Former Razorback Gets Tossed Out of OTA Practice

John Ridgeway's fight at Cowboys' OTA practice gets him sent to dressing room early

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former Arkansas defensive lineman John Ridgeway is making waves after a big splash in Dallas.

“I’m going to try to break someone's neck when I get out there," the 6-5, 325-pound fifth-round draft choice from the Razorbacks told The Draft Show after being picked by the Cowboys.

Apparently he is bringing some physicality and aggressiveness to the Dallas defensive front in OTA workouts.

Thursday, he managed to get thrown out early. Remember, this is practice.

Dallas Cowboys rookie John Ridgeway, a former Razorback, during one of the team's OTA practices in June getting ready for the start of training camp. (Tim Heitman / USA TODAY Sports)

According a report at CowboysCountry.com, Ridgeway got into one of those practice scuffles with offensive lineman Josh Ball during live action. A couple of helmets went flying.

Ridgeway got sent in early.

Apparently, he's living up to the "Vanilla Gorilla" nickname he was tagged with and some folks probably don't remember (or ever knew) he was a championship wrestler. That's the original form of grappling that doesn't involve ropes.

Ridgeway is even marketing the "Vanilla Gorilla" brand (I guess you can call it that already). That fits with being with the Cowboys, who have proven pretty good at marketing just about anything.

"If I can’t (break necks)," he said, "I’m just going to tackle someone really hard and try to make a big play, make the crowd go crazy."

He wasn't shy with the Hogs. That is making him very quotable with a team that makes headlines constantly.

"I know there’s a lot of people out there who like to talk about the negative aspects of my game, but I just try to focus on what I can control," he said. "That’s tackling people. Making plays ... that’s what I want to do.”

Dallas Cowboys rookie John Ridgeway, a former Razorback, during one of the team's OTA practices in June getting ready for the start of training camp. (Tim Heitman / USA TODAY Sports)

The Cowboys are looking to be more physical on the inside. That was a problem in a playoff loss to San Francisco this past season.

Ridgeway does that.

But he might not want to leave practice early very often.

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