Ryan Tannehill

Ryan Timothy Tannehill (born July 27, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M. The Miami Dolphins selected him with the eighth overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Early years
Tannehill was born in Big Spring, Texas. He attended Big Spring High School, where he played high school football. He played 10 games at defensive back his sophomore season. As a junior, he passed for 1,410 yards and rushed for 822 at quarterback. He took his team to the playoffs as a senior, passing for 1,258 yards and rushing for another 617. He had to miss two games due to a separated shoulder in the second game of his senior year. He also posted three receptions for 62 yards and compiled a 39.2 punt average with a long of 84 yards as a senior. He received second-team District 4-4A honors for both his junior and senior seasons.

Ryan grew up a Texas Tech fan as his father, Tim, played football there from 1985–87. His mother also attended Tech. Growing up, Ryan went to watch Tech games each year and even sported a small Tech uniform as a child. Tim played his first two seasons at quarterback before switching to receiver his final season. Ryan went into A&M as a quarterback and has split time between receiver and quarterback.

Although Tannehill aspired to play quarterback for Texas Tech, the school did not recruit him. Ranked as the No. 21 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com, he received offers from Texas A&M University, TCU, Houston, Tulsa, and UTEP. He chose to accept an offer to go to A&M.

2007 season
Tannehill redshirted his first season (2007) at A&M.

2008 season
Prior to Tannehill's second season, Mike Sherman took over as head coach. In summer camp, Tannehill competed against veteran quarterback Stephen McGee and redshirt sophomore Jerrod Johnson for the starting quarterback position. He finished third in the contest, behind Johnson and then McGee. Sherman, whose offense utilizes true receivers, moved him to receiver.

In his fifth game, he posted freshman school records of 210 yards on 12 catches. After his six receptions for 78 yards in the Iowa State game, he broke the freshman school records for receptions and receiving yards. Tannehill finished his redshirt freshman season with 844 receiving yards, which was 11 yards shy of breaking Robert Ferguson's record set in 2000. He attempted only one pass at quarterback the whole season.

Tannehill had expressed his desire to become the starting quarterback at A&M: "I still think of myself as a quarterback, I still want to be a quarterback here at A&M. Hopefully that’s the way it turns out. But if things don’t happen that way, and Coach thinks I can better help being a receiver, then I guess I’m okay with that."

2009 season
During the 2009 offseason, Tannehill and Jerrod Johnson competed for the starting quarterback position; the job went to Johnson.

Tannehill finished the 2009 season with a team-leading 46 receptions for 609 yards and four touchdowns. About 80% of his 46 catches went for first downs or touchdowns. He picked up All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors for his performance. He only took eight snaps at quarterback the entire season.

2010 season
Tannehill continued to play receiver during the first six games of the 2010 season. Over those six games, he made 11 catches for 143 yards. He attempted 4 passes during the season opener.

He saw extensive action at quarterback during the Kansas game, splitting time with starter Jerrod Johnson. Tannehill finished with 12-for-16 passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns. In his first career start at quarterback, Tannehill led the Aggies to a 45–27 victory over Texas Tech. He set a school record with his 449 passing yards. He also made a 33-yard pooch punt, his first career kick.

Tannehill quarterbacked the Aggies to a victory over No. 11 Oklahoma, which moved the team into the top 25. He helped the team maintain the top 25 ranking through victories over Baylor and No. 9 Nebraska. During the Nebraska game, he punted twice since the starter was injured. He and his team defeated Texas to finish off the regular season. He picked up All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors.

2011 season
In 2011, Tannehill started all 13 games (including the bowl game) at quarterback for the Aggies and served as team captain. He threw for 3,744 yards and 29 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions. He completed 61.6% of his passes and posted a quarterback rating of 133.2. He also ran for 4 touchdowns.

Tannehill concluded his quarterback career at Texas A&M with a total of 5,450 passing yards and 42 touchdown passes.

College statistics
Through the completion of the 2011 season.

Professional career
Tannehill ran the 40-yard dash in 4.62 seconds at his pro day. He was considered the #3 quarterback prospect in the 2012 NFL Draft class behind Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III.

In the 2012 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins selected Tannehill with the 8th overall pick. He was the first quarterback selected by the Dolphins in the first round since Dan Marino in 1983.

"I have him rated as the 19th best player in the draft, which tells you I don't think he's ready to be a heavy contributor this year. I watched every throw he made on tape this year. All the out-breaking routes are phenomenal. Where he gets in trouble are the in-breaking routes where he stares the receiver down, pats the ball and throws interceptions." -Mike Mayock, former NFL safety and current NFL Network analyst

Personal Life
Tannehill graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology in May 2011 and had planned to become an orthopedic surgeon. Ryan and his wife Lauren Tannehill, whom he met at Texas A&M, were engaged in May 2011 and were married in Mexico in January of 2012.