His parents asked the same question every step of his journey.
“Are you sure?”
Ryan Kerrigan’s parents asked this when the varsity high school football coach wanted to promote him to the varsity; and when colleges started calling; and when his college coaches started mentioning the NFL.
“They’d say, ‘Yes we are, just trust us,’ “ Brendan Kerrigan said.
They did and, Thursday night, their son was the Redskins first-round pick, the 16th overall. It’s what he and his family hoped would happen. Yes, they might all say that; but it didn’t seem insincere.
“[After] his visit, he came home and – he hadn’t done this any other place – he said, ‘Mom, I can see myself there,’ “ Anita Kerrigan said. “I was like, ‘Really Ryan?’ Ryan doesn’t say a lot. And he was like, ‘Yeah, I could see myself there mom.’ And it seemed like everything fell into place the way it was supposed to be.”
It felt natural for Kerrigan.
“I really like the staff here,” Kerrigan said. “I really felt like I fit in well with them.”
A few nuggets from Kerrigan’s presser:
…On the transition to a 3-4: “It’s just seeing the game from a different perspective. You’re standing up and you kind of can see the whole field, whereas when you’re in a three-point stance, you kind of only have your straight-ahead vision. So that will be the biggest adjustment… I can make that adjustment pretty smoothly.”
…On knowing the entire defensive responsibility: “Just knowing what everyone else is doing will make the defense better as a whole. It makes you that much more sure of your assignment because if you know you are supposed to be in one spot and your teammates are supposed to be in another, then I think it helps your defense as a whole.”
…On how he describes himself: “I’m someone that’s going to give you all I have every play and that my first play is going to look the same as my last play. I’m going to go hard every play. I’m someone that’s going to be good against the run and get after the quarterback.”
…On adjusting to increased attention from offenses last fall: “Just learning when backs come to chip, you have to work one man at a time and not try to defeat both at once but defeat the running back and then defeat the offensive lineman. And on slide protection, learning how to make counter moves to get inside when you that offensive lineman is sliding too far outside.”
…On following standout d-linemen at Purdue: “It was a huge selling point in me coming to Purdue, having guys like Anthony Spencer and Ray Edwards and Cliff Avril coming before me. I wanted to be that next guy.”
