Philip Rivers comes ‘full circle’ as Senior Bowl Hall of FamerBy Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com
The new class came from all over the country for the induction ceremony of the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame on Sunday night – except for Philip Rivers. He came from just up the road.
The former North Carolina State and NFL quarterback is the current football coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, separated from Point Clear by a couple of miles of Scenic Highway 98.
In Point Clear on Sunday night, the Senior Bowl inducted its Class of 2022 at the Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa, with LSU running back Kevin Faulk, Texas A&M edge-rusher Von Miller, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott and Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Willis joining the game’s Hall of Fame with Rivers. Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey also attended as the Senior Bowl’s NFL Rookie of the Year for the 2021 season.
Between Rivers’ appearance in the 2004 Senior Bowl and his first season as St. Michael coach were 17 seasons as an NFL quarterback. While preparing for his Senior Bowl appearance, Rivers practiced on the same field where his Cardinals play their home games.
“It makes you reflect back to, shoot, 18 years ago being here at the Senior Bowl,” Rivers said shortly before the induction ceremony, “and just to see some of the guys inducted, some of the previous guys inducted and you’re talking about guys who had big-time careers and some that are still playing, so it’s a great group to be part of and even more special for me now actually living here in what’s my new hometown coaching the football team there at Fairhope stadium right there at Volanta where we practiced when I was on the South team in 2004, so pretty cool kind of coming full circle with that. Very thankful and humbled, and it really makes you reflect back to so long ago.”
In his Senior Bowl appearance, Rivers completed 12-of-19 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns. Most of that came in the first quarter of the South’s 28-10 victory.
“I remember those first meetings and getting that playbook, which ended up being the playbook that I ran for many, many years with the Chargers,” Rivers said of his Senior Bowl experience. “Of course, it was scaled down a little bit for that week of the Senior Bowl. I remember being nervous. There were so many coaches around here. I remember busing across the bridge over to Fairhope to practice for a couple of days.
“And, of course, you remember the game. I remember hitting Ernest Wilford on a bang-8 for a big play early in the game. Greg Jones was on our team, who was at Florida State. Kind of a rival there for all those years at N.C. State. We had an unbelievable first quarter of the game, and then I was done. It kind of felt like a Pro Bowl-type deal. I was done, and then they put me back in late in the game, and later (Chargers offensive coordinator) Cam Cameron and those guys told me that was kind of to see how you reacted not knowing what you were going to be asked to do. It was a cool week.”
Rivers’ performance garnered the 2004 all-star game’s Most Valuable Player Award – a cruise to Grand Cayman and Jamaica.
“I remember, obviously, winning the MVP, which was cool for my wife and I,” Rivers said. “It was a cruise at the time, so that was a fun trip, a memorable trip for us that came from that game. It was me, my wife and my daughter down here that week, and my daughter at the time was 2, and she’ll be 20 here in a few months, so pretty crazy how time flies. …
“It was a good trip. You talk about being married in college with a young child, it was pretty cool. We thought we had hit it pretty dang big.”
Rivers hit it big in the NFL. The fourth selection in the 2004 NFL Draft, he was traded by the New York Giants to the San Diego Chargers for that year’s No. 1 choice – Ole Miss QB Eli Manning. Rivers stayed with the Chargers for 16 seasons before completing his career with the Indianapolis Colts in 2020. He earned eight Pro Bowl invitations and threw 421 touchdown passes.
The Chargers’ coaching staff guided the South during Rivers’ Senior Bowl week.
“I can tell you that if I didn’t play in that game, I wouldn’t have been with the Chargers,” Rivers said. “There’s no way. The Chargers coached that game and, obviously, ended up taking Eli and trading with the Giants. I think if I had not played in that game and had that week of experience with that coaching staff – of course, that won’t always be the case. But for me it was the case -- to have the coaching staff actually coach the game and be coaching the team that I was on.”
Before North Carolina State, the Senior Bowl and the NFL, Rivers had been an Alabama prep star for his father, Steve Rivers, at Athens High School.
“This community has been awesome to be a part of now for one year, a little over a year,” Rivers said of his new home on the Eastern Shore. “It’s been great. Certainly, I grew up on the northern side of the state, but being back in Alabama certainly feels like home, and enjoying coaching and enjoying being with these young men and all the students. It’s been a lot of fun.
“My dad was my coach. My dad was my coach, and now I get to kind of bring it full circle. I was his quarterback, and I got an eighth-grader who’s got a chance to be quarterback. My 10-year-old son is ball boy. It’s kind doing all the same things as I did as a young boy, so we’re very thankful.”
With his extensive football experience, was it still possible that Rivers could learn something about the game in his first season on the sidelines for St. Michael?
“About high school coaching, yes,” Rivers said, “in terms of making sure the buses – all the things that you didn’t think about. I wasn’t worried about the X’s and O’s. It was more so that other stuff. And some of the little rule changes. …
“It’s been a lot of fun, and I feel the challenge every day to get better, and I’m learning something new all the time and that part makes it exciting to go in every day.”
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