Ryan Broyles (born April 9, 1988) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

. He set the all-time

NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

record for career receptions, and was twice recognized as a consensus

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. Broyles was selected by Detroit in the second round of the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. He joined the

Dallas Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The Renegades compete in the United Football League (2024), United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded as the D ...

of the XFL in 2019, but retired before playing for the team.

Early life

Broyles was born in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. He attended

Norman High School Norman High School is a four-year Public school (government funded), public high school in Norman, Oklahoma, with a steady enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. It is accredited by North Central Association, the Oklahoma State Department ...

, where he was a three-sport star in football, basketball and track. He played as a

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the Norman Tigers high school football team. He finished his career with 79 receptions for 1,688 yards and 18

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

on offense and 157

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

and 20

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team bu ...

on defense. He was named 6A-2 All-District and OCA All-State. In

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, he averaged 18

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

per game. Also a standout

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

athlete, Broyles was one of the state's top performers in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. At the 2006 Mid-State Conference Meet, he tied for first place in the high jump, posting a career-best mark of 2.10 meters (6 ft, 10 in). He also ran on the Norman

4 × 100 m 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

relay squad.

College career

Broyles attended the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, where he played for coach

Bob Stoops Robert Anthony Stoops (born September 9, 1960) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League (UFL). He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through ...

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most succ ...

team from 2008 to 2011. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2007 after being arrested for attempting to steal gasoline from a closed down gas station. In his first collegiate game against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

in 2008, Broyles had seven receptions for a school freshman record of 141 yards. He finished the season tying a school freshman record with 46 receptions. His 687 yards were also a Sooners freshman record. He also had six receiving

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s and 30

punt return Punt or punting may refer to: Boats * Punt (boat), a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow developed on the River Thames * Falmouth Quay Punt, a small sailing vessel hired by ships anchored in Falmouth harbour * Norfolk Punt, a type of racing ...

s for 238 yards and a touchdown. In the 2009 season, Broyles caught 76 passes for 964 yards and 12 touchdowns. He had 13 catches for 156 yards and three touchdowns in Oklahoma's 31–27

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

victory over

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. For his outstanding performance, Broyles was named Sun Bowl MVP. In 2010, he caught 131 passes for 1,622 yards and 14 touchdowns. In Oklahoma's 48–20

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area since 1971. From its beginning until 2006, the game was hosted at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has be ...

victory over the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, he had 13 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown. On October 15, 2011, Broyles broke the all-time FBS career reception record (previously held by Taylor Stubblefield of Purdue) with his 317th career catch versus

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. The record was later broken by

Justin Hardy Justin Hardy (born December 18, 1991) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL draft. He played ...

in 2014. Broyles's college career ended in a game against Texas A&M on November 5, 2011, when he tore the

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in his left knee. His senior season ended with 83 receptions for 1,157 yards and 10 touchdowns in nine games. Broyles finished his career with 349 receptions for 4,586 yards and 45 touchdowns.

College statistics

Professional career

Detroit Lions

The

selected him in the second round (54th overall pick) of the

. He recorded his first NFL touchdown reception in the 4th quarter of Week 7, a 13–7 loss to the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. On November 16, Broyles was fined $10,000 for an illegal crack-block against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

in Week 10. He was named the 2012 Detroit Lions Rookie of the Year by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association. On August 31, 2015, he was released by the Lions per his request, days after barely appearing in a preseason game against Jacksonville.

Dallas Renegades

On October 16, 2019, Broyles was selected by the

during the fifth round of open phase in the 2020 XFL Draft. The Renegades are led by head coach

, who was formerly Broyles' head coach at Oklahoma. Broyles would not play a down for the team as he announced his retirement on December 5, 2019. The Renegades continued to hold his rights in the event of unretirement.

Personal life

He is the son of Stephanie Moore and Anthony Broyles. In 2007, he was arrested and charged with attempted larceny for trying to steal gas in Norman. Norman police arrested him at Mr. Shortstop, a local gas station, when they found him with a fuel-pump key and a pump-override code. The misdemeanor landed him a six-month deferred sentence and a $100 fine. He graduated from

and the

. :''"In Spring 2011 nearly two dozen OU athletes traveled to Haiti and volunteered at the

Mission of Hope Mission of Hope is a faith-based, nonprofit humanitarian organization founded in 1998 by Brad and Vanessa Johnson, headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas. The organization is primarily focused on improving the quality of life in underserved communitie ...

. In a country that has long been the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and is still reeling from the effects of a massive earthquake more than a year and a half ago, Broyles witnessed poverty unlike anything he'd ever seen. People with no roofs over their heads. People with no running water, no electricity, no modern convenience of any kind.'' :''Everywhere he looked, he saw people with nothing — nothing but their faith. In that stripped-down, laid-bare world, people found joy in their faith. They smiled. They laughed. They celebrated. 'I was jealous, I wanted to be like that', Broyles said.''; After the mission trip to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

he became a more devout

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. Broyles proposed to his high school and Oklahoma college girlfriend Mary Beth Offenburger. They married July 7, 2012. In June 2015 their son Sebastian Reid Broyles was born. The family lives in a house built by Ryan in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Following his time with the Lions, Broyles has worked as a

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

in the

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

area.

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broyles, Ryan 1988 births Living people Players of American football from Norman, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma City American football wide receivers Oklahoma Sooners football players All-American college football players Detroit Lions players Dallas Renegades players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Norman High School alumni