South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Rizk happy to help teammates look good
CORAL GABLES — Ryan Rizk did not take many game snaps in his four years on the Hurricanes’ roster, but he has found other ways to help his teammates. On Wednesday, he was the one tossing footballs to the Hurricanes’ participants at their Pro Day in Coral Gables.
“It was a dream come true,” Rizk said. “It was last week where coach [Jorge] Baez asked me to come throw. I was like, ‘I’ll do anything,’ especially on Pro Day. To come and help my teammates out and to be able to show what I’ve got, as well, is a dream come true. It’s what you work for and it’s always something I’ve had in my mind all throughout college and high school.”
Rizk, an American Heritage-Delray alum, was a Hurricanes walk-on quarterback for four years, playing primarily on the team’s practice squad. He earned a spot closer to the top of UM’s depth chart last season after quarterbacks D’Eriq King and Jake Garica suffered season-ending injuries. He saw his only action in the Hurricanes’ win over Duke, completing 1 of 2 passes for 9 yards.
Rizk said he tried not to think too much about throwing in front of NFL scouts and tried to work through the pressure of helping his teammates look good for the scouts.
“For sure [there was pressure], especially throwing to DBs,” Rizk said. “Because DBs, you don’t want to throw it too hard but you want to give them a good ball. But it was awesome. Just a great experience and to be able to do it in front of my friends and coaches. It’s awesome.”
Rizk said he didn’t do anything special to prepare, just his usual warm-ups.
“Just do what I’ve been doing for ... I don’t even know how many years I’ve been playing,” Rizk said. “I just come in and look at it as another day. A special one for sure, but just normal stuff.”
Although Rizk has two seasons of eligibility left, he said his quarterbacking days for the Hurricanes are over. He said he expects big accomplishments from the Hurricanes’ quarterbacks going forward.
“Since the day Tyler walked in, I knew he was going to be special,” Rizk said. “He has a great head on his shoulders. Leader. He’s in the playbook like I’ve never seen. And just the whole quarterback room in general, from Peyton (Matocha) to Jake to the new quarterback Jacurri (Brown) and even Aaron (Howard). Just solid quarterback room, solid heads on their shoulders and they’re going to do big things this year, for sure.”