If the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will be the last game in Jalen Ramsey’s college career, the Florida State cornerback will leave with a worthy test.
Ramsey, a junior and consensus All-American for the No. 9 Seminoles, likely will match up often with Houston wide receiver Demarcus Ayers, the decorated football-catching machine for the No. 18 Cougars. It sounds as though Ayers may want to bring earplugs.
“He needs to be mic’d up,” FSU running back Dalvin Cook said. “That’s all I’m saying.”
The Ayers-Ramsey matchup might be the most compelling in the Peach Bowl, to be played at noon Thursday at the Georgia Dome. Ayers has caught 89 passes this season, tied for 12th in the country.
“He plays the ball; he’s not easy to tackle; he has moves and things like that,” Ramsey said of Ayers.
Speaking Saturday at a Peach Bowl media session during the team’s first full day in Atlanta, Ramsey did not offer much detail into his on-field verbal discourse, save that he seeks to tilt opposing receivers off of their game and that he doesn’t get into insulting opponents’ family members.
By effectively covering receivers, he said, “they’re already a little frustrated, and then you constantly are letting them know that’s how it’s going to be the rest of the game, it can continue to frustrate them and get them out of their game.”
It isn't mere talk. Based on video review, Pro Football Focus gave him the seventh highest coverage grade and the top run-defense grade among power-conference cornerbacks in late November. According to the website, he had missed one tackle on 293 run snaps to that point. He was the only corner in the country to rank in the top 10.
Following the regular season, he was named a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association and the Walter Camp Football Foundation, making him the 36th player in school history to earn consensus All-America honors.
On several mock drafts, he is rated a top-five pick.
“He’s fast, he’s fluid,” said Steve Muench, a draft analyst for ESPN. “When I watch him on the outside, I think he really has potential to develop into a very good press corner at the next level.”
Ramsey said he will make a decision on the NFL following the season, with coaches and family. Ramsey said the thought crossed his mind that Thursday could be the final time he wears the FSU uniform.
“I’m trying to really focus on the game, the task at hand, but, definitely, that’s my dream,” he said of the NFL. “It could possibly be very close.”
Ramsey seems intent on not letting his future interfere with the season. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said that he and Ramsey have delayed draft talk until after the game. While pursued hotly by agents, Ramsey said he doesn’t take phone calls from phone numbers he doesn’t recognize and does the same with text messages.
“Delete right when I see it,” he said.
Ramsey brings uncommon versatility to the position. In 2013, he was the first freshman at FSU to start his first game at cornerback since Deion Sanders in 1985 and also played safety that season, helping the Seminoles win the national championship. Last season, he moved to the “star” position, a hybrid linebacker-defensive back spot. This season, he has been back at cornerback, which he describes as his natural position.
“I like guys that can do both,” Muench said. “It’s underrated how tough that is to play both the inside and the outside.”
Perhaps the most remarkable testament to his athletic ability is that he won the ACC long-jump championship in May with a leap of 26 feet, 1 1/2 inches, a quarter-inch shy of his personal best. That distance would have been good for second at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. And, in fact, in June he said that competing for a spot on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team is “definitely a real possibility.”
It would be something to talk about — particularly for Ramsey.
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