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 Height / Weight: 6-2 / 232
40-Time: 4.70 - Lombardi Award Semifinalist
- Wuerffel Trophy Nominee
- The Draddy Award Nominee
- Lott Trophy Watch List
- Butkus Award Nominee
- ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Nominee
- ARA Sportsmanship Award Nominee
- 2005 SEC Defensive Player of the Week vs. Arkansas
- SEC Good Works Team
- 2005 Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports Scholar
- 2004 Second-Team All-SEC (Coaches)
- 2004 Honorable Mention All-SEC (AP)
- 2004 CBS Scholar Athlete of the Week vs. AU
- 2004 Academic All-SEC
- 2004 ESPN Second Team Academic All-District IV
- 2003 Academic All-SEC
- 2003 CoSIDA Academic District IV
- Single Game Tackle Record Holder (25)
- 2002 Freshman Academic All-SEC
Academic Honors and Accomplishments:
DeMeco will graduate cum laude in December, 2005 with a degree in Management from The University of Alabama after just seven semesters. He currently carries a 3.7 GPA and is a Draddy Award (the academic Heisman) Semi-Finalist. Along the way, he was named a three-time Academic All-SEC selection, and should earn his fourth award this year. He was a 2005 Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports Scholar and is on the 2005 Lott Trophy Watch list, symbolic of the nation’s top “IMPACT (Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity) player. DeMeco has earned Dean’s List honors four times during his collegiate career. He was also chosen as the top student-athlete from the College of Commerce and Business Administration (one of the nation’s Top-50 business schools) and was selected a Jason, an honorary group of the top male academic students on campus.  This past spring, DeMeco was the recipient of the Bryant Award, symbolic of the Athletic Department’s top male student-athlete. For the past two years, Ryans has been the top academic student-athlete on the football team and he was captain of the “High Tide Club”, the football team’s top-ranked academic student-athletes. He was a CoSIDA Academic All-District performer in 2003 and 2004. Football Accomplishments:
On the football field, DeMeco owns the school single game tackle record with 25 (against Arkansas in 2003). Six games into his senior season, he has 272 career tackles, needing just 28 stops to join just four other Crimson Tide players to get 300 or more tackles in a career. His 126 tackles in 2003 ranks second on the school single-season chart. Ryans has 31 career starts and he has played in 44 career games. Ryans had five double-figure tackle games in 2003 and two in 2004 and had 19 tackles against Arkansas in 2005, a feat for which he won SEC “Defensive Player of the Week” honors. He is on the 2005 Lott Trophy Watch List; is a semifinalist for Lombardi Award and on the Butkus Award watch list. He was a second-team All-SEC pick by the coaches in 2004 and was on virtually every preseason All-SEC team in 2005. For his 44-game career, DeMeco has 272 tackles, 24 stops behind the line for 83 yards, 2 sacks for 13 yards, 4 caused fumbles and 4 fumble recoveries. Campus Activities/Leadership/Citizenship:
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, evacuees streamed into Tuscaloosa. “As students and football players, we don’t have a lot of time to watch television, but what we did see of Hurricane Katrina was sickening,” Ryans said. “We talked about what we could do to help and on our off day (Monday), we helped serve lunch to those housed at the Recreation Center.” Ryans was joined by 16 other Crimson Tide players, and they spent two hours at the American Red Cross shelter at the Student Recreation Center, talking with evacuees, playing with children and then helping to serve lunch. “We all have so much and we take so much for granted,” said Ryans. “When you see people who have lost everything, it makes you appreciate all you have.” In addition, Alabama football players collected over $3,000 to contribute to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. During the 2004 academic year, DeMeco was a frequent speaker to youth sports banquets and has been a spokesperson for the Franklin County DARE Program. He has participated in various elementary school “Read Across America” day programs and volunteered at The Tuscaloosa VA Hospital United Way kickoff program. He has also been a frequent speaker to north Alabama churches on “doing the right thing". Additional Comments:
DeMeco realizes the opportunity that he has been given through his athletic scholarship. He has taken advantage of this and will graduate cum laude in just 3 ½ years. DeMeco is a very humble and caring person, who is viewed as a leader both on and off the field by his teammates.
“DeMeco Ryans leads by example,” says Crimson Tide head coach Mike Shula. “He has been a leader on and off the field. It is an awesome thing when you get that degree because they can’t take that away from you. He’s bought into that theory and other guys are jumping on board that way, seeing what he’s done.” RYANS' STATS Year G T TFL Sacks Int. FC/FR PBU QBP
2002 13 27 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 2
2003 13 126 8.5-26 1.5-11 0-0 1-1 0 3
2004 12 78 7-12 0-0 0-0 2-1 2 2
2005 10 63 9.0-45 3.5-31 1-7 4-1 2 2
Totals 45 294 25.5-84 5-42 1-7 7-6 4 9 CAREER BESTS
Tackles: *25 vs. Arkansas, 2003
QB Sacks: 1.5 vs. Southern Miss, 2003
Yards Lost: 11 vs. Southern Miss, 2003
Tackles for Loss: 2 several, last vs. Kentucky, 2004
Yards Lost: 11 vs. Southern Miss, 2003
Fumbles Caused: 1 several, last vs. Kentucky, 2004
Fumbles Recovered: 1 several, last vs. WCU, 2004
QB Pressure: 1 several, last vs. Kentucky, 2004
Pass Break-Up: 1 vs. Tennessee, 2004
Interception: 1 vs. Tennessee, 2004 *School Record Double-Figure Tackle Games
2005
11 vs. Tennessee
15 vs. Arkansas
2004
10 vs. Arkansas
13 vs. Minnesota
2003
16 vs. Oklahoma
25 vs. Arkansas
13 vs. Southern Miss
14 vs. Tennessee
10 vs. Auburn
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