Jensen Beach tight end Ryland Hauser creating own legacy on football field

JENSEN BEACH —You might know Ryland Hauser’s last name, but that doesn’t mean you know Ryland Hauser.

You don’t know hard he works. You don’t understand how hard he pushes himself. You don’t realize how much he wants to blaze his own path.

And for the Jensen Beach High School senior, that path is on a football field.

“My dad does have his own legacy that he’s created,” Hauser said. “But it’s about what I want to do and creating my own legacy and my own path. He did it one way. I want to create in a different way that our family has never done it before.”

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Hauser is the son of actor Cole Hauser, best known for his roles in Yellowstone, Dazed and Confused, 2 Fast 2 Furious and more.

Ryland prefers Friday night lights to the acting spotlight.

He’s a 6-foot-4, 225-pound tight end whose size, athleticism, blocking ability and soft hands have earned him scholarships offers from Mississippi State, Northern Alabama and Warner. He’s also receiving interest from several other Power 5 programs, including Texas A&M and TCU. Some schools like Hauser at tight end while others would like to put weight on him and move him to offensive guard.

Jensen Beach coach Tim Caffey favorably refers to Hauser as a “tweener.”

At 6-foot-4, at he can line up at wide receiver but he’s too big for most cornerbacks to cover him. When he lines up as a traditional tight end, his speed – Hauser was clocked at 4.65 in the 40-yard dash at Mississippi State over the summer – and athleticism make him a tough matchup for linebackers. He also consistently grades out well as a run blocker.

“He poses a problem,” Caffey said. “His height and his length, he’s gotten bigger this year. For a 6-4, 225-pound guy to run a 4.6 40, that’s really something.

Hauser helped Jensen Beach win its second district championship in program history and earn the No. 2 seed in Region 3-3S. The Falcons will host Port St. Lucie in the regional quarterfinals this week.

Still, Hauser’s heard from cynics who say his offers have more to do with his last name than his frame and ability.

“Sometimes it does bother me,” he said. “I’m still young. I’m still growing and some of that bothers me. That’s my hard work that I put in. For someone to say that it (makes me angry). I’m starting to get better at it and the big thing is just being confident on the field.”

Confidence comes with comfort.

When Hauser arrived at Jensen Beach before his junior year, he had very little football experience. He primarily played basketball before trying football in eighth grade. He wanted to play junior varsity football in ninth grade but broke his collarbone in his first game of the season. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Hauser never got to play his sophomore year.

It wasn’t exactly an easy transition to Jensen Beach. Hauser readily admits it was a lot to move to a new town, start at a new school and learn a new playbook for a sport he was still learning.

“Last year, I would tell him to run a certain route, he would run all the way across the field with blind abandon,” Caffey said. “Now he’s understanding. We need him to sit in a zone or things of that nature. He understands blocking angles and chip blocks.”

Hauser is a much better player than he was a year ago, but he’s far from a finished product. And it’s not within his nature to be satisfied.

“I’m always very tough on myself,” Hauser said. “My dad always raised me like this. I would do something great, and he would be like, ‘You’re supposed to be great. Keep working.’ That always stuck with me and now I’m never satisfied. I’m never ever satisfied. I always want to be better.”

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Jensen Beach's Ryland Hauser creating his own legacy on football field