Sometimes being predictable isn’t a bad thing.

When the Packer football team is looking for a first down, a touch down, or even a yard, there’s usually one guy they go to.

Senior running back Jerrad Ryks has carried the Packer offense over the past two years — compiling 1,890 yards on the ground and 27 touch downs in 14 games over that stretch.

“As Jerrad goes, so goes the Packers offense,” Austin head football coach Tim Hermann said. “He must have a good night running the ball to open up the other avenues of our attack.”

In the past two seasons, Austin is 5-3 when Ryks runs for at least 130 yards and they are 0-6 when he fails to reach that mark. They are 3-0 this year when Ryks has been over 130.

Ryks is averaging 7.2 yards per carry this season and he has 745 yards and 12 touch downs for the Packers (3-2 overall).

It all seemed unlikely three years ago when Ryks started as a defensive back his sophomore season.

“I actually didn’t think I was going to play a lot of offense because I started at corner back,” Ryks said. “I really wasn’t expecting this kind of success at running back, but it’s going good.”

While football is a physical sport, Ryks has found his success by using his head and his eyes. His vision to see an open hole and his patience to wait for it have been the two biggest factors in his favor.

“I just run with patience and wait for things to happen. I find the hole when it opens up,” he said. “I have faith in my line, and I know not every play is going to be the biggest play. I just wait for it to happen, because I know it’s not going to happen every time.”

Austin center Joe Diggins said that blocking for Ryks is about as good as it gets for an offensive lineman.

“He makes us look good when we make mistakes, because we do make mistakes. We’re human,” he said. “When we do good and he does good, everything starts clicking and we start winning games.”

Ryks has been held to less than 100 yards just once this season and only three times in the past two years. He’s rushed for 100 or more yards 11 times and surpassed the 200-yard mark twice this year and three times in his career.

While not the biggest or fastest back you’ll ever see, at 5 feet-11 inches and 180 pounds, Ryks has spent plenty of time in the weight room to bulk up. The result has been a lot of missed tackles by his opponents.

“I just keep running and my feet never stop moving,” he said.

While sometimes Ryks makes it look easy, like during his 96-yard TD run against Mankato East two weeks ago, there is definitely a lot of hard work behind his success.

“He’s a leader in the weight room and he’s a leader on the field,” Austin quarterback T.J. Fritz said. “He’s a testament of what hard work does. He works hard in the off-season and it shows on the field on Friday nights.”

That hard work will likely put Ryks playing on Saturday’s next year as a few Division II colleges are recruiting him.

“I have a few colleges in mind, I’ll probably have my decision at the end of the season,” Ryks said.

Austin will host Faribault for its homecoming game Friday at 7 p.m.