J.Z. George’s Chris Rias makes no excuses about it. He likes to be physical and he likes to hit people.
Rias will enter his senior season hoping to lead the Jaguars back to the playoffs after a 2-9 season last year. Rias is the latest addition to The Winona Times/The Conservative Top 10 Players to Watch for the 2018 football season.
Rias is a tall, imposing figure at 6-foot-3 and a solid 195 pounds. For Coach Ben Burton and the Jaguars, Rias will primarily be a blocking wing back in J.Z. George's run-first offense and will play defensive end on the other side of the ball.
“That’s pretty much what he’s going to be for us, a multi-purpose back,” Burton said. “He’s going to be the wing back for us but we will move him up and play tight end in certain sets. He will be able to do that for us and I feel like he will do a good job at it because he wants to be good.”
Burton was quick to praise Rias, especially his work ethic.
“No doubt, he likes the physical part of the game,” Burton said. “He doesn’t mind sticking his head in there. I have been coaching for 11 years now and he is the hardest working kid on the field, whether it’s the playing field or the practice field. It doesn’t matter what it is, he’s the hardest working kid that I have coached or been around.”
Burton said that work ethic is what separates Rias from everybody else.
This kid turns it on every single day that he is out there and that is a joy for me," Burton said. "It’s contagious, people watch it, people see it. And I think his work ethic will play off for him and for the football team as well.”
Rias said he isn’t a very verbal leader, he just lets his play do the talking for him.
“I really am not a leader but I like to lead by example,” Rias said. “I like to go hard every play in practice, like I do in the game. You play like you practice and I like to go hard all of the time. I’m a physical person, I like to hit. I like blocking, blindsiding people. I was a pass rusher on the edge last year and enjoyed hitting the quarterback.”
Burton said he has talked to several junior college coaches about Rias. The senior said he has talked to Copiah-Lincoln, Mississippi Gulf Coast and Northwest among the community colleges, along with Belhaven University "To be honest, I could see him playing an H-back at the next level," Burton said. "He does a good job with the blocking and he likes the physical aspect of it.
“I have had a chance to tell a couple of coaches about him. No person that they are going to recruit will have a better work ethic. It won’t be an issue any day of him not coming to work. He is going to give everything he has got.”
Rias also plays in the post for the J.Z. George basketball team and runs on the cross country team.
