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Home > Blogs > High School Huddle > Archives > 2010 > October > 19 > Entry
The growth of Javon Ringer, one of the area’s all-time best
Javon Ringer remains one of the most unique athletes I’ve ever interviewed.
I was thinking about that more last night while watching Monday Night Football, as Ringer got 10 carries for 42 yards as his Tennessee Titans beat Jacksonville 30-3. He improved his numbers to 29 carries for 161 yards (5.6 per carry) and a touchdown this season.
I thought back to a 45-minute conversation I had with Ringer in the fall of 2004 in the courtyard outside of Chaminade Julienne High School. He was a senior, and he had recently learned he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, ending what was shaping up to be one of the best seasons in area football history (he had 1,763 yards and 22 touchdowns in seven games, on pace for 2,518 yards and 31 TDs in the regular season).
Not only was Ringer completely self-assured about his talent and his future (not cocky in the least), but it was interesting to listen to him discuss his faith. He prayed that, without surgery, his ACL would heal by the end of the season, allowing him to improve on the impressive career numbers.
During his CJ career, Ringer rushed for 6,136 yards and 78 touchdowns in 33 games, which averages to 185.9 yards per game and 9.94 yards per carry. For his career.
So, after listening to the announcers praise Ringer for his abilities to back up one of the NFL’s best backs, Tennessee’s Chris Johnson, I thought back to that 2004 story about Ringer, and I wanted to share it again.
KEEPING THE FAITH
Dayton Daily News, Oct. 24, 2004
DAYTON — Serena Allen immediately ran from her seat. She found her boyfriend on the sidelines, doing something she had never seen from him.
Javon Ringer was crying.
He had been carried off the field during the fourth quarter of another Chaminade-Julienne High School football victory, this time against Cincinnati McNicholas on Oct. 8. He was adding to his already impressive 179 rushing yards when his right knee gave out. No hit, no contact, just another stop-on-a-dime cut that his knee finally couldn’t take. He has been advised by his doctor not to play again this season.
“He was feeling like his career was going to be over,” said Allen, Ringer’s girlfriend and a C-J junior. “But I knew he was going to be on the field again. He’s too strong.”
Ringer’s reaction to the injury has been unique. But that’s to be expected from the highly unique senior, a player whose uncommon athleticism has made him one of the best running backs to ever play in the Dayton area. The two-time All-Ohio performer has a pair of 2,000-yard seasons on his resume and, before his injury, was a favorite for Ohio’s Mr. Football award.
And now, although he has previously struggled with his frustrations, Ringer will rely on his determination as he copes with the injury to his right knee, in which the anterior cruciate ligament pulled off the bone. It is, in effect, a torn ACL, which requires surgery.
Ringer, whose father, Eugene, is a pastor at Faith Temple Pentecostal Church of God, has a different hope. He prays that, through a miracle, he will have a healthy ACL by season’s end.
As long as C-J is practicing or playing, he will be on the sidelines encouraging teammates and making the most of his senior season. He waits for a miracle, but he’s prepared to accept reality. His surgery is scheduled for Nov. 3.
To him and his family, if the miracle doesn’t happen, it’s just another test of his strength and his faith.
“Most guys would give up and say, ‘Well, I guess my season’s over,’ and be down on themselves,” said Brandon Harrison, a C-J defensive back. “But Javon’s different.”
He is, at times, gentle, leaning softly against his girlfriend and leaving one to wonder how he could be fearsome to linebackers. This is a player who rakes his grandmother’s leaves. Who hopped in his Monte Carlo on Mother’s Day and drove from his north Dayton home to drop flowers and cards to not only his mother, but all the friends’ mothers who were special to him. He often writes notes to the wife of C-J coach Jim Place.
The 5-foot-10, 210-pound back also has a steel-strong desire to be the best, and now faces one of the biggest tests of his young life.
“A lot of times, if he can’t do it right, he probably won’t do it at all,” said Darlene Ringer, Javon’s mother. “That’s the perfectionist in him, but none of us is perfect. That’s when he would get upset, and that’s when I would have to kind of bring him in and say, ‘Javon, you have to refocus, you have to ask the Lord to help you.’ That’s when he reverts back to that stubborn streak or that ‘It has to be this way or no way.’ You have to be open for change, but he likes things done just right.”
Handling adversity
For most of his high school career, Ringer has played in the spotlight. He stepped into a starting role as a sophomore and helped the Eagles to a Division II state championship. He has created gasps with his cuts and dodges through a defense. Even on the sideline.
