Ryne Rankin, against the grain

New Bulldog signee at inside linebacker Ryne Rankin is already a bit of a cult hero on campus. He's been there essentially since December, not long after the loss to Bama, learning the ropes of college life, managing college level classes and oh yeh, how to fill a void left by the likes of Christian Robinson, Alec Ogletree and Mike Gilliard. He hunts wild boar with his hands...his HANDS! His dorm room and twitter feed is filled with more carcasses and trophies from various hunts. He even has a fake twitter account that someone is running, which is something I thought only happened to movie stars and rap personalities.

A boar seen here next
to a wild Ryne. (via)

Regardless, he joins fellow freshman Reggie Carter as another early enrollee and together they will be joined by two more inside linebacker prospects in Johnny O'Neal and Tim Kimbrough. Amarlo Herrera is the only returning "mike" with any experience.

The extra time will not only help Carter and Rankin get to know the scheme better, it will also allow the team (and the fans) to get to know them better as well. Georgia needs a real player to step in and fill the void left in the heart of its defense. Rankin for one, appears ready for the task at hand.

“You’ve got to fly around to the ball. If you ain’t in the camera angle, my dad gets a little mad.”

That's East River High School's (Orlando, Fla) head coach Marc Rankin. No wonder this kid racked up 365 tackles his junior and senior seasons of high school. That's two seasons...and 365 tackles! If Rankin's gun doesn't jam when he gets cornered by a bear then he should have a long outstanding career in Athens.

Then again, he'd probably win that fight as well.