The announcers on the UC vs ECU game told a story about Ridder, claiming that we were the only school he was seriously considering because we were the only FBS school showing serious interest. Then, we stopped answering his phone calls and at the last minute UC offered. Anyone heard this one before?
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He answered UC’s call in a porta-potty.
So literally every program (including UC for most of the recruiting process) whiffed on him.
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We signed Jackson Williamson instead.
Louisville in his own city passed on him. So did UK.
Recruiting is an inexact science (or is it an art?)
Credit for our staff for showing interest in him.
On the telecast they said Ridder was calling us in May, 2016 and we were not returning his calls after we were showing initial interest. Williamson did not commit until June 16 based on 247 timeline.
That was the year that we had Andrew Marty of Wyoming, OH committed and he backed out in late April for Northwestern. I think Marty ended up sharing QB spot in his 5th year in 2021. Did not play much in prior years–6 games played, one start.
Who knows what transpired behind the scenes as Recruiting can be an ugly business?
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Nope. They also said we told him we might offer if our committed QB decommitted. He supposedly did de-commit and they said that’s when we stopped returning his calls.
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I think it just says a lot about Desmond Ridder and his work ethic to get better. His high school numbers weren’t that good, so I don’t blame any staff for passing on him. The bearcats took a flier on him, so I guess they deserve some credit. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought he’d end up a WR. He was not very good early in his UC career, but continued to develop every year and now will be a day 1 or 2 draft pick. Good for him
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Jackson Williamson transferred to D2 Newberry (SC) and played in two games in a mop- up role as a Redshirt Junior during their spring ‘21 COVID season. Never played again and not on their fall 2021 roster.