Southeast Missouri State football signee: Ryan Ochoa

The Basics

Name: Ryan Ochoa

High School: Hillsboro (Mo.) High School

Position: Offensive lineman

Measurables: 6-2, 260 pounds

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Profile

Hillsboro lineman Ryan Ochoa has always used his strength and size to his advantage when it comes to fighting in the trenches on the football field.

"Ryan has always had pretty decent ability as far as a guy his size is concerned. He's always had real good feet and technique and things like that," Hillsboro coach Lee Freeman said. "So as far as the positions that he played, on the offensive and defensive lines, he's always been ahead of the curve. But he's also another guy that kind of dedicated himself to the weight room, and any time you can do that it always helps out. It seems like every year he came back to us he was just a little bit better and got a little bit better every year and every day at practice."

The 6-foot-1 senior offensive lineman signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday with Southeast.

According to Freeman, Ochoa was good on both sides of the ball in high school, but blossomed into an offensive front force in his final season with the Hawks.

"I felt like last year, as a junior, Ryan played the defensive side of the ball better. This year, it was like he played the offensive side of the ball better," Freeman said. "However, he was still chosen as the defensive player of the year in our area and in our conference. Apparently he made an impact on some other coaches more so than I was giving him credit for. Either way he was an outstanding player for us on both sides of the ball."

Playing football after high school wasn't really an idea that had crossed Ochoa's mind until Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz took interest following his junior season.

"There were some schools that had come by and kind of looked, but SEMO was one of the bigger schools," Freeman said. "SEMO was a place that Ryan had spoken about last year even going into his senior year as a school he was interested in going to. He wasn't really even thinking about football at the time. However, it just kind of worked out for him that they happened to be interested and that eventually became one of his top five places to go. It just kind of all fell into place."

Freeman, a Southeast alumnus, who played alongside former Southeast and current Patriots guard Dan Connolly, said he used some of his own experiences at Southeast to help Ochoa form his own decision about where to play in college.

"Whenever you to talk to the kids and try to get them to understand what they're embarking on, you try to get them to set some goals that they're going to be able to achieve as well as some life goals that they want to accomplish," Freeman said. "You talk about all of those things, and the experience that football brings along with the academic experience is something that we've discussed and put into priorities for Ryan. Hopefully he will take the advice and adjust and adapt to his own experiences."