http://www.draftboardinsider.com/articles/fp_02-09-2006_riggs.html Gerald Riggs is not an easy name to live up to. Visions of the elder Riggs in his Redskin garb rolling over defenders are the first thing that might come to mind for some, but this model Riggs is not the same. This Riggs runs more upright and is more about the speed than the size. In the first quarter of their game against Florida this year, the Vols ran Riggs on a draw play. The quarterback slapped the ball in and immediately Riggs felt pressure from the inside and to his left. Fundamentally sound as one would expect, he quickly slid the ball to the off-side and tucked it in. By the time he was able to take a step, the defender was dead ahead. Riggs doesn?t have the best vision, his choice of holes is at times suspect, but when confronted with a defender his reactions are very quick. He made a quick cut to his right, nothing exaggerated, just a nice shift of his weight and swatted the defender?s arms away with a strong left-arm sweep. It takes Riggs a bit to get up to full speed, but once he?s rolling, he easily gets by the defender and through the line, following his blocker nicely until it?s time to come off his hip and cut the run inside. Riggs doesn?t make a lot of moves, rather economic cuts that are effective in the open field. On this run, the safety came up to fill the hole, but Riggs? cut is so effective at the speed he makes it, that the defender was only able to get an arm on him. This back is too big to be taken down by an arm tackle from a safety, and he busted through easily, gaining an additional three yards before being tackled from behind and dragged down, pulling the man five yards before the defender falls on his legs to get him down. Riggs is no dancer, he runs hard and runs straight ahead most of the time. His form is a bit too high, so he is open to taking some shots. Whoever drafts him will undoubtedly try to get him to run with his pads lower; what that does to his speed will be something to keep an eye on. A lot will depend on what the team he goes to is looking for as far as how he?ll be used, but in order for him to be effective, he absolutely has to have some holes. There are backs in this draft who are elusive enough to make defenders miss and get yards and then there are backs who are bruisers who can take a man head on and make their own yards, Riggs is not one of those. No back can do much without blocking, but Riggs will look particularly ineffective if he goes somewhere with poor blocking, as he doesn?t have a nice lean when he gets to the line, so he often stops right at the line if he?s hit before he gets momentum. It?s in the open field that Riggs will make his best runs, in situations where he can use his speed and the inertia of 220 pounds to turn five yard gains into ten yard gains. In short, Riggs has no style. Hand him the ball and tell him to get from point A to point B as fast as possible and he will do that well enough. Asking him to be anything beyond that is asking for disappointment.
