How a lower lip tattoo embodies Ryan Switzer’s road to the Raiders

NAPA — Shortly before Ryan Switzer graduated high school, he took a trip to Yogurt Mountain in West Virginia with his dad, mom and little sister. Neither parent knew their son had recently gotten a tattoo on his lower lip, but some of Switzer’s friends and their parents did. A family friend and her husband joined the Switzers at Yogurt Mountain, and she asked the family, “Hey, what did you think of Ryan’s tattoo?”

“And the look on his face…,” said Michael Switzer, Ryan’s father. “We had no idea. I thought it was like a rub-on deal.”

Switzer didn’t get a tattoo because he lost a bet or to rebel against his parents before jetting off to star at the University of North Carolina. The lettering on the inside of his lower lip reads, “Believe.” As an undersized football player growing up in West Virginia, he had to if he wanted to make it where he is now.

The Cowboys used a fourth-round pick on Switzer in 2017, then traded him to the Raiders on Day 3 of the 2018 draft for defensive lineman Jihad Ward. Now hoping to make his mark on both offense and special teams for a new team an entire country away from where he got the tattoo, Switzer still lives by the word permanently inked on his lip.

“Coming from West Virginia and coming from a small town and a small state in general, being a 5’8,” 5’9” white running back out of West Virginia, the odds of me making it to the NFL were real slim,” Switzer told the Bay Area News Group on Saturday. “I always believed in myself. I know that’s cliché, but I really did.”

While Switzer’s friends vacationed during the summers of their youth, he remained in West Virginia. “Not to throw shots at anybody that I grew up with, but I was at home. I was always working out,” Switzer said. His father sent him articles about Walter Payton running hills in army boots to strengthen his quads in steaming Chicago summer heat and about LaDanian Tomlinson’s workout regimens. Switzer worked out alone on local fields in 90-something degree heat, honing the grit and speed he needed to make it for someone who lacked stature.

Michael Switzer has been a self-employed graphic designer and photographer for 25 years. He also used to be a competitive bodybuilder and powerlifter, so it’s easy to see where Ryan gets his knack for weightlifting. Switzer’s mom, Ashley, is a pre-school and kindergarten teacher who returned to school to get her degree after giving birth to one boy and four girls.

“My parents really embody what it means to go out and get what you deserve and get what you earn,” Switzer said. “That’s kind of the mantra and the mentality that I’ve taken that I still carry with me today.” Get Raiders news in your inbox. Sign up now for the free Raiders HQ newsletter.

While at George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia, Switzer had a mentor Raiders fans know well. Bruce Irvin’s then-significant other was friends with one of Switzer’s sisters, and Irvin developed a relationship with the high-schooler looking to make it big.

While Irvin attended West Virginia University, he worked out with Switzer at local fields. Irvin was actually in the Switzer’s house when Ryan committed to UNC. Even when Irvin entered the NFL, he stayed in touch, inviting Switzer back to West Virginia for his summer camps. The current Raiders captain gave Switzer a taste of what it took to make it at the next level.

“From there they just kind of struck a friendship. Bruce was really good to Ryan, mentoring and talking to him, a lot of advice about college decision making,” Michael said. “He said, ‘Hey, Ry, you’ve lived in West Virginia your whole life. Why not go somewhere that you don’t know about and see what that place is about?’ I thought that was some really sage advice.”

So Switzer ventured off to North Carolina, where all he did was not miss a single one of the 53 games his team played during his four years and become one of the best college punt returners ever in the process. He returned seven punts for touchdowns in his career, tied for the fourth-most punt return touchdowns ever in a college career. Oh, and he caught 243 passes for 2,903 yards and 19 touchdowns in four years. He also threw for two scores. Like our Oakland Raiders Facebook page for more Raiders news, commentary and conversation.

Such a prolific college career earned Switzer that NFL chance he always longed for in small-town West Virginia, and he assumed primary punt- and kick-return duties for the Cowboys last season. He returned 29 punts an average of 8.8 yards with one touchdown and 24 kicks an average of 25 yards. Here with the Raiders, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, who coached Dallas special teams in 2017, seems to like Switzer on both return teams again. Derek Carr also raves about Switzer, who looks to be Oakland’s primary slot receiver on offense, too.

“I love Switzer. I think he was one of the best punt returners in college football, perhaps in the history of college football,” Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said Saturday. ” … Incredible stop and start quickness. And he’s a courageous, tough guy. He’s a little guy, but he’s not afraid of playing and going inside, and I like that. He’s got the qualities I’m looking for in a slot receiver.

“He’s a guy that can change the game, I think, on third down. He’s a tough matchup. He’s quick. He has vertical speed. He has special teams ability and we’ll just see if he’s strong enough to be a durable player and last 16 weeks.”

If withstanding those scorching West Virginia summers alone and playing all 53 games in college are any indication, Switzer shouldn’t have a problem staying on the field with the Raiders.

The Switzers insist they’ve never talked about Ryan’s size, especially not as a hindrance, even if others saw it as one. Switzer’s dad claims his son is really 5 feet, 8 and 3/4 inches, that Ryan is slighted being listed at 5-foot-8.

Something so insignificant is probably fitting for Ryan Switzer’s road to the Raiders. He’s used to not being given the benefit of the doubt, and that in part is why he’s made it this far. The placement of the word guiding him to this point might be corny to some, but for Switzer it all comes back to the ink on the inside of his lower lip.

“Honestly I think everybody needs something like that, maybe not a tattoo in general but a word that defines them,” Switzer said. “I always believed that this was a possibility, regardless of the circumstances. I just wanted to give myself the best opportunity and the best chance to be here. Obviously I still have a long way to go and I still have a lot of things I want to accomplish in the NFL, but without the baseline that I had as a child – my parents’ and my family’s belief in me and my belief in myself – I wouldn’t be here.”

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