A year ago, Ryan Schneider was looking toward an outstanding senior year as UCF’s quarterback with hopes of being drafted and playing in the NFL.
Today, with the NFL season in its second week, Schneider is looking toward getting a new roof on the house that he shares with his oldest brother, Scott, and his young sister, Amanda. The house, three miles from the UCF campus, was badly damaged by Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Schneider needs 12 credits to graduate in liberal studies. With Scott working on his masters in business and Amanda enrolling as a freshman, Carl and Kitty Schneider bought a home for their children. They closed on it about three weeks before Charley.
“No one took Charley serious,” Ryan Schneider said. “We thought there would be a little wind and rain, but the middle of the state isn’t supposed to get hit that hard. We could hear the roof coming off. When we saw the damage, I couldn’t believe it.”
Chunks of the roof were missing, and the pool screen was damaged. There was extensive water damage and some electrical damage. Between Charley and Frances, it wasn’t possible to get the roof repaired.
“The day before Frances, we were on the roof doing everything possible to secure the tarp,” Schneider said. “We didn’t want to lose the whole roof and perhaps the house.” There was more water damage, and a new roof is still needed.
Schneider, considering what he has been through, knows that he would have lost his sanity without the support of his three brothers, his sister and his parents.
“There are times in your life when you have to fight,” Schneider said. “I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. It has been a nightmare year, but it could have been worse. Just look at what happened to [Florida State] coach [Bobby] Bowden. He lost a grandson and a former son-in-law.”
A year that started with dreams turned into one nightmare after another. The Schneiders had no reason to expect things would go so wrong.
“I thought last September, ‘What if things don’t go well?'” said Schneider’s mother, Kitty. “I didn’t give it a second thought because with Ryan, things had always done well. He had always won.”
Schneider was in the best condition of his life. He figured to lead the Golden Knights to their fourth straight winning season becoming the first quarterback to do it.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
To connect the dots from where Schneider was in September 2003 to where he is today, it would takes miles of rope, not a pencil.
“I twisted my [right] ankle in the opener at Virginia Tech,” Schneider said. “I set the school record for passing yards [497] in the next game [against Florida Atlantic]. Two games later against Kent State, I separated my right shoulder. When I did play, I didn’t play as well as I had [in 2002].”
On the brink of breaking the significant UCF career passing record (yardage, completion, attempts and touchdowns), all held by Daunte Culpepper, Schneider was suspended for the final three games because he forged a professor’s signature on what amounted to a courtesy notification slip from the athletic department.
“There is no question that I did something wrong,” Schneider said, “but the penalty didn’t fit what I did. When coach [Mike] Kruzcek told me, I was numb because I had already been punished once for not turning in the slip.”
The athletic department told his parents that they didn’t investigate all the players to see how many committed the same violation. The team finished 3-9, and Kruzcek was fired.
Schneider, who expected to be a late-round draft choice, went to the Hula Bowl. He had a good week of interviews with the NFL teams.
“I felt that I had re-established myself,” Schneider said. “I was named team captain, threw a touchdown pass and played pretty well.”
Schneider wasn’t chosen in the draft. He will always wonder how much the suspension cost him. Tampa Bay invited him to its mini-camp.
“On Friday morning, I threw the ball great,” Schneider said. “I was told that I would be signed. In the afternoon practice, my shoulder gave out. It hurt like it never had.”
Dr. George Caldwell, the Dolphins’ team physician, performed a cleanup procedure but found no major damage.
“Things couldn’t have gone much worse [for him],” said Ryan’s father, Carl, a former assistant at Plantation High School. “Who would have figured this?”
“It is hard not to consider football important when our family life has revolved around it, especially the last eight years, with Ryan playing and doing so well,” Kitty Schneider said. “We have hit a big bump in the road, but we will get over it. I hated to see a great college career end on a bad note.”
HOPING FOR A CHANCE IN NFL
Schneider hopes to play for the Orlando Predators in the Arena League. He hasn’t given hope of getting a chance in the NFL or Canadian Football League. He plans to devote three years to football.
“I proved that I could play at the college level,” Schneider said, “and I believe that I can play in the NFL. I just need a chance. I’ll do the rest.”
For the moment, Schneider would settle for a new roof.
“If someone had told me a year ago that I would go through what I’ve been through,” Schneider said, “I would have thought that they were crazy. That’s what happens when you plan too far ahead, as I have learned the hard way.”
Craig Barnes can be reached at .
