Florida State defensive coordinator Charles Kelly didn’t want to make a comparison for Seminoles cornerback Jalen Ramsey, but Kelly couldn’t help himself. The parallels are too striking.
Kelly envisions Ramsey following the same path as Charles Woodson, who retired from the NFL in January. A Fremont, Ohio, native and Michigan product who was the fourth overall pick of the Oakland Raiders in 1998, Woodson started out at cornerback, later moved to nickel back and finished his 18-year career at safety.
“I hate to put names on guys, but I always looked at Jalen in that light,” Kelly admitted in a phone interview earlier this month.
Also FSU’s defensive backs coach, Kelly knows that NFL executives and draft analysts are split over the best position for Ramsey, 6-foot-1 and 209 pounds. All agree he should be a top-five pick Thursday, which means the Browns likely already passed on him when their trade with the Philadelphia Eagles left them at No. 8. It might be a decision they come to regret, especially if Ramsey plays as well and as long as Woodson.
But because Ramsey spent time at three different positions in his three years in Tallahassee, there is no consensus on where he belongs in the NFL. Ramsey doesn’t care, saying he’ll go wherever he’s needed. Kelly believes Ramsey can handle cornerback or safety.
“It’s hard to find corners his size that can be as physical,” Kelly said. “He can run, he can jump, he can do all those things. When you find a guy that versatile ... he can play every position in the secondary. I think that’s what makes him so valuable.”
Great athleticism
The Atlantic Coast Conference indoor and outdoor long jump champion in 2015 who made All-American with a fourth at the NCAA indoors last season, Ramsey possesses off-the-charts athleticism.
At the NFL Combine, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds and tied for the top spot in the vertical jump (41.5) and broad jump (11-3) among all participants tested. Charles Davis of NFL Media called Ramsey the “gold medal winner” of the combine decathlon and believes Ramsey should be under consideration for the No. 1 overall pick.
During a January conference call, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. compared Ramsey’s athleticism to hall of fame cornerback/safety Rod Woodson.
“Jalen Ramsey has tremendous range, he’s shown he can match up and lock down in coverage this year,” Kiper said. “He’s got length; I know his [40] is going to be impressive. He might end up on some boards 1, 2, 3, maybe even 1-2 in terms of potential and the promise he has. That dual versatility is a huge plus in the NFL right now.”
In his 2016 guide, Dane Brugler of NFLDraftScout.com said he believes Ramsey’s best fit is in the nickel or at safety, but noted, “If you combined a safety, cornerback and linebacker into one prospect, the result would look something like Ramsey.”
At Florida State, Ramsey became the first true freshman to start at cornerback since Deion Sanders in 1985, but he spent the final 11 games at free safety.
In 2014 he was the Seminoles “star” defender, a hybrid safety/linebacker. Last season he was chosen FSU’s defensive Most Valuable Player playing boundary corner.
Kelly said Ramsey continually made those switches and never complained about how the changes might affect his personal statistics. Ramsey did not have an interception in 2015 and finished with three in his career.
“To me when you’re a really good defensive back sometimes you’re not going to have all those interceptions because people avoid you and you totally eliminate your guy,” Kelly said. “The ball is not going to him much.”
Top three plays
When Kelly thinks of Ramsey, three plays come to mind.
The most recent was in 2015 against Louisville, when Kelly said Ramsey “dismantled” his receiver into the boundary.
In 2014, Kelly remembers Ramsey’s near-interception against Florida when the Gators ran a deep crossing route and Ramsey was playing the slot.
“He jumped and his body got parallel with the ground,” Kelly said. “He made the catch and dropped it as he hit the ground. If he had picked that ball off, it might have been one of the most incredible interceptions I’d ever seen.
“Everybody in the stadium thought it was a catch. I did, too. I remember seeing that and going, ‘Wow.’ That’s one of the hardest routes to cover, especially in man coverage.”
Also in 2014, Ramsey was named national defensive player of the week for his performance at Miami. He forced a fumble on the first play, broke up four passes, blocked an extra point and sealed the 30-26 victory with an interception with 39 seconds remaining.
On the interception, Kelly said he usually called an all-out blitz in that fourth-down situation. But he went against his tendencies, left Ramsey in man coverage, and Ramsey rewarded him when the Hurricanes tried to attack down the middle.
As a freshman, Ramsey was kicked out of a fall practice for being insubordinate with coach Jimbo Fisher after knocking down quarterback Jameis Winston. Kelly said that never happened again.
“He’s ultra competitive,” Kelly said of Ramsey and the incident with Winston. “He wants to win everything he does. Whether it’s a drill, a track meet, a game, going up against a receiver, he wants to win.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.