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Ryan Switzer (born November 4, 1994 in Charleston, West Virginia) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Switzer played college football at North Carolina and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (133rd overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Switzer has also played for the Oakland Raiders.

Early years

Switzer attended George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia, where he played on his high school football team, the Patriots.^[1] As a junior, he led the team in receiving and scored 12 total touchdowns (receiving, rushing and return combined), averaging over 110 yards all purpose yards per game for the No. 1 ranked team in the state. He finished his senior season with 206 carries for 2,379 yards and 32 touchdowns; he also caught 20 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns and returned three interceptions for scores.^[2]

In addition to football, Switzer participated in basketball, helping lead George Washington to the 2011 AAA state basketball title as their starting point guard.

Also a standout track and field athlete, Switzer finished 5th in the 2010 AAA state track meet in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.1 seconds and 6th in the long jump at 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 m) and was the lead man on the 4×100 and 4×200 teams that won state championships. He was timed at 4.33 in the 40-yard dash, completed the 20-yard shuttle in 7.3 seconds and had a vertical leap of 34 inches.^[3] He committed to the University of North Carolina to play college football only to be drafted by the Cowboys in the future.^[4]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Ryan Switzer WR	Charleston, WV	George Washington HS	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	168 lb (76 kg)	4.52	Mar 28, 2012
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 80
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 47 (WR)   Rivals: 22 (WR)  ESPN: 59 (WR)
‡ Refers to 40 yard dash Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height, weight and 40 time. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "North Carolina Commit List for 2013". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 11, 2013..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em} "Scout.com Football Recruiting: North Carolina". Scout.com. Retrieved February 11, 2013. "RecruitTracker 2013: North Carolina". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 11, 2013. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved February 11, 2013. "2013 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 11, 2013.

College career

Switzer in 2012

As a freshman at UNC (University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill) in 2013, Switzer led all NCAA major college players with an average of 20.9 yards per punt return. He accounted for five punt return touchdowns during the season and also had 32 receptions for 341 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.^[5][6] On November 2, against NC State, he threw a 59-yard passing touchdown to Quinshad Davis in the 27–19 victory.^[7] As a sophomore in 2014, he caught 61 passes for 757 yards and four touchdowns.^[8][9] On September 20, against East Carolina, he threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to T. J. Thorpe in the 70–41 loss.^[10]

As a junior in 2015, Switzer recorded a team-high 55 receptions for 697 yards and six touchdowns and also returned two punts for scores.^[11][12] In October 2015, a controversial decision by the ACC negated a 70-yard punt return by Switzer, ruling that he had given an "invalid signal" before the return.^[13]

In his senior season, Switzer set a school single-season record with 96 receptions for 1,112 yards and scored six touchdowns.^[14] He left North Carolina as the career record holder in both receptions and receiving yards.^[15]

Collegiate statistics

Receiving/rushing statistics

Return statistics

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Switzer was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (133rd overall) in the 2017 NFL Draft.^[17] He was the fourth of five North Carolina Tar Heels to be selected that year.^[18] A hamstring injury forced him to miss multiple training camp practices and the first two preseason games.^[19][20]

On September 10, 2017, Switzer made his NFL debut in the season opener against the New York Giants. In the game, his role was being the kickoff and punt returner. He fielded two kick returns for 42 net yards and one punt return for no yards.^[21] On September 25, against the Arizona Cardinals, he recorded a three-yard rush on the first carry of his career.^[22]

On October 1, against the Los Angeles Rams, he fumbled a punt that the Rams recovered at the Cowboys' 18 yard line and led to a touchdown score five plays later, contributing to a 30-35 loss.^[23] On November 30, 2017, Switzer had an 83-yard punt return against the Washington Redskins to score his first career touchdown, and the first Cowboys' punt return touchdown in four years.^[24] Outside of the season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, he was not given much of a chance at wide receiver, finishing with 4 receptions for 32 yards.^[25][26]

He led the team in both punt and kickoff returns.^[27] He averaged 8.8 yards per punt return and was ninth-best in the NFL among 20 returners with at least 25 attempts. He averaged 25 yards per kickoff attempt and was third-best in the league among the 10 kick returners with at least 24 attempts.^[28]

Oakland Raiders

On April 28, 2018, after the Cowboys acquired Tavon Austin and drafted two wide receivers, Switzer was traded to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for defensive tackle Jihad Ward.^[29] He was acquired to be the Oakland Raiders' return specialist, reuniting with Rich Bisaccia who was his special teams coach with the Cowboys.^[30]

Pittsburgh Steelers

On August 27, 2018, Switzer was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers along with a 2019 sixth-round draft pick for a 2019 fifth-round draft pick.^[31]

See also

• List of NCAA major college football yearly punt and kickoff return leaders

References