Northwood sophomore Ritchey talks recruiting process, performance at recent camp

The top football prospect in Chatham County is Northwood sophomore Gus Ritchey.

A 6-foot-4, 230-pound athlete, Ritchey plays both tight end and defensive end for the Chargers, who went 4-6 overall this past season. Playing both sides of the ball, the sophomore racked up 32 catches for 490 yards and five touchdowns while also totaling 61 tackles, 21.0 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles.

Ritchey currently holds offers from nine Division-I schools, including the current top two schools in the College Football Playoff Rankings — Georgia and Michigan.

Ritchey spoke with the N+R this week about his recruiting process, his sophomore season and his plans for the future.

You competed at the You Are Athlete regional camp in Charlotte a few weeks ago and won MVP in an area filled with college prospects. How did you feel at the event, and what did it mean to earn an invite to the All-American showcase?

GUS RITCHEY: When you go down to Charlotte, you know there’s going to be a lot of good competition down there. There’s high talent everywhere. There were a couple hundred people at the camp, and I knew I was going to be a big target down there, just from the attention I already have. I thought it was a really good camp. I learned a lot. I had some people I knew and worked with before that I ran into down there, which was amazing. Also, the coaches were really good coaches. I definitely had a strong performance. I played well. I think it probably speaks for itself when you win MVP. It was a great camp. I learned a lot and loved the competitiveness.

You picked up two more offers — from Maryland and Duke — over the course of the season. What has it been like for you going through the recruiting process?

It’s been a really cool experience. I enjoy it a lot. Going on visits, especially at a school like Clemson, it was a great atmosphere and a great campus. Great facilities. Great coaches. Everything was amazing. Overall, it’s just been a great, great year. I’ve definitely doing things like that, trying to build relationships and try to find the place that suits me the most. I’m looking for something where, if I come to a school, I know I can get something good out of it. I’m talking to the coaches and trying to see how they treat me. What do they have planned in the future for me? Those are the biggest things.

When you’re talking to coaches at the schools that have already offered you, do they see you as more of a tight end or a defensive end?

It depends on my growth, they say, how tall and how big I get by my senior year. There are two schools that have offered me as a defensive end — Virginia Tech and Duke. The rest have offered me as an athlete. They don’t know if I’m going to play defensive end or tight end. It’s sort of up in the air. They want to see how I grow and develop. But right now, some coaches are telling me, “OK, right now, we see you as a tight end, but we’ll see how you transform over the next few seasons and see where we put you after that.

You have offers from the current top two teams in the country — Georgia and Michigan. What is it like knowing you’ve caught the attention of some of the nation’s top programs?

It’s definitely an honor to receive attention from schools like that — Georgia, Oregon, Michigan. Big schools with big names. But I can’t even explain what type of blessing its been. I’ve come a long way just to get some sort of attention, and getting attention from schools like that, it’s just an honor. I have a couple more years left. Then we’ll see where I end up.

Do you want to have your college decision done before your senior year? Or is that still up in the air?

I’m taking more visits. I’ll be taking more visits after school ends. I’ll probably go back to other schools. I might camp out at some places. I know I’m going to Clemson during the summer. But it depends. It’s just one of those things where I have to go, see if there’s a connection, go again, see if I have that same feeling, talk it out with my family and then from there on, make a decision about whether this is the school I want to go to or not. I look for coaches, how they get a feel of me. I look at facilities, seeing how this fits me. And also the players. I want to see players I can be around and can develop strong relationships with over the next three or four years.

This past season, Northwood went 4-6 and missed the state playoffs. What are some improvements you need to make individually, and as a team, this season to turn things around?

Personally, I’m still trying to develop as a young adult. As a player, there are definitely some things I need to work on to improve my game. I’m pretty fast for my size, but there’s always room to improve on your speed. I’m also trying to get bigger and stronger. I have a pretty high IQ for a player, but there’s always room for improvement, especially when you know you’re going to be playing at the college level.

As a team, we’re a young team, but we have a couple more years together, and we think we can make something out of that. I’m excited. We’re going to have something to prove next year. People will be like, “Oh, well, they didn’t make it to the playoffs.” I think we’ll be good enough next year to show those teams who we are. This year, we fell a bit short, but that’s OK I think next year we’ll be fine.

Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon.