#55 - Linebacker
HEIGHT: 6-3 / WEIGHT: 235 LBS
Senior/Senior
Lake Mary, FL (Lake Mary HS)
2007: Rivers, an All-American candidate who led USC in tackles in 2006, returns for his third season starting at weakside linebacker as a senior in 2007. He was named to the
2007 Playboy Pre-Season All-American team. He is on the
“Watch Lists” for the 2007 Lombardi Award and Lott Trophy. He had arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle to remove bone spurs following 2007spring practice.
2006: Rivers started for his second season at weakside linebacker as a junior in 2006 and proved to be a dominant force. Overall in 2006 while appearing in all 13 games, he had a team-high 85 tackles, including 7.5 for losses of 22 yards (with 2 sacks for minus 9 yards), plus a team-best 3 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 2 deflections. He made the
2006 Pro Football Weekly All-American honorable mention, All-Pac-10 first team, ESPN.com All-Pac-10 first team, Rivals.com All-Pac-10 first team and Scout.com All-Pac-10 second team. He won USC’s Bob Chandler Award.
He had a team-best 8 tackles, with a fumble recovery and forced fumble, at Arkansas to earn Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors. He added 5 stops (with 1 for a loss) versus Nebraska, 3 tackles (with a sack) at Arizona and 5 tackles at Washington State. He had a game-best 12 tackles (1 for a loss), plus 2 deflections, against Washington and a team-best 8 tackles (1 for a loss) against Arizona State. He had 5 tackles (with a sack) at Oregon State, 5 more tackles and forced a fumble that USC recovered at Stanford and a game-best 10 tackles against Oregon. He made 6 tackles (0.5 for a loss) against California, 4 stops (1 for a loss) and forced a fumble that USC recovered versus Notre Dame and 5 tackles (1 for a loss) at UCLA. He had a game-best 9 tackles against Michigan.
2005: Rivers started at weakside linebacker job as a sophomore in 2005 and proved effective. Overall in 2005 while starting 11 games (he missed the Stanford game with a hamstring strain suffered prior to the Washington game and then the UCLA game after re-straining his hamstring against Fresno State), he had 52 tackles, including 3 for losses of 17 yards (with an 11-yard sack), plus had a team-best 2 fumble recoveries and returned an interception 14 yards. He saw limited action at Washington because of the hamstring strain, then re-strained it early in the Fresno State contest and was sidelined. He made
2005 All-Pac-10 honorable mention.
He had 3 tackles at Hawaii, 7 against Arkansas, 8 (with 2 for losses) at Oregon and 6 at Arizona State. He added a stop against Arizona, then a game-best 12 tackles (with a sack), plus an interception (to set up a USC TD) and fumble recovery, at Notre Dame. He made 1 tackle at Washington before sitting out with the sore hamstring and another tackle versus Washington State in restricted play before sitting out the Stanford contest. He returned to get 6 tackles with a fumble recovery at California, then had 2 tackles in limited action versus Fresno State. He made 5 tackles against Texas.
2004: Rivers saw significant playing time as a backup weakside linebacker behind Matt Grootegoed, as a defensive end in pass rushing situations and on special teams as a first-year freshman in 2004. Overall in 2004 while appearing in all 13 games, he had 25 tackles, including 3 for losses of 23 yards (with 2.5 sacks for 22 yards), plus had a deflection and returned an interception 22 yards. He made the
2004 The Sporting News Freshman All-Pac-10 first team. He had 5 tackles against Colorado State, 4 versus Washington (with the interception) and Oklahoma and 3 against Stanford and Arizona.
HIGH SCHOOL: His 2003 honors included
USA Today All-USA first team, Parade All-American, Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, EA Sports All-American, Insiders.com All-American, Super Prep Elite 50, Prep Star Top 100 Dream Team, Lemming Top 100, Super Prep All-Dixie, Prep Star All-Southeast, FOX Sports Net All-South, Gatorade Florida Player of the Year and Florida Class 6A Mr. Football runnerup as a senior linebacker at Lake Mary (Fla.) High. He had 111 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 2 interceptions in 2003.
As a junior in 2002, he was a
Student Sports Junior All-American and Florida Class 5A second team honoree as he posted 160 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 4 sacks and 2 interceptions.
He made
All-State as a sophomore in 2001 when he had 100-plus tackles.
PERSONAL: He’s a public policy, management and planning major at USC. He was born in Riverside (Calif.) and lived in nearby San Bernardino for 8 years during his youth.
