MOON TWP, Pa. — Former WPIAL standout and current Robert Morris offensive lineman Ryan O’Hair announced on Thursday that he retiring from football due to medical reasons. O’Hair fulfilled his childhood dream of playing Division I college football last season when he started 10 games on the offensive line for the Colonials.
O’Hair looked to build upon his success from 2023 and carry it into this season but that plan was derailed when the 6-foot-9 lineman felt something in his knee shift on two consecutive days of practice this fall. Following the second tweak, O’Hair pulled himself out of practice and received an MRI which revealed surgery-worthy damage.
The thing that scared O’Hair enough to check himself out was his knowledge of his own injury history. O’Hair knew his knee was already a risk as he had his first knee surgery at 9-years-old after he tore his ACL and then another knee operation during his freshman year of college. To top it off, O’Hair was just coming off of a foot injury from last season that also required surgery.
“I practiced the first two and half weeks of fall camp and everything was going well, I was probably playing some of the best football of my life.” O’Hair told Adam Borst of Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I was at my physical peak, I was playing at 320, playing pretty physical ball and then my knee moved on me two days in a row.”
After receiving the untimely news from the doctors, O’Hair had a decision to make, tough it out and play the season knowing that he would likely need a fourth surgery on his leg following the year or retire from the game that he loves. As he weighed the options, one thing stuck out to him, his life after football.
“For me, that was the biggest thing was just taking into consideration my quality of life after football,” O’Hair said. “I am a senior anyhow so it was probably going to come to an end for me sooner rather than later so I had to make the tough decision to step away from it now instead of risking and probably ending up getting a fourth surgery had I decided to play.”
After making the personal decision, O’Hair needed to inform his coaches, head coach Bernard Clark and offensive line coach Rod Holder, who were likely going to depend on him to anchor the offensive line, that he was going to retire from playing. For O’Hair, this came easier than some would think as Clark and Holder are two men that O’Hair built great relationships with.
“I have always appreciated my relationships with both of them,” O’Hair said. “They have been very good to me as people and as coaches. When I told the both of them I was stepping away, I also told them I wanted to remain a part of the team in whatever fashion they would allow me to. Thankfully they both thought it would be a great idea for me to stick around and help coach the [offensive] line.”
Not that O’Hair ever really thought about coaching, after everything happened so quickly, he is just happy to still be a part of the team while he finishes up his time at the university. While it could stick to him and a potential future in coaching could be on the horizon, O’Hair is just focused on where his feet are now.
While this move a gesture of good faith from Clark and Holder, with O’Hair being a former FBS-level recruit, they knew that they still wanted his insight around the team. Now, the coaches will not depend on O’Hair’s game play, but rather, they will depend on his knowledge.
“It’s a blessing that I get to remain a part of the team and also help him out. For now, I am kind of looking at one half of the offensive line while he looks at the other,” O’Hair said. “The wound is pretty fresh but they had nothing but nice things to say about me and they understood where I was coming from and I am just very thankful that they are giving me the opportunity to stay a part of this football program. … I just told the coaches I was going to do whatever they needed me to do to help the program so this is just what it turned out to be.”
For a person that dreamed about being on this stage since they were a child, O’Hair’s decision to hang the cleats up and put on the headset was a tough one but if the rest of his career and life have shown anything, he will bounce back and will be a better person because of it.
“Football has had a very great impact on my life. From start to finish in my career, there’s been a lot of highs and certainly a lot of lows but it taught me a lot of lessons about life and it has really helped me grow up,” O’Hair said. “I fought adversity for essentially my entire football career and so I am thankful it has given me tougher skin and helped me grow up a little faster than I probably would have. I think adversity builds character and I can certainly sit here today and say that my character is much stronger than when I started playing this game.”
Not only will he grow from the highs and lows of his career, the connections and relationships that he has formed over time will be with him forever, as will the lessons and things that a younger version of himself could not see at the time, like how great the people that surround him are.
“Most importantly, I am so thankful for all of the people that this game has allowed me to meet. Football takes us a lot of places, especially on the Division I level. It is a smaller world than it seems, everybody seems to know everybody, it is just a big web of connections so I made so many great, life-long friends. It has also made me realize that my support system is fantastic. I certainly would not be here without my parents, I owe them everything. They have done all that they could over the past 12 years to support my dream of playing football and for that I will be forever grateful. My grandma, my sister, my aunt, my uncle, all of these people have really helped me do what I can. I just have a really good support system and without them I would be nothing.”
Regardless, after “missing” the first four games of the season, the Colonials get a “big” piece of their offensive line back prior to their road game against Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 28. With O’Hair back in the mix, and the offense coming to life in the last few weeks, the Colonials will continue to try to improve as they are in pursuit of an NEC title.
