Hazlet's Ryan Dickens Bounces Back, Signs with Lafayette

HAZLET, NJ - Ryan Dickens, a senior at Raritan High School, signed this week to play Division 1 football for Lafayette College in Easton Pennsylvania.

Dickens was originally slated to play for UConn this year, but unexpectedly and abruptly lost his scholarship two weeks ago when UConn changed staff. The incident made national headlines. But this Hazlet teen (his family runs the RAINE Foundation) and Raritan linebacker landed on his feet. He gave a frank and from-the-heart interview to Shore Sports Zone about the whole experience:

"When you've been committed for that long to a program, it's hard to get over that," Dickens, 17, said. "But I found out, 'Hey, time to get back on the horse.' The biggest thing I learned from this is ... basically this is just another case of adversity on the football field and it made me a better man."

Watch the whole interview on Shore Sports Zone here. Top photo, Ryan Dickens, center, with parents Matt and Patti and Raritan football head coach Anthony Petruzzi.