Phil Ramsey enters his senior season with a chip on his shoulder, and he's optimistic he can help the Rams change their recent fortunes on the field.
Photo by Rich Cooley/Daily
STRASBURG — Phil Ramsey is taking this season personally.
It’s not that he didn’t last season; the senior linebacker, who found his team wanting for senior leadership in 2006, took charge and spent his second year on varsity as a captain.
“We only had like five seniors to start with, and many of them weren’t leaders. They didn’t think of themselves as leaders,” Ramsey explained. “So many of the juniors had to try to kind of take the reins and lead us. Which I don’t think we were prepared to do, but opportunity is the mother of invention.”
Strasburg’s 3-6 record wasn’t good enough to satisfy Ramsey — not even close. Ramsey and fellow junior captain Josh Kibler were dominant at linebacker for the Rams, racking up 108 tackles (best in the area) and 71 tackles (second on the team), respectively. But Ramsey takes responsibility for the team’s lack of success.
“Three and six, I don’t think we did a very good job,” Ramsey said. “But hopefully we can change that this year.”
The Rams aren’t just part of his family’s name; they’re a part of his family’s identity. His brother, father and uncles all played for Strasburg and advanced to state title games. Ramsey has yet to experience a winning season in his three varsity campaigns.
“We’ve been kind of down the last couple years,” he said. “We could use a winning season.”
Given his druthers, Ramsey insists he wouldn’t cast himself as a team leader — “I like to sit in the corner and let somebody else lead,” he said — but Strasburg coach Glenn Proctor said Ramsey leads because he’s cut out for it, not because he has no other choice.
“I think that the people who are magnetic and have that kind of personality are well-respected and well-regarded and highly thought of by their teammates. And certainly he has all those things going for him,” Proctor said. “Just because of the respect that he commands — not demands, but commands — from his peers and teammates, I think our leadership will be better.”
It helps that Ramsey is among the hardest workers and best players on the team. If nothing else, he could certainly lead by example.
As an offensive guard, middle linebacker, placekicker and punter, Ramsey almost never leaves the field. And in the weight room, Proctor said Ramsey ranks first or second on the team in the bench press, squat and hang clean. Only two other players in the area (James Wood’s Kelsey Shannon and Millbrook’s Butch Kacsmarzewski) had more than 100 tackles, and Ramsey’s 64 solo tackles were tops in the area by a dozen.
“He’s a proven player,” Proctor said. “He was an all-district choice last year, and our players know who he is. I mean, kids from other schools know who he is. They look around and they know that number.”
And for a guy who says he’s “more of a follower,” Ramsey doesn’t hem and haw when asked how he goes about displaying leadership.
“Sometimes in the locker room you joke around like you’re friends,” he said as some of the younger players ran sprints after practice. “But when some guy misses a block or takes a wrong angle to tackle, if you don’t get on them, as Coach Proctor always says, ‘No news is good news.’ He thinks he’s doing fine, and you’ve got to force him to get better.
“I try to push all the players to be better. We’re all down here, it’s hot, no one wants to practice. I don’t want to be here either, but I can’t let them know.”
He’s the rare star who doesn’t touch the ball, except to kick it. Proctor said that while Ramsey is one of the Rams’ more visible players thanks to his all-around contributions, he relates to the no-name linemen because of his role as a guard. Ramsey recognizes this distinction and appreciates it.
“A lot of quarterbacks get the reputation for being cocky, and it’s all about them, that they threw 300 yards on Friday night,” he said. “They forget about their line. Being a lineman, it’s probably the most unselfish position you can play. You’re never going to get your name announced.
“My name is only announced because I’m a linebacker. I’m able to get some tackles there. But there’s some kids that work just as hard as I do, and they’re down there in the trenches and they don’t get their name called over the intercom or name mentioned in the paper or interviewed or anything like that.”
For all that can be accomplished by earning the respect of his teammates, more important will be how Ramsey performs between the lines on Friday nights. Strasburg’s success depends on the success of he and Kibler, also the team’s feature back. Since the two will be involved in almost every play, their mental and physical wherewithal will be tested weekly.
“I don’t think you can ever really be in that good a shape, it’s just kind of more of a mental thing to keep yourself going, keep going hard,” Ramsey said. “I mean, as the game goes on I’m sure my performance slacks down, but in football you’ve got to keep going. You can get rest when it’s over.”
