CHAPEL HILL – Big stages don’t bother Jahvaree Ritzie.
Neither do big moments, the bright lights, pressure. None of that stuff.
Ritzie isn’t really fazed by much, if anything.
“I've never been nervous or anything,” the North Carolina sophomore defensive lineman said Saturday, following the Tar Heels’ second practice of fall camp. “I'm always confident, so I don't have an issue doing anything.”
Consider it an innate trait, certainly also learned at home growing up. It’s a DNA thing, a household thing, and it’s also a mamma thing.
“I just got it from her when I was younger,” Ritzie said. “I wouldn't say she demanded it. It was just how I was brought up, so it was just like every day it was like, ‘You gotta do what you gotta do. Don't let nothing hold you back.’ So that's how I live.”
Kindra Ritzie’s advice has certainly helped her son progress on the football field.
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A 4-star prospect and overall No. 140 player nationally in the class of 2021, Ritzie arrived at UNC quite ballyhooed, but that never guarantees instant or any success. Many big-time kids take time to find themselves at the ACC level, and some never do.
But not Ritzie. By Carolina’s fourth game last fall, a surprising loss at Georgia Tech, he was on the field for 29 snaps after playing 52 in the Tar Heels’ first three contests. He was a member of the rotation at 18 years of age. No sweat.
In all, the 6-foot-5, 290-pounder who attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, NC, finished his true freshman campaign with 25 tackles and three QB hurries. He was also credited by PFF with nine STOPs, which are plays that result in failures by the opposing offense.
Ritzie played 296 snaps on the season, earning a 63.9 overall grade from PFF. He played 20 or more snaps in eight games, notching a high of 41 in the loss to South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, and was in for 35 snaps in the win over Miami.
A solid first year has fueled high expectations for Ritzie’s second season. The UNC staff believes he could really break out, as do some teammates.
“I think Jahvaree Ritzie is a great athlete,” junior linebacker Cedric Gray recently said. “He came in last year and got an opportunity to play a little bit as a freshman, and I think he’s a guy who kind of kept on building on his talent he already has. I think he’s gonna have an even better year than he had last year.”
Natural progression in his development is one reason for the promising projections, but Ritzie also believes Carolina’s new approach on defense will help scoot his game along as well.
Gone is the complicated scheme employed by Jay Bateman, in which the Heels had trouble with what some have dubbed “overcommunication,” and a series of assignments not exactly in line with players’ skill sets.
Under new coordinator Gene Chizik, the task is more simplified and about winning individual battles. Minimize the task, then attack the task.
“With it being simplified, it's just go,” Ritzie said. “I wouldn't say we had to learn it. Now it's just learning what you need to do to make yourself successful to make that play. Every play is just go. I compared last year it was like okay, you got to do this and do that, but now it's just simple.”
Ritzie can handle a multitude of responsibilities on the field, both from physical and cerebral standpoints. He has the complete package.
A former basketball player who also did shot put in high school, Ritzie can line up just about anywhere along the defensive line.
“Right now, I’m at tackle, because we’re letting the young guys learn the in spot,” he said. “But in the season, I’ll be playing both, it will even out.”
And he likely will give the Tar Heels something needed along the interior. Games are often won up front, and with UNC’s depth and overall talent far greater than it was when Mack Brown took over three years ago, Ritzie figures as one of the more noteworthy players in that room.
Signs of things to come popped up plenty a year ago, and now his game is more fortified, which should equate to consistently high-level play on the field. Ritzie isn’t just a regular ACC-level talent. He’s in another realm, senior offensive guard Ed Montilus says.
“I’ve seen him develop a lot this offseason, especially in the weight room,” Montilus said. “He’s very explosive, a freak of nature.”
A freak of nature? Ritzie didn’t shy away from the description when asked what it means on the field.
“I’ll let y’all see that on the field,” he said, trying hard to contain a broad smile. “I can’t answer that myself right now.”
Unfazed, confident, a freak of nature. Whatever tag one wants to place on Jahvaree Ritzie, if it’s complimentary, he’ll take it. And it likely also applies.
