Keith Rivers

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Keith Rivers

Rivers celebrates a USC victory
Cincinnati Bengals — No. 58
Linebacker
Date of birth: May 5, 1986 (1986-05-05) (age 22)
Place of birth: San Bernardino, California
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Weight: 235 lb (107 kg)
National Football League debut
No regular season or postseason appearances
Career history
College: Southern California
NFL Draft: 2008 / Round: 1 / Pick: 9
 Teams:
Current status: Unsigned Draft Pick
Career highlights and awards
  • No notable achievements

Keith Rivers (born May 5, 1986 in Lake Mary, Florida) is an American football linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bengals ninth overall in the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Southern California.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Rivers was a highly decorated letterman in football at Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Florida. His awards include include 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 10, 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 runner up as a senior linebacker. [1] He played in the 2004 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

[edit] College career

Rivers was heavily recruited. Then-University of Florida coach Ron Zook, noted for his recruiting ability, made a strong push, including talking to Rivers at 2 a.m. on National Signing Day in 2003. In the end Rivers went with USC; the Trojans promised Rivers he would wear the #55 jersey, which has traditionally been given to a promising linebacker and includes past players such as Junior Seau, Willie McGinest and Chris Claiborne.[2]

USC linebacker coach Ken Norton, Jr. nicknamed Rivers "the Shark" for his aggressive play on the field, juxtaposed to his polite demeanor off of it.[3]

Rivers was on the watch list for the 2006 Bednarik Award, Lombardi Award, Bronco Nagurski Trophy, and Lott Trophy. He was 2006 Rivals.com and coaches first team all-Pac-10. The All-American selection with 78 tackles, Rivers decided to stay for his senior season[1].

Rivers was a 2007 preseason Sporting News, Street & Smith's, Lindy's, Phil Steele's, Blue Ribbon and NationalChamps.net All-American. At the end of the 2007 regular season, Rivers was selected to the All-Pacific-10 Conference first team for the second year in a row by league coaches.[4] He was also selected to the SI.com All-American First Team.[5]

He graduated from USC with a degree in public policy development.[6]

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Cincinnati Bengals

Rivers was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft with the 9th overall pick.

[edit] References

  1. ^ USC Trojans, Keith Rivers, USC Player Bio, November 14, 2007.
  2. ^ Chris Harry, Rivers lives up to No. 55, Orlando Sentinel, February 25, 2008.
  3. ^ Mark Saxon, USC's Shark attack, The Orange County Register, August 24, 2007.
  4. ^ Pac-10 Football Awards and All-Conference Team Announced, Pacific 10 Conference, December 3, 2007.
  5. ^ SI.com's All-Americas, SI.com, December 11, 2007.
  6. ^ James Walker, Rookie Rivers should fill immediate Bengals' needs, ESPN.com, May 31, 2008, Accessed June 4, 2008.

[edit] External links

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2008 NFL Draft First Round Selections
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Cincinnati Bengals 2008 NFL Draft selections
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