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When ETSU Played Philip Rivers
The recently retired NFL star not only beat, but distinctly influenced the ETSU football program
With the retirement of Philip Rivers from football yesterday, it may surprise a younger generation of East Tennessee State football fans the longtime star in the National Football League had a strong influence on the Buccaneers.
For better or worse, he basically gave ETSU their starting quarterback in 2002.
And he may have indirectly influenced the Bucs to drop football and hire current play-by-play broadcaster Jay Sandos.
Rivers played college football at N.C. State, where, not surprisingly, he started for four years, beginning in 2000.
That meant sophomore Jatavis Sanders, who had been the backup quarterback to four year starter Jamie Barnette the year before in Raleigh, was simply not going to play quarterback for the Wolfpack. Rivers actually graduated from high school a semester early so he could get a jump on becoming NCSU’s starting quarterback in 2000. There was not going to be a chance for Sanders to receive legitimate playing time in Raleigh.
After a brief flirtation with playing wide receiver for the Wolfpack, Sanders, from Stone Mountain, Georgia, transferred to ETSU. Buccaneers quarterback Todd Wells was graduating after four strong years at the helm, and…
