At Fresno State, Rivers a big deal
Ronnie Rivers, considered by some to be too small for FBS football, continues to come up large.
The FreedomOakley graduate rushed 14 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday for Fresno State, which lost 4131 to Colorado State. Rivers also had a teamhigh four receptions for 42 yards, but the Bulldogs dropped to 34.
The 5foot8, 183pound junior has rushed for a teambest 450 yards and six touchdowns this season, to go with 20 catches for 130 yards and two more scores.
Last season, Rivers had 1,192 allpurpose yards — fourth in the Mountain West Conference. He was named the Las Vegas Bowl MVP after collecting 286 allpurpose yards (212 of them rushing), the fourthhighest total in school history.
Rivers left high school listed at 168 pounds while being ranked the 137thbest running back prospect nationally from the Class of 2017 by 247Sports. His state overall rank was 224 and overall nationally, 2,262.
That was despite his having rushed for 4,930 yards and scored 80 touchdowns at Freedom.
Recruiters also didn’t seem to take into account that his father Ron had played running back for six years in the NFL for the Lions and Falcons. Ron, who also played at Fresno State, is the secondleading rusher (3,473 yards) in Bulldogs history; Ronnie has less than half of that (1,673).
“I learned everything about playing running back from” dad, Ronnie Rivers told the Fresno Bee. “There’s always been a little competition between him and I. I’m trying to outdo his legacy.”
More Class of 2017: Another local running back from that class was Antioch’s Najee Harris, the nation’s No. 9 recruit overall that year, who has emerged as Alabama’s goto back.
In a 487 win over Arkansas on Saturday, he rushed 13 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns, a week after rushing for 105 yards and two scores in a 3513 home win over Tennessee.
This season, he has rushed 108 times for 642 yards (5.9 average) and four touchdowns. He also has 16 catches for 171 yards and four more scores. Harris is expected to declare for the NFL draft after this season; draftsite.com projects him to go with the 90th pick — near the end of the third round. To’o To’o, at Tennessee: As a true freshman, 2019 De La SalleConcord graduate Henry To’o To’o is third on Tennessee with 43 tackles, just two back of leader Theo Jackson. To’o To’o had a seasonhigh eight in a 4121 win over South Carolina on Saturday. National leader: Washington State senior quarterback Anthony Gordon (Terra NovaPacifica) continues to lead the nation by a wide margin with 3,387 passing yards (LSU’s Joe Burrow is second with 2,805). Gordon surpassed 400 yards for the sixth time this season by going 32for50 for 406 yards and three touchdowns in a 3735 loss at Oregon on Saturday. For the season, Gordon, a transfer from CCSF, also leads the country in completions (278), attempts (397) and TD passes (32). MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The San Francisco Chronicle.