Maybe you’ve heard of Philip Rivers. He’s an NFL quarterback. This coming season will be his first without the Los Angeles Chargers. Rivers is now in Indianapolis with the Colts. Rivers was a great college quarterback for N.C. State. But the Alabama high school native almost signed with Auburn. Here’s why.
Rivers signed with Noth Carolina State out of Athens High School in 1999.
But why not the University of Alabama?
“Alabama, if I remember, Brodie Croyle was an awesome high school quarterback and he was a year or two behind me,” Rivers explained. “I think Alabama already had him nailed down. My year they didn’t sign a quarterback that year.”
Rivers is right. Croyle was a senior in 2000, was coming off a fantastic junior year and was ranked the No. 2 quarterback in the country.
So, how about Auburn? There was interest there on both sides, he said.
“Auburn recruited me hard, but Jason Campbell was a part of that same class,” he said. “They had an undefeated season when he was there, and he had a good career in the NFL. I wasn’t so much scared of the competition as they mentioned the words “tight end” to me. That made me a little nervous.
“Had I been a tight end at Auburn, this would have been my 17th year coaching instead of playing in the NFL. I wanted to play quarterback, and N.C. State was the first school that recruited me. There is something about that school that wants you and wants you to be their guy.”
Jason Campbell was a great quarterback. Even though he didn’t have an outstanding NFL career, it was pretty good. And a Auburn, he went undefeated in 2004. So is it a good thing Rivers didn’t sign with Auburn? I think it probably is. But who knows. He could’ve gone undefeated in all his years at Auburn. But, that’s pretty unlikely. War Eagle.
War Eagle Daily 