard and his coaches viewed filmed constantly and discussed game strategy.
 
"I told Coach Simpson I wanted Rogers one-on-one the entire game. I knew I could handle the challenge. He might beat me once or twice man-on-man, but I'm a playmaker. I was confident in my abilities."
 
DaRick Rogers would muster just 69 yards in that championship loss to Buford. More than 100 yards below his per-game average. Dillard would frustrate him the entire afternoon with his physical, bump-and-run style. He made DaRick Rogers look like Mr. Rogers. He would pick off a long pass intended for Rogers at his team's one-yard line. A turning point in the game. Rogers' lone tally would be on a reverse running away from Ryan Dillard. Buford would knock off Calhoun for the Wolves' third straight title.
 
"I don't do smack talking. I just listen and take it all in. I let my actions speak louder than any words can!"
 
The football accolades for Ryan Dillard are long enough to fill a sports encyclopedia. As an 11th grader on the way to that fourth crown, only 5 percent of opponents' passing and running plays were executed to the boundary cornerback side. Remarkably, Ryan did not give up a passing TD to his side the entire 2010 year. Opposing teams simply feared him.

Other coaches were doing their homework. DaRick Rogers wasn't the only stud receiver who was ex-Dillard-ated. They watched Ryan thwart the likes of Julian Horton (Arkansas), Jake Stoke (Georgia Tech) and Trent Pruitt (Vanderbilt). Other teams now know just how exceptional he is, so they avoid his side of the field like it's the bubonic plague.
 
Physically, Dillard is a workout junkie. 5'10", 175 pounds of striated Southern steel. Consistent 4.45 forty speed with a nose for the football and the thump to punish ball carriers who are unfortunate enough to wander into his forbidden territory.
 
Max Preps All-American. One of recruiting guru Tom Lemming's Top 40 Juniors. A starting cornerback at JuniorRank's prestigious Elite High School Showcase in Tempe this past December and an invite to the nationally televised Semper Fidelis All American Bowl (sponsored by the U.S. Marines) in Phoenix this December. The No. 1 rated cornerback in the prestigious Future College Athlete Association (FCAA) rankings.
 
"I went against Ryan Dillard several times in Arizona. He is extremely physical and has great recovery speed. Unreal awareness. He reminds me of Cortland Finnegan of the Tennessee Titans!" said Jeremy Tabuyo, the sensational sophomore receiver from Hawaii who captured JuniorRank's 2010 Fastest Man Competition and is the FCAA's top-rated wideout.
 
As amazing as the football pedigree of Ryan Dillard is, his academic achievements are far more impressive. A 4.0 GPA at Buford. A featured member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Personally selected as one of the top math and science scholars in the nation by Dr. Ben Carson, the noted American neurosurgeon and the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.
 
On his Junior Day visit to Stanford University in late February, Ryan got to have lunch with one of the school's professors, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. On March 5th, he visited the University of California where his host was 13-year NFL vet Ashley Ambrose and stud secondary star Avery Walls, a fellow Peach State native and Ryan's good friend.

Interest from other Division I powerhouses coast-to-coast is constant. Big Ten powerhouse Illinois was the first to offer the stud corner. Ivy League schools like Harvard and Cornell are interested in him strictly for his academic brilliance. 
 
For fun, Ryan plays saxophone in his school's orchestra and lectures youth groups about the importance of being a role model and respecting parents.
 
"My mom and dad set the academic bar high in our household. My sister Courtney is brilliant. She's a senior at Vandy with a double major in marketing/advertising and communication with a minor in Spanish. She's a tremendous role model for me to look up to." said the 17-year-old senior proudly.
 
While athletically, Ryan Dillard is a cross between the New York Jets' Darrelle Revis and former Oakland Raider legend Lester Hayes, overall he most closely resembles former Florida State defensive back Myron Rolle. Ryan got to meet Myron on one of his FSU junkets. Rolle not only excelled as a star of the Seminoles secondary but was a Rhodes Scholar as well. The NCAA version of the perfect student athlete. It is very easy to imagine Ryan Dillard at Oxford in five years. He is that accomplished scholastically.
 
There is no doubt Ryan Dillard wants that historic fifth-straight Georgia championship for Buford High School. No school in that football-rich state has ever done that. He says he thinks about it every time he lifts weights.  Every time he runs sprints in the offseason. Ryan calls it "foreshadowing." The ability to visualize a goal and then make it happen.
 
His résumé is already more impressive than most members of Congress, where he could end up someday. But you get the feeling that after an All-State performance this year as a high school senior, a chance to star athletically and academically at the next level, and a possible pro career, there are bigger, more important things down the road for this soft-spoken cover cornerback.
 
"In two years, I see myself at one of the top academic institutions in the nation. Majoring in either math or science. Likely both. Playing football on the side."
 
A real-life side of shutdown that only an elite few will ever get to venture into.