Ryan Jack grew up in Northern Virginia, right outside of Washington D.C. where he played soccer for Elite Clubs National League (ENCL) Boy’s soccer as a youth and then moved to play at Virginia Development Academy (VDA).
From VDA, Jack received his offer to attend the University of Kentucky, where he claimed it was an “easy decision” choosing to further his soccer career as a Wildcat.
“I thought the staff was great,” Jack said. “Facilities were awesome and I got to watch a game and then I thought it was a great place. All the fans and the atmosphere here and just everything that they provided for us was pretty amazing, so I think it was an easy, easy decision.”
Jack’s soccer career at UK started with him playing four games and 202 minutes combined freshman and sophomore year. Then, he completed his junior year drastically improving with seven games and over 900 minutes on the field.
“I did a lot of work over the summer, working with a couple pro teams I got invited to,” he said. “I was with three pro clubs, Charleston Battery, DC United and New England Revolution.”
Jack played an All-Conference seven game stretch this season, during which he was awarded Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week honors not once, but twice. Because of his efforts, Kentucky completed the first four games of the conference season undefeated.
“It was awesome getting that award,” Jack sad. “The first game getting that award, I think that it was three games in at the time, and, you know, you’re kind of riding that confidence wave in those games. So, once you’re in the flow, it’s just the momentum carries over. To get it back-to-back weeks was awesome and like I said, I was just riding that confidence wave with those awards, but Marqes (Muir), Josh (Gordon), Harald (Race), Mateo (Franzotti), all the guys in the midfield, Logan (Dorsey), forced into one side to help us, I mean, it was a group effort.”
Jack’s awards didn’t stop there, though, as he was placed on UK’s Commissioners list. The Commissioners List honors student-athletes who earned a 3.5 GPA or better during the 2023-24 academic year.
“He is someone that consistently comes every single day, he’s a positive force in the locker room, he works really hard on the training field and he’s done really well,” Head Coach Johan Cedergren said of Jack earlier in the season.
Jack finished his season with a 2-2-3 record individually and a team record of 6-6-6, 5-3-3 in the Sun Belt, leaving fans eager to see what could come from Jack during a potential senior year at Kentucky if he chooses to take it.
