Philip Rivers
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Philip Rivers (born December 8, 1981 in Decatur, Alabama) is an American football player who currently plays quarterback for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL.
In the 2004 NFL Draft, Rivers was obtained in a draft-day trade with the New York Giants -- the Chargers drafted quarterback Eli Manning (despite a statement that he would not play for them) with the first overall pick, and subsequently traded him to the Giants in exchange for Rivers (who the Giants selected with the 4th overall pick) New York's 3rd round pick in 2004 and their 1st and 5th round picks in 2005.
Early Years
When he was in kindergarten, he worked as a water boy at Decatur High School in Decatur, Alabama, where his dad was the head coach. As part of a fifth-grade project, he had to make a poster about his dreams and aspirations. On the poster, he pasted his face over that of a Minnesota Vikings player who had appeared on a cover of Sports Illustrated. He wears number 17 in honor of his father, Steve, who wore the same number in high school. Philip has worn it since the ninth grade. Philip’s number was retired before his final home game at North Carolina State.High School Career
Philip Rivers attended Athens High School in Athens, Alabama and was a football star and a good student. In football, he was the starting quarterback and as a senior, he completed 109 passes out of 195 passes attempted (55.9 percentage of passes completed), saw action at free safety, and was the Alabama Player of the Year. He was also an excellent student and graduated with a 3.7 grade point average. Rivers’ favorite quarterbacks are Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Troy Aikman and Brett Favre.College Career
After high school, Philip Rivers attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC where he played for coach Chuck Amato. During his epic collegiate career, Rivers shattered almost every NC State and Atlantic Coast Conference passing record. His career culminated with his record 51st college start establishing a new benchmark for consistency in college football. Rivers was a reliable and steadfast offensive general for the Wolfpack, starting all four-years even as a true freshman . The Wolfpack went to four consecutive bowl games under the leadership of Rivers winning three of the four, including a New Year's Day victory over the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in the 2003 Gator Bowl.Rivers was also named the MVP of 5 bowl games.
College Stats & Accolades
NCAA’s second all-time leading passer with 13,484 yards... MVP of five bowl games, including 2004 Senior Bowl... holds every major school passing record at N.C. State... seventh in Heisman Trophy voting as senior... 34-17 record as starter among NCAA-record 51 career starts... second in NCAA history with 13,582 total yards... tied for fifth in NCAA history with 95 touchdown passes... set school and Atlantic Coast Conference career records for passing attempts (1,710), completions (1,147), touchdowns responsible for (112), 300-yard passing games (18) and 400-yard passing games (7)... seventh quarterback in NCAA history and first in ACC history with three 3,000-yard seasons... second-team All-America by NFL Draft Report as senior... 2003 ACC Player of Year and first-team All-ACC after leading NCAA in completion percentage (.720) and passer rating (170.5)... ranked second nationally in passing yards (4,491) and total offense per game (353.9) ... MVP of 2003 Tangerine Bowl after career-high 475 yards and school-record-tying five touchdowns in 56-26 win over Kansas... second-team All-ACC as junior... received “Award of Distinction” from Columbus Touchdown Club... co-recipient of Governor’s Award as team MVP... MVP of 2002 Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame... CNN/Sports Illustrated National Player of Week after five-touchdown game against Navy in junior year... honorable mention all-conference as sophomore and MVP of Citrus Bowl... ACC Rookie of Year and Academic All-ACC choice in 2000... Newcomer of Year by ABC Sports and Freshman of Year by Football News and Columbus Touchdown Club... MVP of 2000 Micron PC Bowl... ACC Player of Week once, ACC Offensive Back of Week twice and league-record ACC Rookie of Week eight times during career... played at N.C. State from 2000-03... graduated with degree in business.NFL Career
Due to protracted contract negotiations Rivers reported to the team very late in the pre-season process and as a result the Chargers gave incumbent quarterback Drew Brees the opportunity to retain his starting job at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately for Rivers, Brees went on to have by far the best season of his career; by the end of the season Brees was named to the NFL Pro Bowl. Rivers received limited playing time in the 2004 season, playing in only two games. He only threw passes in the last game of the season (a win over Kansas City) when the Chargers had clinched a home playoff spot.Speculation was running rampant over whether or not Rivers would even remain with the team and whether he had a chance to supplant the resurgent Brees. However, Rivers did stay with the Chargers, and was their second string quarterback after Brees was slapped with the Franchise tag.
Rivers was unable to beat Drew Brees in the preseason prior to 2005 and spent almost the entire year as his backup. During the final game of the 2005 season against the Denver Broncos, Rivers came in after Drew Brees was injured due to a hit from Denver tackle Gerard Warren. Rivers completed 12 of 22 passing attempts for 115 yards with one INT and two fumbles.
Brees went on to sign with the New Orleans Saints during the 2006 free agency period, and Rivers was named the starter going into training camp. Expectations are high for Rivers due to the large amount of talent on the San Diego Chargers' offense and the performance of his peers from the 2004 draft (Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger) as starters.
External links
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