UPDATED: Nov. 11, 2018 at 4:15 p.m.

On a cold and windy December morning in Iowa Falls, Iowa, Ryan Guthrie sat in the office of Ellsworth Community College then-head coach Jesse Montalto and thought about New Orleans.

It was national signing day for junior colleges and Guthrie had his National Letter of Intent ready to fax to Tulane, where he planned to play his final two years of college football.

He ignored two Division I offers the year prior for a better opportunity — he wanted a Power 5 look. Still, it eluded him. Syracuse had come on strong late, spurring Guthrie to decommit from the Green Wave two days before signing day, but there was no offer from the Orange. He had resettled on Tulane.

Then his phone rang. Guthrie doesn’t remember exactly who was on the other end of the line, but it was Syracuse, offering him a scholarship.

“He’s a pretty stoic kid,” Montalto, who had been told of the offer the night before, said, “so he doesn’t say a ton. But you could tell he was excited about it and he was happy … It was almost relief.”

For Guthrie, it marked the end of a two-and-a-half year pursuit that took him from the familiarity of north Georgia and dumped him in the middle of Iowa cornfields before he advanced him to Syracuse. He bet on himself and with one last game remaining in the Carrier Dome for the Orange, he won.

“It probably wouldn’t have happened any other way,” he said recently, half joking. “There’s no easy way for me to do things.”

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Like so many high school athletes, Guthrie promised his sophomore self that he’d play college football. He started at West Forsyth (Georgia) High School undersized and bounced around different positions. He played safety until settling at outside linebacker his senior year. He had gotten taller, but not more muscular and was “still stringy,” he said.

In his senior season, Guthrie played for first-year head coach Adam Clack, who had been promoted from offensive coordinator. Guthrie was one of Clack’s most mature players, he said, and that Guthrie’s voice held weight in the locker room. When Clack had an idea for the team, it went through Guthrie first. They’d talk constantly — in the hallways, in Clack’s office after practice or his classroom during the school day.

“I’d throw some things at him and he’d throw some things at me and it was a really, really beneficial relationship to have,” Guthrie said.

Local Division I-AA schools like Mercer and Kennesaw State offered walk on spots. Guthrie kept searching. When the Wolverines missed the playoffs on a tiebreak on the last day of the season, Guthrie had no scholarship offers and no time left to earn one.

National signing day passed. Guthrie remained unoffered and unsigned. Was walking on his only option?

On a late April evening, Guthrie groomed the Sawnee Mountain Park baseball fields. As he rode a John Deere Gator, dragged the infields smooth and painted baselines, Mike Minikwu, then a coach at Ellsworth, called. He tried his best to sell Guthrie on ECC and central Iowa.

“I got off the phone and said, ‘Oh I’m not going to do that. It’s in Iowa? Whoa,’” Guthrie said.

But Ellsworth stuck with him, as did the encouragement from his high school coaches, who for a few months had sporadically mentioned the junior college route. Guthrie liked the notion of going so far away: he could do his own thing. Ellsworth offered Guthrie a scholarship when no one else had. If he wanted to play college football, this was the path forward.

Without visiting Ellsworth or even consulting his parents, he took what he had.

“If it didn’t work out,” Lisa, Guthrie’s mother, said, “it didn’t work out, you can always come back home. But Ryan does not have that mindset.”

“He was going to be important,” she continued, “and he wasn’t going to come home with his tail between his legs. He was going to be somebody.”

Courtesy of Kelly Guthrie

In June, Guthrie and his father, Steve, packed a rental car and departed Georgia around 5 a.m. for the 16-hour drive that is now famous within the Guthrie family. Plodding through the heart of the United States, Steve and Guthrie encountered a massive thunderstorm and ate at a “weird Denny’s truck stop” outside of St. Louis, Ryan said.

About two miles from Ellsworth, going 80 miles per hour in the rental, Steve said, they hit a large deer. They got out, surveyed the damage, thought about how close they were to where they needed to be — where Guthrie needed to be — and kept going.

At Ellsworth for the first time ever, Guthrie was on an island. “Corn for miles, and miles and miles,” Lisa said. He was lonely and found it difficult to meet people. So, he immersed himself in football, working constantly with defensive coordinator Matt St. Germain.

St. Germain loved coaching Guthrie. He wasn’t a usual JUCO case of poor grades or misconduct holding him back from a Division I offer. St. Germain struggled to comprehend how no one offered Guthrie in the first place. He took good notes, studied film constantly, asked for clarification when he didn’t understand things and spent extra hours talking with St. Germain in his office. When an injury took down the incumbent middle linebacker during fall camp, Guthrie seized the job.

He flourished and became a quasi-coach. Against Independence Community College in 2016, Guthrie called plays from the middle of the defense. ICC had a dual-threat quarterback and played fast. Knowing he wouldn’t get the calls in, St. Germain spent the week preparing a wristband for Guthrie to wear. A 12-box matrix, featuring 24 different defenses, was Guthrie’s reference. He made calls based on ICC’s offensive alignment. Ellsworth allowed 10 points in the win.

“I was really stressed that week in practice,” Guthrie said. “He got me right, time and time again.”

“I completely trusted him,” St. Germain said.

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A second-team All-American in 2015, Guthrie had offers from Akron and Eastern Michigan. Division I football was a signature away. But he returned to Ellsworth for his sophomore year.

Guthrie had come to Ellsworth to get out and to earn a Division I scholarship. He did that, then spurned both, betting that the work ethic and dedication that got him this close would net him a Power 5 offer.

“I took a chance on myself when I went to junior college,” Guthrie said. “Nobody ever thought I would be where I am right now.”

His sophomore year, Guthrie led the National Junior College Athletic Association in sacks and earning first-team All-American honors. His two offers ballooned to nearly 20. None of them were Power 5.

After Thanksgiving 2016, Syracuse started calling. Then-linebackers coach Tom Kaufman visited Guthrie in Iowa. Guthrie visited Syracuse. He fell in love with the coaches and players. Having his mom’s side of the family in New Jersey was an added bonus.

But he went back to Iowa without an offer.

“It was heartbreaking,” Guthrie said.

Then, on signing day morning, Dec. 14, 2016, Syracuse called. The “stringy” kid who had won his varsity team’s “Ultimate Wolverine Award” his senior year achieved his ultimate goal. Guthrie’s promise to his 15-year-old self went unbroken and the past 12 months hadn’t been wasted.

“He went on his own and it took a lot of courage and he never faltered,” Steve said. “He never complained. Not one time. And he was out there in the middle of nowhere. All in all, it was a great man-making kind of experience for him.”

In the past two years at Syracuse, the same things that endeared Guthrie to previous coaching staffs have stood out. He willingly played defensive end last season, aiding a thin group while buried beneath established linebackers Zaire Franklin, Parris Bennett and Jonathan Thomas. He lives with Eric Dungey, who said “you can always trust him.” In recent voting for captains, Guthrie was the defensive runner up, Dino Babers said.

Reflecting on his journey on Tuesday, Guthrie said he wouldn’t change a thing. He cherishes relationships with Clack, Montalto, St. Germain and his Ellsworth teammates. He wouldn’t be the player he is now without disappearing to Iowa.

Guthrie didn’t always know what was next and he doesn’t now. He might attend graduate school. Maybe he’ll try the NFL if the opportunity arises. He’s embraced the unknown on his journey, conquering obstacles whenever he encountered them in his pursuit of something he promised himself long ago.

“Don’t really have a plan,” he said, shrugging, “just kind of let it happen.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the division of Mercer and Kennesaw State was misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on November 7, 2018 at 11:41 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham