Question: Did we recruit Phillip Rivers?

[BamaSlama]

Ok, I'll admit I live under a rock and just found out that Rivers is from Alabama. Was he recruited by Alabama, and how did he end up at NC State of all places?

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Ok, I'll admit I live under a rock and just found out that Rivers is from Alabama. Was he recruited by Alabama, and how did he end up at NC State of all places?

Yes - as a tight end...

 

[bayoutider]

Yes - as a tight end...

I don't remember if it was DuBose or Franchione that screwed that up. Both were more than capable of it.

 

[bamagradinATL]

I wonder which assistant thought Rivers should play tight end?

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I don't remember if it was DuBose or Franchione that screwed that up. Both were more than capable of it.

Dubose. And Ronnie was the TE coach, as recruiting coordinators frequently are. However, AU made the same error. They liked him at TE or LB...

 

[Dallas4Bama]

I don't remember if it was DuBose or Franchione that screwed that up. Both were more than capable of it.

I will give you a hint as to which one..... God didn't tell him to recruit Philip Rivers.
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[BigEasyTider]

Rivers came out of Athens High in the 1999 class.

He graduated early that year, and enrolled at NC State in January. It was a pretty simple story, really... both 'Bama and Auburn recruited him as a tight end and didn't recruit him as a quarterback. NC State recruited him as a quarterback, and he went there.

We signed a quarterback that year, and his name was Josh Parker. He was a pretty highly-touted guy in his own right, and grew up in the little community of Crawfordsville, Florida. That's about 30 minutes away from Tallahassee, and if I remember correctly he was one of Cottrell's babies. He committed to us a few months before Rivers committed to NC State.

Obviously, he never did anything at UA. He qualified, but I think the most he ever did was compete for Jon Richey for the #3 job in Spring practice in 2000. I forget whatever became of him, honestly. I want to say he transferred out before the 2000 season or shortly thereafter, but I cannot recall for certain. Either way, he never played a snap.

 

[BamaSlama]

Thanks all.... I'll retreat back to my rock now! :biggrin:

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Rivers came out of Athens High in the 1999 class.

He graduated early that year, and enrolled at NC State in January. It was a pretty simple story, really... both 'Bama and Auburn recruited him as a tight end and didn't recruit him as a quarterback. NC State recruited him as a quarterback, and he went there.

We signed a quarterback that year, and his name was Josh Parker. He was a pretty highly-touted guy in his own right, and grew up in the little community of Crawfordsville, Florida. That's about 30 minutes away from Tallahassee, and if I remember correctly he was one of Cottrell's babies. He committed to us a few months before Rivers committed to NC State.

Obviously, he never did anything at UA. He qualified, but I think the most he ever did was compete for Jon Richey for the #3 job in Spring practice in 2000. I forget whatever became of him, honestly. I want to say he transferred out before the 2000 season or shortly thereafter, but I cannot recall for certain. Either way, he never played a snap.

Ronnie was OK at closing the deal, but his recruiting prowess was totally exposed under Dubose. He depended on Culpepper for evaluation and there was no Diddy to sit on him and make him toe the line. Disaster for all parties...

 

[bayoutider]

Ronnie was OK at closing the deal, but his recruiting prowess was totally exposed under Dubose. He depended on Culpepper for evaluation and there was no Diddy to sit on him and make him toe the line. Disaster for all parties...

Ronnie's big claim to fame was recruiting the #1 offensive and defensive player in the same year twice?

 

[iam4bama]

The answer is "No" because Coach Dubose did not like his throwing motion. It is a sidearm/shotput type throw, but seems to get the job done. That was a big recruiting mistake.

 

[dave12]

I don't remember if it was DuBose or Franchione that screwed that up. Both were more than capable of it.

That was Franchione's screw-up, I think, he really wanted to come to Bama to play QB. I may be wrong.


RTR:biga2:

 

[dave12]

That was Franchione's screw-up, I think, he really wanted to come to Bama to play QB. I may be wrong.


RTR:biga2:

My bad, it was Dubose. Had to rethink.


RTR:biga2:

 

[SouthHSV]

He's a good QB, but his attitude and demeanor bother me for some reason. Anyone else get the same feeling?

 

[NewberryCock]

If I remember correctly, Rivers grew up as an Auburn fan, but they had their hopes pinned on Jason Campbell at the time.Most scouts looked at his throwing motion and wanted him at another position other than QB.I believe his dad took a job in North Carolina after Phillip signed with NC State.Coincidence? Maybe.

 

[RedStar]

My bad, it was Dubose. Had to rethink.


RTR:biga2:

You had to rethink it? Or you went back and read the 5-6 posts above you that already mentioned it :conf2:

I'm amazed at how many people don't read the threads they post in.

 

[BigEasyTider]

Ronnie was OK at closing the deal, but his recruiting prowess was totally exposed under Dubose. He depended on Culpepper for evaluation and there was no Diddy to sit on him and make him toe the line. Disaster for all parties...

Ronnie's specialty was strictly as a recruiter, if I remember correctly, and I mean that in the precise sense of the word. Some may have questioned his tactics, but nevertheless once he set his sights on a prospect, he was very good about going in and closing the deal. He communicated well with recruits, was frankly a good salesman, and a pretty hard worker to boot.

Ronnie's problem, of course, though was that he was a terrible evaluator of talent, and if I remember correctly that was the biggest difference he had between 'Bama and Florida State. At FSU, even then Bowden was the figurehead, but Andrews and Amato did the scouting on the defensive side of the ball, and Richt handled the scouting on the offensive side. Ronnie was really making few very actual decisions on who to recruit and things of that nature.

Flash forward to 'Bama, though, and he had a lot more hands-on role, and that was the problem we had. He still got us a lot of big signings during that time, but many of them were physically impressive players who couldn't play a lick, or outright character / academic cases. It basically just showed that he could not evaluate talent. I'm sure some of the ol' guys remember most of these names, like... Tarry Givens, Michael Gaines, Aries Monroe, Gerald Clark, Gary McNealy, Mario Monds, etc. He got us a few legit players out of Florida -- A.C. Carter, Ray Hudson, and a couple of others, -- but the misses more than outweighed the hits.

I just always thought he was in the wrong role at 'Bama. He was a great guy to have around if you had some great talent evaluators elsewhere, those guys identify the prospects, and you tell Ronnie, "Sick 'em." In a role where he was actually doing a lot (or most?) of the talent evaluation, he was a failure.