At Senior Bowl, UNC’s Ryan Switzer moves past failed pursuit of NCAA record – sort of

Yes, North Carolina wide receiver Ryan Switzer can remember every single penalty.

Ooh, they irk him, you can see it. The way his eyes screw up and he smiles because he’s interviewing at the Senior Bowl and he’s being watched by hundreds of scouts and he’s supposed to smile, except it comes out a grimace.

Specifically, he can list the four that came on punt returns – the whistles that stopped him from tying or breaking the NCAA record for punt return touchdowns, set by Oklahoma’s Antonio Perkins and tied by Texas Tech’s Wes Welker.

He was close, too. He hit seven for the Tar Heels by his junior season, and at that unlucky number he stayed.

“So I had a punt return against Virginia Tech my freshman year, that was 85 yards. Got called back,” he began. “My sophomore year, against Miami, down in Miami Gardens. That was a 78-yarder, got called back. I had what would have been an 80-yarder against Wake (Forest) my junior year, that was called back. And then I had a 90-yarder against Pitt my senior year that was called back.”

He remembers what each was flagged for, too, and rattled them off in succession. Block in the back. An apparent hold. Another hold.

That Wake Forest penalty, by the way, was not without its controversy. Switzer was flagged for appearing to wave for a fair catch according to officials, and then taking off with the ball after catching it.

Switzer laughed.

“Yeah, I’m letting the ACC officials deal with that. It is what it is.”

At the Senior Bowl, he’s not wasting any time dwelling on those penalties, and the record he never broke. This week is about moving forward, and leaving an impression.

Switzer’s plane landed at 12:30 on Monday afternoon, and he was whisked off to a blur of team interviews and orientations and touched base with his roommate, Clemson’s Artavis Scott. Then, he hit the gym at 11:30 p.m. He was the only one there – and he’ll let you know it, too.

“I don’t think there’s anybody out there that does what I do better than I do,” he said, half-grin in place. “I believe I possess a lot of rare and unique qualities. ... I work hard. I work really hard. A lot of people don’t see that, don’t see the hours I put in. ... I pride myself on my work ethic, and that’s what’s gotten me here now.”

Except the hundreds of scouts, team personnel and reporters in Mobile this week are watching everything he does.

What scouts see in Switzer is crisp route-running and good hands that made him a nice option in the slot at UNC (he had 1,112 receiving yards his senior year). He’s small – 5-foot-9 and 179 pounds – and he can’t shake that comparison to Welker, though he seems to embrace it.

But Switzer said as practices unfold he is looking to take some reps as an outside receiver, too, to help his stock any way he can. As long as everyone’s watching, he may as well try to showcase his speed and ability to win at the line of scrimmage.

“I’m continuing to work hard, continuing to try to give myself the best opportunity to succeed at the next level,” he said. “I’m a football player, plain and simple. I win my one-on-one matchups. I’m a witty guy when it comes to zone coverages – I tend to find my open spot. I got reliable hands. I’m tough. I mean, I could go on and on about my attributes that I think I possess. But this week it’ll be just about going out and playing some football.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "At Senior Bowl, UNC’s Ryan Switzer moves past failed pursuit of NCAA record – sort of."