North Carolina State University Athletics
Philip Rivers Named ACC Rookie of the Year
11/29/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Wolfpack quarterback threw for 397 yards and three touchdowns in his first collegiate game Sept. 2 against Arkansas State and proceeded to win the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the week award a record eight times.
``This is a big honor, especially when you think about the whole conference, this is a big-time conference,'' Rivers said. ``A lot of credit goes to the offensive line, the backs and receivers. They all had a lot to do with this.''
Rivers was a near unanimous winner of the rookie of the year award, getting 65 of a possible 70 votes cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association.
Georgia Tech linebacker Daryl Smith was second with three votes, while Duke linebacker Ryan Fowler and Florida State defensive lineman Darnell Dockett received one vote each.
This was the third straight season a Wolfpack player has won the award. Running back Ray Robinson received the honor in 1998, while wide receiver Koren Robinson won last year.
Other N.C. State players to win the award include Ted Brown in 1975, Joe McIntosh in '81, Ray Agnew in '86 and Jesse Campbell in '88.
The seven players are the most by any school in the 26-year history of the award.
Rivers set nine N.C. State single-season passing records, throwing for 3,054 yards and 25 TDS in leading the Wolfpack (7-4) to the Micronpc.com Bowl on Dec. 28.
``Without him we wouldn't be going where we are,'' Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato said Wednesday. ``You can go on and on about him. He always gave us an opportunity to be in a situation to win a football game and most of the time he came out fine.''
The 6-foot-5, 223-pound Rivers, of Athens, Ala., led N.C. State to a 4-0 start with three dramatic last-second wins over Arkansas State, Indiana and Georgia Tech.
Rivers completed 29 of 57 passes in the season-opening double overtime victory against Arkansas State, then led a 21-point fourth-quarter rally a week later in a 41-38 victory over the Hoosiers, throwing one of his five TD passes with 54 seconds left for the victory.
Two weeks later, Rivers hit Koren Robinson with a 23-yard scoring pass to beat the Yellow Jackets 30-23 in overtime.
Rivers also beat Duke 35-31 on a 7-yard scoring run with 32 seconds left.
``You have to remember that he's 18 years old,'' Amato said. ``I don't know how many true freshmen have started for a major college football team, let alone excelled like he did.''
Rivers completed 237 of 441 passes and had at least one TD pass in a school-record nine straight games to start the season. He had four 300-yard passing days and two 400-yard games, including a season-high 413 yards against Duke.
Rivers said expectations will now be high, but he welcomes the challenge.
``I can't let this distract me,'' he said. ``I can't have 400-yard games every week. The main thing is just winning. It's good for the expectations to be high. That pushes you harder and you have something to strive for.''
