Diamondback Blogs

The Terrapins might have laid an egg in Charlottesville last Saturday, but receiver Ronnie Tyler had his best game of the season, hauling in five receptions for 56 yards. The redshirt freshman, who played running back in high school, has seen his workload increase in recent weeks, with nine of his 13 receptions coming in the last two games. He is now tied with tight end Dan Gronkowski for the team-lead in receptions and second in receiving yards (134) behind Darrius Heyward-Bey. We sat down with Tyler for this week’s Meet the Team.

Terrapin Trail: Each week, opposing defenses key in on stopping Darrius. How important is it that you and the other receivers take some of the pressure off him?

Ronnie Tyler: When we go out there, we don’t really think about trying to help Darrius. It’s more about getting a first down for our team.  Mostly, me and Danny Oquendo, we only touch the field on third down. That’s the goal - make the plays for our team.

TT: You had one of your better games against Virginia. How do you build off an individual performance like that?

RT: I’m still young, so I’m just trying to take the good and bad things and learn from both of them. Just trying to get better, and I’m always talking to Danny, just trying to hear what he’s got to say about a lot of stuff.

TT: As a receiver, what parts of your game do you take pride in?

RT: First of all, blocking. You can’t be a receiver if you don’t block. And just making plays when plays need to be made.

TT: Your brother, Rontreal, played for Citadel. Does the football background bring you two closer together? Do you talk a lot about football?

RT: Yeah, we do. I didn’t play receiver before I came here, but he played receiver before he went to Citadel, so a lot of times when I’m watching film or watching other teams defend, I’ll ask him about this technique or how he would approach it.

TT:  How big a change was it going from playing running back to receiver?

RT: It was big. Just learning how to move in space without the ball. At running back, you know, you’re the running back. [At receiver], you don’t have the ball yet, so you gotta get open so you can get the ball. That was probably the biggest thing.

TT: Were you resistant to the position change at first?

RT: No, I wanted to play receiver.

TT: Was there a reason for that?

RT: Nah, I just didn’t want to. Didn’t want that beating.

TT: At 5-foot-10, you’re a little smaller than some of the other guys like Darrius (6-foot-3), Danny (6 foot) and Isaiah [Williams] (6-foot-3). How do you make yourself stand out from the bigger guys?

RT: I don’t know. I feel like everybody has a special thing that they’re blessed with, so I guess this is my thing that I’m blessed with. I just try to play low, and that helps me out a lot. And just use my technique and do everything I’m supposed to do.

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