Timing feels right as Marist’s Ryan Sims commits to Miami (Ohio)

Ryan Sims gave himself a week to make one of the biggest decisions in his life.

The Marist junior decided at the beginning of May that he would commit to Miami (Ohio) only if it felt right a week later.

Sims verbally committed to Miami on Saturday.

“After that week, it kind of came, and I was like I still felt as strongly as I did before,” Sims said. “This is the right decision.”

The wide receiver prospect said his decision came down to Miami and Western Michigan. He also had offers from Kent State, Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Army, Northern Iowa, Penn, Columbia, Princeton, Ball State, Akron, Navy and Holy Cross.

Western Michigan really impressed Sims because the program has a strong record of wide receivers making it to the NFL, but Sims took football out of the equation when he chose between schools.

Sims wants to major in finance and Miami offered him a great program where he could succeed in life after football.

He also thought the offense Miami runs fits him well, he’d have a better chance of playing as a freshman if he worked hard and he really liked the coaching staff.

“I’m very excited,” Sims said. “I feel like I have a bright future ahead of me and I feel like Miami is the best place to make that future bigger and better.”

Rivals ranks Sims as a three-star wide receiver, 16th-best in Illinois while 247Sports Composite lists Sims as a three-star, 23rd-best in the state. Sims led his team with 10 touchdown receptions during his junior season and finished second with 759 receiving yards on 43 catches.

Marist coach Ron Dawczak was impressed with how Sims handled his recruitment and said he has tremendous potential with his 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame.

“He’s a guy who has a huge x-radius, he runs well for his size and he can run great routes, which is rare for someone at his size,” Dawczak said. “He’s going to be able to run a complete route tree and provide a great target for their offense.”

Sims is excited to be done with the recruitment process so he can focus on improving his game for his senior season at Marist and for Miami.

The wide receiver is going to use his commitment as motivation all summer and during his senior season in whatever football activity he does in order to show others that he deserves to be believed in.

“It’s definitely great motivation,” Sims said. “At the end of the day, I have to prove that I deserve to go to Miami, I have to prove that I deserve to go to college for free and I have to prove that I’m one of the best receivers in the Illinois area.”