Kelee Ringo next in line of former Saguaro football players to be selected in NFL draft
When Kelee Ringo moved from Washington state to Scottsdale before his sophomore year, then Saguaro football coach Jason Mohns took one look at him and knew he'd be special.
Now, at 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, after helping Georgia to back-to-back national championships as a cornerback, Ringo is next in line of former Saguaro football players to hear his name get called in the NFL draft this week.
It could be Thursday when the first round is announced. It could be Friday when the second round is played out. It would be an upset if Ringo isn't taken in the first two rounds.
Most NFL draft prognosticators have Ringo going late in the first round or early in the second round.
In 2018, the Arizona Cardinals took former Saguaro wide receiver Christian Kirk in the second round of the draft. In the following draft, the Cardinals took former Saguaro cornerback Byron Murphy in the second round.
Ringo is bound to become the ninth former Sabercat to play in the NFL.
"I'm very excited for Kelee, and his family," said Mohns, who is now an assistant coach at Arizona State. "It was clear from the moment he first came to Saguaro that he was different.
"The best description I've heard of Kelee was from the DBs coach at Miami, who referred to him as a unicorn. He possesses a rare combination of size and speed that you couldn't find anywhere else in the country at the high school level. We knew from Day 1 that he had NFL-type ability."
Ringo clinched Georgia's 2021 national championship with a late 79-yard interception return for a touchdown off of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, who is projected to be the first pick of the draft.
He made second-team All-SEC this past season as a full-time starter.
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At the NFL Combine, Ringo ran 40 yards in 4.36 seconds. Speed has always been his greatest asset. But the question is whether Ringo is better suited as a safety or cornerback in the NFL.
Ringo was graded as elite for size and speed for cornerbacks at the combine, but his 33.5-inch vertical jump and 10-foot-2-inch broad jumper ranked among the lower half for that position. Will that cause him to slip in the draft?
Mohns believes Ringo will stand out at corner in the NFL.
Ringo, as a sophomore, went up against Murphy in practices. Murphy, as great a cornerback prospect as he was in high school, also had back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons for the Sabercats.
Former NFL cornerback Bryant Westbrook, who starred at Texas, coached both players at Saguaro.
"Bryant Westbrook took Kelee under his wing and helped mold him into the player he is today," Mohns said. "Having a player like Byron Murphy ahead of him in the program made a huge impact on Kelee.
"He looked up to Bryon and Murph challenged him every day in practice. People forget that Bryon was a back-to-back 1,000-plus-yard wide receiver, so Kelee got to match up with him regularly and test his skills against an elite player."
Ringo, who thrives on challenges, figures to seize that next step in the NFL at cornerback.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kelee Ringo next in line of Saguaro players to be picked in NFL draft
