Ramel Meekins: The journey continues

Four years ago, Ramel Meekins was on top of the world. It was the 2006 season, a year that would forever be etched into the minds of Rutgers fans, as well as the players they were cheering for. It was a year that would see the team defeat a #2 ranked Louisville squad in front of a raucous home crowd. And it was a year that marked Meekins' last days as a Scarlet Knight.

Those were some college days to remember, too. Meekins entered Rutgers University with little fanfare, a 2-sport star at Westwood High School who was deemed too small to compete at the highest level of football. Yet that's what he did. Not only did Meekins earn a spot on the Rutgers University football team as a walk-on, he earned a spot on the wrestling team, too. It was on the mat where he would go on to make an improbable trip to the NCAA championships, and it was on the gridiron where he'd earn All Big East honors and help bring a long downtrodden Rutgers program back to the limelight. On a Scarlet Knight squad that was searching for an identity, Meekins was the epitome of the team's "keep chopping" mantra.

The 2006 season came to a close with an exciting victory over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl. Meekins hoped that the bowl victory wouldn't mark the end to his playing days. He was picked up by the Indianapolis Colts for a stint that looked promising at first, but ended shortly thereafter. He bounced around from here to there, hoping to catch on, but pretty soon the writing was on the wall. Football was over.

Or was it?

Meekins returned home to New Jersey and contemplated his next move. Needing a steady paycheck and hoping to stay close to the game that had become such a big part of his life, he accepted a job at Teaneck High School. His job was to oversee the school's in-school suspension program. It wasn't quite what the star defensive tackle had been hoping for, but it was something. Best of all, it enabled him to work with kids and put one foot back on the playing field.

"It was a good way to get to know the kids," said Meekins, who also helped a bit with the football team. "When they realized who I was on the football field, there wasn't much trouble in the classroom."

The budget cuts that have affected schools state-wide hit Teaneck hard this year, and Meekins was told that his job wouldn't be waiting for him in September.

"Due to the budget cuts, I got laid off," said Meekins. "I am not sure if high school education is a realm where I want to stay and work for good, but I had a chance to get a feel for a different field of work."

While Meekins was transitioning to Teaneck, he received a call from a friend from the past. It was former Rutgers secondary coach, Chris Demarest. Like Meekins, Demarest was at a crossroads in his career, accepting the head coaching position at Hudson Catholic and inviting Meekins to join him. The timing wasn't right, but after receiving his termination notice at the end of the year, he once again heard from his old mentor.

Demarest had moved on from Hudson Catholic and accepted an assistant job at Tiffin University, a D2 school in Ohio. It was a new state and a new start for Demarest, and he figured Meekins could use some of the same.

"We stayed in touch," said Meekins. "He wanted someone to join him who ran the Rutgers defense. He wanted someone he trusted."

So Meekins was on the move again. Like a scene out of a movie, Meekins packed a bag, hopped on a bus, and took a long - and lonely - 19 hour ride to Tiffin.

"I had an opportunity to come out here. I thought it might be something I wanted to go further with," said Meekins, who will coach the defensive line at Tiffin this year. "I wasn't too thrilled about moving to Ohio, but the opportunity to coach and work with kids one-on-one was an opportunity that doesn't come along too often. I just rolled with it."

The bus ride west was a bit of a humbling experience, as was the step down from big time college football. Yet one week into his new career as an assistant coach, Meekins is starting to see the value of the journey.

"The school isn't far from Columbus, but I don't know much out here," said Meekins. "It looked like the Wizard of Oz when I first got out here - corn fields, Dorothy's house. I am far from home. But it has been alleviating to get away, clear my head. I have had a tough few years, and it is cool to slow the pace down. I have something I am passionate about - working with kids, challenging them. I am getting a chance to think and do what I want to do."

Although Meekins will be mentoring college students, he will also be a student himself. When he isn't on the practice field, he will be in the classroom earning his master's degree.

"I am going to take business sports management classes, with a business administration concentration," said Meekins. "I might be working in sports, maybe with major league teams. They have a pretty good alumni association out here, with internships around the country."

Of course, if things work out in his new coaching position, Meekins would welcome the opportunity to make coaching a lifelong endeavor. In fact, he'd be open to the idea of coming back home and helping finish the rebuilding job he was part of at Rutgers.

"[Coming back to Rutgers] is a possibility," said Meekins. "I am always in dialogue with everyone from there, from the alumni association to Coach. You never know. I would love to come back to New Jersey. I love New Jersey. If that opportunity arose, I would take that."

Meekins is already leaning on the lessons he learned at Rutgers as he builds a new identity as "Coach."

"They are real raw from a technique standpoint, so I can help them a great deal," said Meekins. "I just showed them my highlight film since we are in the same defense. You know how I played, so I will expect that of them, too. When I push them on the field, although I don't expect them to play like me, I expect them to play as hard as me. The #1 thing I stress is 100% effort. There is only one way to do it, which is the only standard that I have been held to."

Demarest and Meekins are borrowing more than just a defensive scheme from the Scarlet Knights. They are borrowing a system that breeds success both on and off the field. Meekins says that he hopes to channel his former mentor, Greg Schiano, as he embarks on this new career path.

"I think the #1 thing about Coach Schiano is that he is a very good role model for not only being successful players, but also being successful people in life," said Meekins. "Coach used to always give us lessons and life skills - be a man, little tidbits about responsibility, just being a man. I want to establish myself as a positive role model for what a young man should be. In that aspect, I want to emulate Coach."

The opportunity to be a role model to the athletes is one of the reasons why Meekins is hoping to put aside his homesickness and make a new life out in Ohio. With the eyes of so many kids looking up to him, Meekins doesn't want to let anyone down.

"Being a player under Coach Schiano, he sets such a high standard for the type of work you must put in," said Meekins. "He put in great effort, and we had to put forth the same effort. If we didn't, we not only cheated ourselves and our team, but we also cheated him."

The more you talk to Meekins, the more his words start to sound like a true college coach.

"They are coming off a losing season, and that is the way it was at Rutgers when I was a freshman. I am not looking for perfection; I am looking for progression."

Adjusting to life off of the football field took some time. After being such a huge part of his life for so long, it was hard to let go. Yet after three years of chasing one more tackle, one more sack, Meekins has finally made peace with his situation. If he can't be the one making the tackles, he is happy to be the one showing others how it should be done.

"I am going to attack everything in life with that mentality," said Meekins. "I just need to find that thing that I am passionate about. I am looking for that purposeful career, and this might be it. I love helping people and helping them grow. This could be it.

Meekins pauses for a moment…

"I am going to be the man I know I was meant to be…and help others out along the way. Wherever that puts me, I know I will be successful."