Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Patience Pays Off Senior running back Theo Riddick gets his turn By Wes Morgan It’s difficult to accept Theo Riddick isn’t the least bit irritated he spent the last two seasons as a slot receiver instead of lining up at his natural position of running back. Yet the 5‑10, 200-pounder from Manville, N.J., insists he never demurred. The two-year experiment at receiver was productive, however. Riddick caught 78 passes for 850 yards and six touchdowns from 2010-11, helping fill out a passing attack that featured prolific playmaker Michael Floyd, who shattered nearly every major receiving record at Notre Dame before going to the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. But on Sept. 1 against Navy in Ireland, Riddick, now a senior, had a bigger bounce in his step in his return to the Fighting Irish backfield. “I obviously wanted to be there, but like I said, I’m always the type of person that if the coaches said this is what’s going to be best for the team I’ll trust that and go forward,” said Riddick, who rushed for a game-high 107 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries against the Midshipmen. “[Slot receiver was awkward] at first — a little bit — because it was different in terms of game speed. I easily adapted to that, but you can’t replace 10 years of playing running back. I can do that in my sleep.” That’s evident to everyone now. “I just think that we all can see that he’s very comfortable at the position,” head coach Brian Kelly said. Used as a receiver to exploit open space, Riddick, with a penchant for lateral moves that have made many defenders look silly, proved he is an efficient north-and-south runner and not just a dancer. In fact, he temporarily put one Midshipman into slumber after a shoulder-lowering blast. It was a brandishing of power most folks didn’t know the Immaculata High School product had in his arsenal. “I feel as if I’m very well rounded,” he said. “There wasn’t much room to make a lot of people miss, so you had to lower your shoulder. I was pretty sore, but I’m recovering well.” His ability to pound it up the middle wasn’t a revelation to Riddick’s teammates. “He understood what his strengths were, and they were cutting and juking people out,” senior inside linebacker Manti Te’o said. “He has found that confidence and being comfortable knowing he has a strength to lay some wood while he’s out there. I wasn’t surprised at all. “I was actually surprised that Navy was coming up and meeting him head on like how they were doing. And they kept doing it. I was just hoping he wouldn’t get hurt. Knowing Theo, he’s physical, he’s in great shape and his body was able to lay some wood and come out perfectly fine.” It was just like jumping on a bicycle for the first time in years, except that Riddick willingly pedaled straight into oncoming traffic. “I played running back all my life, so mentally I was already prepared,” he said. “Physically, I put a couple pounds on in the offseason. I was pretty prepared.” It wasn’t always that way. After attending public school, Riddick decided to enroll at Immaculata as a freshman in 2005. He was close to slipping through the cracks academically at the highly competitive private school. For the first time in his young life, athleticism alone couldn’t save him. “Without a doubt, Theo ranks right there at the top [among players I’ve coached],” said Pierce Frauenheim, the longtime Immaculata football coach who will retire after 45 years following the 2012 season. “More importantly, he’s an outstanding person, an outstanding individual with great character. In high school he led by example. I’m very proud of his academics. “I don’t think he was prepared for high school and he fell behind quickly. He got on the ball and really worked extremely hard to bring his GPA up to qualify for Notre Dame. As I understand it, he’s in line to graduate in December, which is a great credit to him to finish in three and a half years. It’s monumental for him to do.” Right now, Riddick is on track to pace the Irish on the ground this season. Classmate Cierre Wood rushed for a team-best 1,102 yards and nine touchdowns last fall, but was suspended for the first two games because of a violation of team rules. When Wood returns to action against Michigan State Sept. 15 in East Lansing, Mich., there’s no guarantee he’ll reclaim his role as starter if Riddick and sophomore George Atkinson III continue to churn out significant yardage. Even though Riddick has patiently waited his turn, with a detour to another position along the way, he said there’s plenty of room for all of Notre Dame’s ball carriers. The Irish featured sophomore quarterback Everett Golson under center most of the game against Navy, a departure from the shotgun formation Kelly has utilized for most of his tenure in South Bend. It gave Riddick, Atkinson III and sophomore Cam McDaniel opportunities to hit holes quickly instead of searching for space outside the tackles. “Our backs responded,” Kelly said. “I thought Theo Riddick ran extremely hard, physical. I think George is getting there and we know his ability to hit daylight. Those kids ran really, really hard and physical. And we’ll continue to mix that in. [It] doesn’t mean we are not going to run the shotgun — we are. We’ll be able to feature both of those. “But it’s nice to have the ability to be able to say we have backs that will run downhill and we’ll run physical.” It took four years, but it appears that Riddick will finally have his coming out party — at least for those outside the locker room walls. “Theo isn’t really one to talk,” Te’o said. “You never really hear No. 6 talking out there. So his teammates appreciate the things he does. Not to mention he’s a dynamic football player. “Everyone loves No. 6.” Sharing The Rock After losing outgoing senior running back Jonas Gray, who amassed 791 yards, 6.9 yards per carry and 12 touchdowns in 11 games last season, one of the biggest questions heading into this fall was which ball carrier would team up with returning leading rusher Cierre Wood (6-0, 215) to form another powerful one-two combo for the Irish. What was never a question was whether or not Notre Dame had enough tailbacks from which to choose. With Wood, senior Theo Riddick (5-11, 200) and exciting sophomores George Atkinson III (6-1, 210) and Amir Carlisle (5-10, 185) at his disposal, head coach Brian Kelly moved sophomore Cam McDaniel (5-10, 195) to cornerback — a switch that was fleeting. Despite all four never having recorded a start at running back for the Irish, it appeared the coaching staff would have little trouble finding a productive second option behind Wood. Now it’s a matter of Wood climbing back to the top of the depth chart after a two-game suspension to start the season for a violation of team rules. Riddick rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns against Navy, Atkinson III added 99 yards and a pair of scores, and McDaniel contributed 59 yards. Notre Dame outgained Navy, which ranked fourth nationally in 2011 with 312.2 rushing yards per game, by 144 yards (293-149). When Wood returns against Michigan State on Sept. 15, will there be enough snaps to go around? “We’re all getting carries and we all have to be prepared when our number’s called,” Riddick said. “With Cierre back, it’s just going to make us a better team.” It’s a pretty unselfish approach by the player currently at the top of the depth chart — the same young man that was the first to greet Atkinson III after he scored the first of his two touchdowns against the Mids. “Oh yeah, that’s my little brother right there,” Riddick said. “To see him score and have success, it’s a great thing.” “That’s just the type of person he is,” said Pierce Frauenheim, Riddick’s high school coach at Immaculata in New Jersey. “He’s a team player and I think he’s very humble. “I’m sure he’s a tremendous help to the younger players at Notre Dame. In high school, when he was a senior, he was a tremendous help to the sophomores that were playing varsity for the first time. He’s a very caring person.” — Wes Morgan