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- Apr 28, 2013
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Posted by Carla Parker
<a class="postlink" href="http://thechampionnewspaper.com/gerald-rivers-excited-about-nfl-opportunity/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://thechampionnewspaper.com/gerald- ... portunity/</a>
Cedar Grove High School alum Gerald Rivers has come full circle in a year.
Last spring, the 6-foot-4, 249-pound defensive end was preparing for his senior season at the University of Mississippi when the most influential person in his life, his grandmother, passed away. The loss caused Rivers’ mind to stray away from school and football and he took time off to be with his family.
“I wasn’t exactly the most focused person at that point because she was a big part of my life,” he said. “It caused me to fall behind in my school work. It was hard.”
Rivers went back to school in the summer to take the classes he needed to complete the academic requirements for reinstatement, but he was still denied eligibility.
“I talked to the NCAA, I talked to my counselors and they were appealing for me,” he said. “About two or three weeks going into the season my appeal was denied.”
Rivers was ruled academically ineligible and had to sit out the entire 2012 season. But that didn’t keep Rivers down. He continued to work out to prepare for the NFL draft. He participated in the Super Regional Combine in Dallas, Texas, and in Ole Miss’ pro day, which allows NFL prospects to show off their skills to NFL coaches and scouts.
“It went great,” he said. “Just being able to go out there and show them that I’ve been working hard and to showcase my skills. I met a lot of scouts and talked to a lot of teams.”
His skillsets caught the attention of one particular team—the St. Louis Rams. The Rams signed Rivers as an undrafted free agent after the NFL draft. He said he is excited to be a Ram.
“They saw something in me that they liked and they want to work with me,” he said. “It was an honor.”
Rivers was with friends watching the draft. He said it was stressful and toward the end of the draft he and his friends went to a festival on campus.
“I finally wanted to get out of the house and walk around a little bit and get some fresh air,” he said.
That is when he got a call from his agent telling him that the Rams were interested in signing him. He then got another call from the Rams defensive line coach Mike Waulfe, who told him the Rams wanted him to sign with the team.
“It was overwhelming and a relief,” Rivers said.
Rivers said he wasn’t disappointed about not actually being drafted.
“When you go to [rookie mini] camp everybody is on the same level,” he said. “So it’s just about going out there and showing what you can do, showing your hard work.”
Rivers said it wasn’t hard to prepare for the draft after missing a year of football. He used his adversity as a motivational tool.
“It gave me more reason to fight,” he said. “I kind of came out [to my pro day] with a chip on my shoulder. Most of the scouts knew me from the year before and I felt like some people thought that I was going to come back out of shape and not able to perform. But I took over my pro day and showed out at the regional combine.
“The fact that I even went through some adversity, I was still able to come back bigger, better and faster,” he said.
Rivers said he is only looking forward to one thing when he heads out to St. Louis.
“Getting back to playing football,” he said.
<a class="postlink" href="http://thechampionnewspaper.com/gerald-rivers-excited-about-nfl-opportunity/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://thechampionnewspaper.com/gerald- ... portunity/</a>
Cedar Grove High School alum Gerald Rivers has come full circle in a year.
Last spring, the 6-foot-4, 249-pound defensive end was preparing for his senior season at the University of Mississippi when the most influential person in his life, his grandmother, passed away. The loss caused Rivers’ mind to stray away from school and football and he took time off to be with his family.
“I wasn’t exactly the most focused person at that point because she was a big part of my life,” he said. “It caused me to fall behind in my school work. It was hard.”
Rivers went back to school in the summer to take the classes he needed to complete the academic requirements for reinstatement, but he was still denied eligibility.
“I talked to the NCAA, I talked to my counselors and they were appealing for me,” he said. “About two or three weeks going into the season my appeal was denied.”
Rivers was ruled academically ineligible and had to sit out the entire 2012 season. But that didn’t keep Rivers down. He continued to work out to prepare for the NFL draft. He participated in the Super Regional Combine in Dallas, Texas, and in Ole Miss’ pro day, which allows NFL prospects to show off their skills to NFL coaches and scouts.
“It went great,” he said. “Just being able to go out there and show them that I’ve been working hard and to showcase my skills. I met a lot of scouts and talked to a lot of teams.”
His skillsets caught the attention of one particular team—the St. Louis Rams. The Rams signed Rivers as an undrafted free agent after the NFL draft. He said he is excited to be a Ram.
“They saw something in me that they liked and they want to work with me,” he said. “It was an honor.”
Rivers was with friends watching the draft. He said it was stressful and toward the end of the draft he and his friends went to a festival on campus.
“I finally wanted to get out of the house and walk around a little bit and get some fresh air,” he said.
That is when he got a call from his agent telling him that the Rams were interested in signing him. He then got another call from the Rams defensive line coach Mike Waulfe, who told him the Rams wanted him to sign with the team.
“It was overwhelming and a relief,” Rivers said.
Rivers said he wasn’t disappointed about not actually being drafted.
“When you go to [rookie mini] camp everybody is on the same level,” he said. “So it’s just about going out there and showing what you can do, showing your hard work.”
Rivers said it wasn’t hard to prepare for the draft after missing a year of football. He used his adversity as a motivational tool.
“It gave me more reason to fight,” he said. “I kind of came out [to my pro day] with a chip on my shoulder. Most of the scouts knew me from the year before and I felt like some people thought that I was going to come back out of shape and not able to perform. But I took over my pro day and showed out at the regional combine.
“The fact that I even went through some adversity, I was still able to come back bigger, better and faster,” he said.
Rivers said he is only looking forward to one thing when he heads out to St. Louis.
“Getting back to playing football,” he said.
