Orlando, Fla. ? N.C. State coach Chuck Amato says there will be tears, that there can be be no holding them back.
“I’m a sentimental person,” Amato said. “I don’t like goodbyes.”
But tonight, after the Tangerine Bowl against Kansas, there will be some emotional goodbyes in the NCSU dressing room at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. Quarterback Philip Rivers will have played his last football game for the Wolfpack. So will wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery and the other seniors.
Rivers, preferring to stay upbeat, insisted the last few days leading up to the bowl have not been a sad time.
“It’s the last time we’ll all be together as a group,” he said, smiling. “It’s the last time for riding buses, going to practice, doing all the things that come with a bowl.
“It’s the last bowl trip, last everything, but it’s not a sad thing. It’s a happy ending, and it would be even more happier to win the game.”
Only then, Rivers said, will he start to think of what’s to come: the NFL draft, finding out if he has what it takes to succeed at the professional level.
Rivers’ last home game, the one against Maryland at Carter-Finley Stadium, wasn’t what anyone at NCSU wanted. Rivers was honored at length before the Nov. 22 game and had his jersey retired, and the Pack then let victory slip from its grasp and Maryland walk away a 26-24 winner.
That game ended with Rivers pleading in vain with the officials for a penalty against the Terps, for one more play. It ended with players from both teams pushing and shoving and mouthing off — an ugly scene.
“In a way, it’s like having two endings,” Rivers said. “The first was the Maryland game. The second is the bowl.”
Amato and the Wolfpack staff would like to send Rivers and the seniors out winners this time. It could be that Rivers is allowed to throw 40 or more passes tonight against the Jayhawks (6-6) — one final showcase for a player who has meant so much to the program, who has set so many records, who has become a role model for those who will follow him.
And, of course, there could be some NFL types watching the ESPN telecast.
On Thursday, Ben Roethlisberger of Miami (Ohio) passed for 376 yards and four touchdowns in a 49-28 rout of Louisville in the GMAC Bowl. The junior, who announced he will leave school early to enter the 2004 NFL draft, was 16-of-20 for 291 yards and all four TDs in the first half.
Some audition, eh? As if there were any doubts about him. Roethlisberger already is projected as a high first-round draft pick by most NFL prognosticators.
But Rivers, who said he watched pieces of the GMAC Bowl, said he won’t go into tonight’s game feeling the pressure to perform, the need to better Roethlisberger. There will be no dollar signs in his eyes.
“It’s not so much that I need to go out and play good because of that,” Rivers said. “I’m here to play for N.C. State and win the game for us.
“I certainly want to play well. But that will mean it betters our chance to win the game. As far as worrying about [the NFL], I’m going to enjoy the bowl and play hard to win.”
Rivers said he intentionally has put off all decisions related to the NFL, such as hiring an agent, until after his final college snap, and then until after the holidays.
“Going in [to this season], I know there have been seniors at times who can get all caught up in looking ahead, and how negatively it can affect them,” he said. “That was one thing I wasn’t going to allow to happen.
“Even this week, the last game, it could be natural to say ‘Look what’s ahead,’ but I haven’t. I’m looking forward to playing this game, enjoying Christmas and New Year’s, then I’ll focus on the other goals.
“Why rush? There’s plenty of time. It’ll be like starting another season, just at another level.”
Rivers said would-be sports agents have inquired, although not identifying them. All were told the same: Call back in January.
Rivers will be playing in the Senior Bowl with other draft hopefuls. NFL general managers and coaches flock to the all-star game Jan. 24 in Mobile Ala., getting a close-up look at the players in practices for a week. Both squads are coached by NFL personnel.
Having graduated from NCSU this month, Rivers plans to lift weights at the Murphy Center and do a lot of throwing with Cotchery, who also expects to be selected in the NFL draft.
“We’ll work on all the routes you’re asked to throw,” Rivers said. “It’s great to able to throw to someone who will be asked to run those routes.”
Rivers’ draft standing still is in doubt. Few of the mock drafts on the Internet have him going in the first round — Eli Manning of Mississippi and Roethlisberger appear to be the only first-round quarterback locks, with Tulane’s J.P. Losman a possible first-rounder. Most have Rivers going between the second and fourth rounds.
One mock draft had Rivers going to the Detroit Lions, another to Denver. NFL Report.com said those interested in Rivers include Oakland, Green Bay, Tennessee and Phoenix.
“I just want the chance,” Rivers said.
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr., in his reports on ESPN.com, has written that Rivers’ stock has risen. Kiper praises Rivers’ size at 6 feet 5 and 235 pounds and said he has a good arm and “hair-trigger release,” but said his sidearm delivery and footwork could cause some teams to drop him down the board.
Kiper and others often compare Rivers to former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, who also had a low release point on passes and tended to sling it. But Kansas coach Mark Mangino said Rivers’ throwing style reminds him of Dan Marino, the former Miami Dolphins star.
“Yeah, he’s unorthodox, but he’s got the best release I’ve seen since Marino,” Mangino said. “Rivers is big, he’s strong, he’s intelligent. He moves well in the pocket, can get away from people and has that quick, quick release.
“I think he has all the tools to be an NFL quarterback.”
Rivers laughed when asked if he had been surfing the Internet, checking up on the NFL mock drafts and what’s being said about him.
“Oh, you enjoy those things,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Man, your name’s out there and people are talking about you.’
“It’s fun to think you’ll have the chance. It’s exciting to think about being in the NFL. But as far as getting caught up in it, I haven’t at all.”
For now, he’s caught up in the Tangerine Bowl and some final goodbyes to be said.
