Car crash left mark on Ryan

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2008 | by Tom Pedulla

NEWTON, Mass. -- Potential franchise quarterback Matt Ryan remembers the sound of metal-on-metal the way only the victim of an automobile crash can.

He and his older brother, Michael, were waiting to turn left into a golf course near their suburban Philadelphia home May 19, 2001, when they observed a convoy of U.S. Army vehicles approaching from the opposite side of the road.

"I kind of remember seeing them come," Matt says, "and then getting hit from behind."

Their Volkswagen Jetta was sent into the path of a military fuel truck. Then there was another, more jarring impact, followed by a spinning sensation. He recalls nothing else.

Matt, then 16, would quickly recover from a broken ankle. He would go on to a Boston College career that...