Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME at depth charts wasn't an important factor for Riggs when picking a new school. "They have a lot of good players, but when I went up there I got a good reception from the team," he said. "Obviously they know how to win. They're just a year off from being in a national championship [game]. It was just a great situation for me to be around guys that know how to win and what it takes to win." The Gators went 4-8 in Riggs' last season in Gainesville — their first los- ing record since Jimmy Carter was President. Riggs finished fourth on the team with 51 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He said his decision to leave Florida had nothing to do with the poor finish, but was driven entirely by academics. "If anything I'd maybe want to stay because I was so frustrated," he said. "I wanted to get back out there with the people I've been playing with for the last three years, but it was an aca- demic thing. Florida was a place that I grew to love and I love my teammates there. I wouldn't have left if it was a football decision." Riggs heard from a handful of other teams after he announced that he would finish his college career at a different school, but Notre Dame was the only place he visited. He said he wanted to keep the process of picking a new team as short as possible. Notre Dame originally recruited Riggs when he was a standout at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. At the time, he was ranked as the No. 6 cornerback prospect in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite. The Irish were high on his list in part because his uncle and godfather, Bobby Brown, played wide receiver at Notre Dame in the late 1990s. Irish assistant Tony Alford recruited Riggs in high school, and their rela- tionship played a role in the soon-to- be Florida graduate choosing Notre Dame the second time around. "There was a scholarship, there was a need, there was a connection. He was the right fit," Kelly said. Notre Dame finished its 2014 sign- ing class with one scholarship to spare. After Riggs committed to join the Irish, fifth-year senior Luke Massa opted to leave the team because of a pending job offer. That keeps Notre Dame at 84 of its allotted 85 scholarships heading into spring practice. This marks the second consecu- tive year that Kelly added a fifth-year transfer student to Notre Dame's ros- ter. Last year, Wake Forest punter Alex Wulfeck joined the team and pitched in on short distance punts on special teams. Several of Notre Dame's out- going seniors with a year of eligibility remaining have played elsewhere in the past five years, but Wulfeck and Riggs are the only two one-year play- ers Notre Dame has added. Kelly said he isn't likely to go shop- ping for college football's version of graduate free agents every season. The staff looks at each potential transfer on a case-by-case basis and if the player can help fill a need on the roster. "We may not take another guy for 10 years," the coach said. "I just think that in this particular instance, it was