'Headsy' Rezac overcomes size to start at WR

Each Monday morning, Dan Hinds, the head coach of Desert Vista football, hands a group of receivers a DVD of plays to watch and a piece of paper on which to break them down.

Each Monday morning, Ryne Rezac, a starting wideout for the Thunder, hands Hinds a completed sheet, the plays already broken down over the weekend.

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For, you see, his dad, Don, is DV's offensive coordinator and Rezac has already studied the film.

Together with Ryne's 12-year-old brother, Jordan, they sit and break down any film they can, starting with the Thunder's game that previous Friday, then moving on to a college game, or the NFL.

"We talk coverages and route releases," Don said. "It's kind of neat. ... I don't have to have a bunch of guys come over. It's Ryne, Jordan and I. It's my two boys and I."

Jordan, Don says, will eventually make his mark as a linebacker. As for Ryne, he's already making his mark as the team's second-leading receiver -- even though he didn't even figure to be starting at the outset of the season.

At 5-foot-8, 155 pounds, he had plenty to overcome.

As the team went to camp in Eager, Rezac was hoping to see a few snaps a game. Quickly, though, he stood out to members of the coaching staff.

"He's just the kind of kid that finds a way to get it done," Hinds said. "He's not the fastest kid out there, he's not the biggest kid out there, but he just finds a way to get it done. He gets open on his routes, he's got great hands, and he's fearless across the middle, which I love about him."

When camp broke, Rezac was the team's starting "Z" receiver, meaning his role emphasized short-yardage on underneath routes. As a junior, not only had he overcome his size disadvantage, Rezac had also jumped above the seniors ahead of him.

But Rezac had already overcome a lot in his young high school career, which started at Gilbert High School.

In fact, Rezac might have been the Tigers' starting quarterback against the Thunder had he not transferred after his freshman season.

Though they resided in Gilbert, Don gave Ryne the option of enrolling at DV before his freshman season because he was on Thunder's junior varsity staff at the time. But, persuaded by Don's belief that kids should attend their district's school, Ryne became a Tiger.

Things didn't work out, not the least of which was the feeling from the Rezac household that he was treated differently because Don was on DV's staff. So Ryne transferred to Desert Vista and filed a hardship claim with the Arizona Interscholastic Association, hoping to play on the Thunder's JV squad for his father.

"With everything else that goes on in the state," Don said, "we do things the right way, and we go to the committee and appeal and say, ‘Listen, son just wants to play for dad, dad wants to coach son, it should be an open and shut case.'"

It wasn't. The AIA denied his appeal, and Ryne was ruled ineligible.

The Rezacs had rental property a few blocks away from the school, but elected not to list that as an address to allow him to become eligible, which other athletes around the state have done in the past.

"I said, ‘Ryne, we're going to do this the right way. We're not going to cheat, we're not going to lie,'" Don recalled. "I think it was a good lesson for him."

Ryne wasn't allowed to play in any games as a sophomore, but he practiced with the JV team the entire year.

"That was tough," Ryne said "I think that probably helped me out, though, and that's why I'm starting.

"That definitely pushed me and made me think about it," he added. "I played probably every position you could play last year, just practiced every day."

All the practices helped to further polish Rezac's solid fundamentals -- including his blocking.

"At Desert Vista, our receivers are expected to block," Hinds said. "We've got two really good blocking receivers in him and Casey (Bolena). In film on Saturdays, if there's a play that goes away from a receiver, I always watch, and I'll always see Rezac coming in from the far side trying to get a block in."

The former quarterback in him -- Rezac started to make the switch with a young quarterback named Cody Sokol, now the varsity's starting quarterback, commanding the JV huddle last year -- is also evident during games.

"He knows every play, so he can help other guys too," Hinds said. "If there's someone next to him who doesn't know what's going on, I can count on Rezac to kind of direct things there."

Rezac is consistently counted on to make the big plays.

His 12 catches and 153 yards both rank second on the team behind Bolena, including a season-high 74 yards in a win over Chandler Sept. 19. None was bigger than a third-quarter catch in that game Rezac made over the middle on second down-and-17 that got DV down to the 6-yard-line and set up the go-ahead score.

Still, it's the little things he does that make him valuable to DV. Like his blocking. Or going over the middle. Or the time last week against Peoria Centennial, when Rezac looked down the line, noticed that there were only six players on the line of scrimmage, and stepped up just before the snap to help the Thunder avoid a penalty.

"You can see in the way the kid plays, in the way he's so headsy in a game," Hinds said, "that he's a coach's son."