NC State lands junior lineman Darion Rivers
NC State emerged as a strong leader for Darion Rivers ever since the Wolfpack offered him on Junior Day on Jan. 30.
The 6-foo-6, 255-pounder pulled the trigger publicly Thursday night for NC State. Rivers has been in steady contact over the last month with NCSU offensive line coach John Garrison, and let him know around Feb. 22 that he was coming.
Rivers had been hoping to check out NC State unofficially in March, but first is trying to lead West Charlotte (N.C.) High to a NCHSAA 3A state title. West Charlotte is playing Concord (N.C.) Central Cabarrus High at 4 p.m. Saturday at Morganton (N.C.) Freedom High in the western regional title game.
Duke and Liberty just offered him, and South Carolina, Penn State and Appalachian State have been showing recent interest. Rivers attended games Appalachian State, Charlotte, Georgia Tech and Clemson this past fall.
Rivers can play tackle on offense and defensive end on defense. He prefers playing defense, but he’ll do whatever the team needs. Rivers has been studying NC State left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who is also a Charlotte native and projected top 10 NFL Draft pick.
“NC State is looking at me as an offensive tackle,” said Rivers in a past interview. “I’d have to gain a lot of weight [to play offense], but I’m working on it. I don’t mind playing tackle.
“I’ve been playing it [defensive end] all my life when I’ve played football. This was my first year playing offensive tackle, but I’m learning a lot.”
Rivers originally thought college basketball would be his ticket, but he just recently turned his full attention to football. He has decided to forego playing traveling team basketball with Team United, and concentrate on reaching 270 pounds.
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