NC State Wolfpack

By Tony Haynes

Like most parents, Chuck Amato would be reluctant to hand the keys of the family Mercedes over to a 16-year old who has just received his drivers license. But that hasn't prevented Amato from turning the keys of his first NC State football team over to a precocious freshman.

"Philip won the position in the spring," Amato said, "and he's done nothing since then to lose it. He's stronger than he was in the spring; he's put on about 10 or 12 pounds since he got here; he continues to make good decisions. But we've got to remember that he's still learning. He's still in a learning process just like the rest of the players are, and just like we as coaches are. But he does have qualities that are hard to teach: we think he's a natural leader and we've seen that he's tough, and the other players appreciate that."

It's is quite obvious that Philip Rivers isn't a normal freshman.

Physically gifted at 6'5, 221 pounds, the talented quarterback from Athens, Alabama didn't wait around to graduate with the rest of his high school class in May; he got it over with in December.

One month later, Rivers was enrolled at NC State. Two months after that, he was participating in spring practice. This sounds like a kid who is on a fast track to greatness.

"I haven't seen a freshman come in as good as him at any position," said junior defensive back Brian Williams. "He's so smart; he's going to turn a lot of heads. A lot of people will see what we see once the season starts."

It's no coincidence that Rivers has the body of a linebacker; that's the position he played in 10th grade at Athens High School. Coached by his father Steve, Rivers made the successful transition to quarterback as a junior, and then, after passing for 2,025 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior, was named Alabama Player of the Year.

Recruiters from Alabama and Auburn called and knocked often, but were turned away.

"Going to Auburn or Alabama just wasn't something I wanted to do," said Rivers, who was also aware that both schools had stockpiled some young quarterbacks in their programs. "Growing up, I was just never a big Auburn or Alabama guy. Up until about ninth grade, I was a Notre Dame guy. But when you're being recruited, you kind of like who likes you. North Carolina State was the first team I ever had contact with and it was the kind of thing that just grew and grew."

It's difficult to impress Amato and his offensive coordinator, Norm Chow.

The two veteran coaches were watching great players long before Philip Rivers was even born. Yet, with each practice during the spring, it became obvious to both men that they were in the company of a player who had a chance to be special.

In four spring scrimmages, Rivers completed 50 percent of his passes for 648 yards, six touchdowns and just one interception. Early in the fourth scrimmage, he continued to play even after fracturing the index finger on his throwing hand.

"If you know Philip well, you know if he has anything wrong with him he's probably not telling us," Amato said.

Now that we've established that Rivers is extremely tough, let's move on to the cerebral aspects of his football prowess. The carrier of a 3.7 GPA at Athens has an ability to process everything that's thrown his way, even a sophisticated offense like Chow's.

"I won't say that the offense came easily to me because you've got to study it," Rivers said, "but I was able understand it well as we went along. It's an offense that I feel comfortable in and it's one of those that, if you understand the passing game and understand defenses, you can execute this offense."

He understands defenses, offenses and responsibility. Philip Rivers has been given the keys to Chuck Amato's first NC State football team. After spending a few more weeks in driver's education, he'll finally get his chance to start the engine on September 2.