Ryan's feat: Now let's see him punt one 109 yards

RENTON – Here’s a great bar bet: Ask your know-it-all buddy if he can name which Seahawks player had the longest touchdown reception in college.

Give him five guesses. Heck, 10.

Fact is, no one in the history of the world has ever caught a longer touchdown pass than this Seahawk. It will forever stand as a world record.

Houshmandzadeh? Branch? Burleson?

Nope. Pay up, sucka: Jon Ryan … the punter.

What … 99 yards?

No, not even close. You’ve got to factor in the Canadian exchange rate.

Ryan caught a touchdown pass that went 109 yards. He was a sophomore flanker for the Regina (Saskatchewan) Rams. It was second-and-10 from the Rams’ 1-yard line. On the 110-yard Canadian field, that leaves 109 yards to go for the score.

“That was my first touchdown in college football,” Ryan said Monday after Seahawks practice. “It was a ‘go’ route. The guy was tight on me, but I used my body on him and he fell down and I was gone.”

After 109 yards, were you tired?

“Absolutely.”

The Regina native leads the NFL in average yards per punt at 49.2 during the preseason after setting a Seahawks franchise record last season by averaging 45.6.

While on the topic of football trivia, if you’re scanning memory banks for NFL players from Regina, it appears that Ryan is the lone entry in that category, too. (Rueben Mayes was from North Battleford).

Of course Ryan played hockey a great deal, but decided to stick with football after the 11th grade.

In Regina, football is played on ice, too, at times. And certainly in the wind. So, you won’t hear Ryan complaining about conditions on game day.

“Growing up in Regina, it’s right in the middle of the prairie, and the wind howls all the time,” he said. “You have to learn to kick in the elements, so that never bothers me … I’ve done it all before.”

Despite his record-setting reception and punting skills amid atmospheric atrocities, Ryan was ignored by the NFL. But after two seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL, he was signed by the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers voted him the winner of their Ed Block Courage Award for 2006 for his inspirational efforts, punting through a difficult season while his father, Bob, faced terminal cancer.

“He gave the better part of his life helping needy youth,” Ryan said of his father, a psychologist who worked for a nonprofit organization that supported troubled youth.

Even though he had strong numbers, the Packers gave him a pink slip at the start of last season and replaced him with Derrick Frost.

Ryan can afford to be philosophical about the snub now.

“I think they saw an opportunity to go with a better punter,” he said. “That’s what the NFL is all about. As soon as you make a team, they’re trying to replace you. They went in another direction.”

The wrong direction, apparently. Frost was cut by the Packers in December.

Ryan looked shaky in his early games with the Seahawks. He didn’t feel comfortable, he said, and his 29.3 average in his first game had him talking to himself.

His first thought: “Oh, crap,” he said. “I definitely wanted to stay in Seattle.”

He quickly found his rhythm, though, and had one of the best seasons the Hawks have ever had from a punter.

In the exhibition opener this year, Ryan booted one 77 yards. After the second exhibition, against Denver, coach Jim Mora was compelled to rave.

“When you can have a punter that can change field position like that—he had three inside the 20, and he punts directionally well, which he’s really improved upon—it’s a real weapon for you,” Mora said. “A lot of times, people don’t recognize the punter. He did a nice job (as a holder), I thought, on the 52-yard field goal. It was a good snap, he bobbled it just a little bit, and got it down.”

So, Ryan is drawing praise for being valuable, versatile and athletic.

And Mora hasn’t even tried him at flanker, yet.

dave.boling@thenewstribune.com