Ryan Pickett
FameRank: 4

"Ryan Lamonte Pickett Sr." is an American American football/professional football nose tackle for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. He attended Ohio State University and was selected with the 29th pick of the first round in the 2001 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. He graduated from Zephyrhills High School in Zephyrhills, Florida.

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He sat down with my family, and I felt more of a bond with him than the other coaches who came to visit.

Losing three starters, that definitely didn't help. But ... we get our backs to the wall, we're supposed to stop them. We didn't do a good job of that, obviously.

No touchdowns - that's the best thing about the day. I think we had a great red-zone defense. The reverse thing happened to us last week.

I didn't know he'd come back that quick and be so effective. It was huge for him. And he has great confidence now. He's playing so well.

They were always on Ryan to get meaner, to get tougher. I think it worked.

You just feel like you've got the 13th man out there. So that'll help us out a lot. It pumps you up.

[Several Ohio State coaches surrounded him and the speaker phone was engaged when an anxious Pickett, then 18, dialed up his parents from Columbus.] I told them, 'I'm going to Ohio State,' ... And there was just silence. They were like, 'Son, come home and let's talk about it.'

It does take awhile to find yourself. The older I'm getting, the game is slowing down each year. Now ... yeah, it feels good.