Audio By Carbonatix
Marcellous Ryan committed to play college football at North Carolina as a three-star defensive back recruit in Class of 2026. Bill Belichick and the coaching staff in Chapel Hill will need to break his bad habits, immediately.
He went extremely viral on social media for celebrating one of the worst 1-on-1 reps I have ever seen.
Ryan ranks as one of the top-50 players at his position. The California-native chose to play college football at UNC over nine other offers from Arizona, Washington, USC, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Nevada, San Diego State and Oregon State. It was the first commitment of the Belichick era.
Ryan recorded 47 total tackles, four tackles for loss, three quarterback hurries, three interceptions and a sack as a junior in 2024. The tape is there.
A 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, Ryan will greatly benefit from a Division-I strength and conditioning program. However, his lack of size did not stop him from getting physical at a Rivals camp over the weekend. Overly so.
Ryan went 1-on-1 without pads. He immediately knocked the receiver off-balance with a (barely legal) check at the line of scrimmage. And then the rep very quickly became an embarrassment.
By my count, Marcellous Ryan committed no less than five different pass interference and/or defensive holding penalties during the seven-second video clip. It was violent in the worst way. Nothing about the rep was impressive. The entire sequence of events was an egregious penalty.
To make matters worse, Ryan acted he really did something and celebrated with John Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ hand wave. Rivals also celebrated the terrible defensive play like it was an impressive display of athleticism.
This rep by North Carolina commit Marcellous Ryan😳 pic.twitter.com/w7xLyOW5vL
— Rivals (@Rivals) March 22, 2025
This is the problem with the current state of high school football and recruiting. Other players, some even younger than Ryan, are going to try and emulate this kind of viral moment when, in reality, it is the exact opposite of what a defensive back should do. Bill Belichick needs to nip this in the bud as soon as possible.
It would be in North Carolina’s best interest to play this exact clip of Marcellous Ryan’s 1-on-1 at the Rivals showcase during his first day on campus. Let him know that it will not fly if he wants to be a member of the Tar Heels program, because… YIKES!