“Nobody likes watching him more than me,” Place said. “When he would break a long run, I would just be standing there with my mouth open and someone would have to tap me and say, ‘Coach, should we go for one or two?’ ”
Ringer’s career rushing statistics are mind-boggling, all from a player who didn’t become C-J’s featured back until the 10th game of his sophomore season. He stands at 6,136 yards and 78 touchdowns on 617 carries in 33 games. That’s 185.9 yards per game and 9.94 yards per carry.
“He has a huge amount of talent,” Place said. “He runs a 10.6 (seconds) in the 100 meters. He bench-presses 350 pounds. He’s a black belt in martial arts. He had the highest squat at the Ohio power lifting championships.
“On top of all that, he’s a running back. Some guys, you can give them the ball, and they just run straight ahead. He knows how to cut. He knows how to slow down to set his blocks up. He’s a natural running back.”
And what does a natural running back, the youngest of nine children who started walking at 6 months old, do when an unnatural brace holds his knee steady? He prays.
“I get doubts sometimes when people talk to me about ‘next year,’ ” Ringer said. “And when they’re putting these things in my head that I’m basically going to have to go through surgery, I’ll be like, ‘Dang, man, what if I do have to go through all that?’ … But, then I realize that negativity will make me fail.”
Most who know him agree that he won’t fail. Harrison, who has verbally committed to Notre Dame, has shared the backfield with Ringer and has taken the spot as C-J’s main back in his place. He has dealt with Ringer’s fire, nearly coming to blows with him in the past. He also has seen the side that wants to help others, the side that told Harrison, not as familiar with the offense, which way a play was going before the snap.
“He’s a very strong person,” Harrison said. “I don’t think anyone doubts that he’ll come back, probably better than he was before.”
A decision to make
Despite the right knee brace, recruiters still light up Place’s phone. Four of the schools on Ringer’s short list that offered scholarships — Florida, Michigan State, Indiana and Cincinnati — have called since the injury to reconfirm their offers. Ringer is ranked No. 17 at his position nationally and the 11th-best football prospect in Ohio by Rivals.com.
And, communication stays open with Ohio State.
“Ohio State is interested, just hasn’t made the offer,” Place said. “It’s just still on hold. What I like to tell people is that we’re crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s.”
Some say OSU is hesitant because of Ringer’s academic history. Ringer says that isn’t true, but that he did have problems last fall when he was eligible for the playoffs only by a few hundredths of a percentage point in two classes. He says he has sought help and won’t have trouble passing initial eligibility requirements for college.
“When I came up to high school I had trouble picking things up as quickly as others,” said Ringer, whose grades initially suffered. “With me, I was nervous to say anything because I didn’t want anyone saying, ‘Javon, you’re stupid. What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you picking this up?’ So, I kept my mouth shut.”
He’s kept his mouth shut with college coaches as well — he mostly won’t take their calls. All communication goes through Place, who said that if schools learned that Ringer was soliciting recruiters, his phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
Instead, Ringer has kept his recruiting quiet and calm. He has a list of his main choices — “Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, Pittsburgh, still like Iowa” — but he’s in no hurry to decide.
Before that, he has to deal with his right knee.
“Everyone wants life to be perfect, but obviously there are going to be problems,” he said. “When there are, you have to fix them. If something isn’t going right, you have to find another way.”
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Football
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By nest
October 19, 2010 2:29 PM | Link to this
That was a nice article on ringer thats when Cj football had a want and a desire to be the best.
By FootballinOhio
October 19, 2010 3:44 PM | Link to this
Great article about Ringer coming full circle and how he handled adversity. I hope other athletes are influenced and inspired by Ringer’s positive attitude and work effort. There are many success stories of student-athletes from CJ as well as from many other schools in the Miami Valley. Congrats to those kids working hard to achieve their dreams and goals regardless of the obstacles and stumbling blocks. FYI. Darrien Howard
By Brian S. Brooks
October 19, 2010 7:31 PM | Link to this
How lazy you have become Mr. Nagel? Rather than work to find an original story, you simply pluck a moment from television and then reprint an old story associated with the television moment. A good story, yes, but still and old story. Is that what we taught year during your years here, to be lazy as many of your electronic brethen have become. I suggestion you refocus Mr. Nagel, get off your butt and go find a good story and write as we attempted to teach you. Or were our efforts in vain?
By old coach
October 19, 2010 8:13 PM | Link to this
There are so many young men in the Miami Valley who are playing football that just don’t get it. Mr. Ringer got it.
By jd
October 19, 2010 8:38 PM | Link to this
One of the all time great Spartans as well. MSU fans love Javon and cheer for his continued NFL success.