Three-star DB Ryan landed at UVa where he always wanted

The recruiting process looks different to different recruits. For some, a lot of the interest comes in early. For others, there isn’t as much but maybe it comes in late. For Aidan Ryan, the interest came late but it picked up steam in a hurry, to the point where he was picking up offers by the handful this spring.

That’s not too unlike UVa, who went through a stretch in late April and early May that will likely define its 2021 class. Bronco Mendenhall and Co. picked up eight of their 13 commits—not taking into account the added success they had in the transfer mark—in a span of just 19 days with the last of those being Ryan, though he actually committed days earlier.

“I committed probably a week before [it was announced],” he told CavsCorner recently. “I wanted to make that announcement on Mother’s Day because I wanted to make it special. I was pretty locked in for the last two weeks or so of the process.”

That process took him quickly from a long period of waiting to one where he had what felt in the moment almost like too much interest.

“It’s been a while ride for sure,” he explained. “Everything sort of happened out of nowhere. I got my first offer exactly a year before the day I committed. So, it was May 10, 2019. Then it was sort of shut down. I didn’t talk to many schools and it was sort of silent from then until the second week in February, I talked to Army and they said they were going to offer me. After that, it just blew up in a way that I never though it would.

“It went from like an offer every other day to three offers a day, four offers a day,” Ryan added. “It all happened so fast. It was overwhelming at first. But with time I eventually got more used to it and was able to handle it a lot better as the process went on.”

The time between that call with Army and when William & Mary became the first school to offer felt like forever. But little did he know that everything was about to hit overdrive.

“It’s definitely a surreal feeling,” he recalled. “Every single time that a school would say they wanted to talk to me on the phone, my heart would get to beating fast and I would get excited to learn more and more about each and every single one of those programs.”

As the 6-foot-1 three-star picked up offers and as he looked at narrowing the process, there were a handle of things that stayed on his mind.

“The education was super important for me,” Ryan said. “Like I’ve said so many times: Football isn’t going to last forever. You need to go somewhere where you’re going to get a great education so you’re well off with that degree from that school down the road later in life. And that’s if even do make it to the NFL. I’ve heard that saying that says that the NFL stands for ‘Not For Long.’ You need to have a plan for it. So, I wanted to have that in my back pocket.

“I also wanted to play football at a really competitive and high level,” he added.

His background with UVa, as Ryan explained it, went much like his recruitment as a whole.

“It was sort of a wild situation,” he said. “I didn’t hear from UVa for quite a bit. The offer, it happened the same day I got my first Power 5 offer from Louisville. I talked to them about 2 o’clock that day maybe and then that night, I had already gotten three offers that day, so at like 7 p.m. or something like Coach Blanda Wolfe messaged me and said ‘This is the day we’ve been waiting for.” So a little later I called Coach (Nick) Howell and my heart was racing because I was thinking ‘Is this really happening?!’

“We hadn’t talked for a little bit and we were catching up,” Ryan added. “Coach Howell told me that he really liked my junior film and just that progression from my sophomore year to my junior year is what really attracted them to me. So then he said that they were offering me and I was really happy with that.”

The way he fit in at UVa was a big reason for his decision, including the constant comparisons to current UVa safety Joey Blount.

“I’ve been in contact with them since the beginning of my sophomore year,” he said. “That’s when I was like 175 and I think they were looking at me more at corner. But I filled out a little more and now, at 193, and I grew a little bit as well. They liked my build at safety.

“It starts off with the build and I’ve seen a lot of people saying that and make that comparison,” Ryan said with a laugh. “I actually do see it. And that’s a really nice thing and I would love to play on that level. But I want to make a name for myself and just be Aidan Ryan on the field. He’s a really, really, really good player and I’m hoping I can make my name as well as he has.”

The fact that he landed at UVa had a lot to do with UVa but also some degree where he’ll be.

“I’d like to say that it doesn’t matter to me but I think that it definitely matters,” he said. “Just the possibilities are endless. I can go home and see my family when I want, on game days my friends and teachers can come watch, and that’s something that really holds value to me.”

So how did his commitment come about?

“Coach Howell and I had a Zoom meeting set up where he wanted to show me where I would fit into the scheme,” Ryan said, “and right at the start of that call I was like ‘Coach I think I’m ready to finally do it.’ So, I told Coach Howell, we had the meeting, and then I got on FaceTime with Coach Mendenhall and then just got bombarded with texts from the coaches. It was a really welcoming feeling, that’s for sure.”

In Howell, Ryan sees a coach that he not only believes can get the most out of him on the field but one who will do right by him off of it.

“He’s a super cool, down to Earth person that really cares about all of his kids,” he said. “But he’s also the kind of person that you can tell when it’s time to go to work, it’s time to go to work. All gas, no brakes with him. He really just does want the best for his players in terms of being good on the field and in terms of being good kids and eventually good husbands and good fathers.”

The fact that COVID-19 shut down visits this spring was disappointing to Ryan, despite the fact that he was pretty sure all along that UVa was the right fit for him. But the fact that the Hoos were pulling in this wave of commits certainly helped take any remaining uncertainty off the table.

“No matter who was going there, it was the place I always wanted to be,” Ryan said. “But the fact that I get to be a part of something this special, that’s crazy. This ’21 class is shaping up to be really, really nice. Being a part of that is something that I really wanted. I have a whole group of really good guys. We’ve got a big group chat going and we’ve been texting and getting to know each other and everything. We’ve had Zoom calls with everybody and the coaching staff. So it was great to do that and interact with everybody.”

All told, amid so much confusion this spring Ryan was able to make his decision and feel confident in it.

“It’s super nice,” he said. “It’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders. People may not think it but the phone calls can get super tiring when you have so much else going on with schoolwork and you just want to live like a regular kid. It’s definitely a great problem to have, though, because a lot of other people would love to be in this position.

“I’m really grateful for it,” Ryan added, “and really happy with my decision. Having this done and made, it took a lot of stress off of me. I’m super happy with the choice I made and I feel like it’s the right one. It’s going to be a place where I can really enjoy myself and enjoy my career and my entire four or five years there.”

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