Laguna Beach tight end Ryner Swanson commits to BYU
When Jackson Kollock dropped back to pass this past season, the go-to option was the burly tight end Ryner Swanson.
After a sensational season as the top receiver on Laguna Beach’s first championship team in 76 years, Swanson found that he was not short on opportunities regarding his future in football.
Swanson committed to BYU Thursday morning, announcing his decision in a social media video taken from Provo, Utah.
“I think it’s time I made a final decision with the college with my recruiting process,” Swanson said in the video. “I just want to say thank you so much to all the coaches that believed in me, offered me very generous scholarships. I’m very humbled. I never thought this would happen to me. I’m just a California boy, and I get to come to these amazing places and check out these schools, but the school that I know will be the best for me is Brigham Young University. Super happy to be here.”
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end frequently worked the middle of the field and proved tough to tackle. Swanson amassed team-leading totals with 83 catches for 952 yards and an average of 68 receiving yards per game. He was also second on the team with a dozen receiving touchdowns.
Laguna Beach went 11-4 overall en route to claiming the CIF Southern Section Division 9 title with a 36-28 win over Diamond Bar. Swanson had a 51-yard catch and run for a score in the fourth quarter of that game.
In the spring, Swanson showed off his strength by qualifying for the CIF preliminaries in the shot put. He also lowered his lifetime-best time in the 100-meter sprints to a wind-legal 11.53 seconds.
“I know that BYU is the best place for me because I’m going to build really good relationships outside of football,” Swanson, who called BYU his dream school, said in a phone interview. “The family there is amazing. I really love all the coaches and just the vibe at BYU and the spirit that I feel whenever I’m there. I feel the most comfortable at BYU, that the offense is really going to make me better and hopefully give me a shot at the NFL.”
Interest in Swanson was widespread, but he had narrowed his finalists down to BYU, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M and Utah in May. A four-star recruit, Swanson is ranked the No. 21 tight end recruit in the class of 2024 by 247Sports.
BYU, which is set to begin playing in the Big 12 Conference, went 8-5 last season, capping it with a 24-23 win over SMU in the New Mexico Bowl.
Laguna Beach head football coach John Shanahan called Swanson the biggest recruit that the school has had in his time with the Breakers, adding that the rising senior is a prospect with “no ceiling for him when it comes to football.”
“They’re getting a pretty well-rounded kid, a pretty grounded kid, a kid that I still don’t think understands how good he can be,” Shanahan said of Swanson committing to play in college. “It’s only been two and a half years into football since he started, so his growth potential is astronomical. He’s still only 16 years old, so that tells you how good he can be if he puts his mind to it and stays with it.”
As for Swanson’s quarterback, Kollock took to Twitter to share that he had received an offer from Cal on Monday, adding to a list of offers that already included Colorado, Minnesota and Washington, among others.
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