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Honorable Mention› Tucker Gregg, Murray County: He rushed for a season-high 342 yards (28 carries) and four TDs in the Indians’ victory over Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.› Jackson Long, McMinn Central: The senior was a force in the Chargers’ surprising overtime win over Notre Dame, gaining 236 yards with four touchdowns.› Ahmaad Tanner, Dalton: He scored twice while rushing 31 times for 208 yards in the Catamounts’ important region victory over Harrison.
Robert Riddle has performed at a high level all season, and his coach has been surprised by the lack of inquiries from college recruiters.
The McCallie quarterback earned his first Waffle House All-Star player of the week honor, as chosen by the Times Free Press, by completing 15 of 17 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns in a 67-35 win last Friday at Pope John Paul II. That is an 88.2 percent completion rate.
"It's not very far off what he's done consistently," Blue Tornado coach Ralph Potter said. "I think he hit his stride in the second half of the MBA game and since then he has been really phenomenal, completing over 70 percent of his passes."
Friday's win was Riddle's fourth game with 300-plus passing yards, each of which has come against competitors in rugged Division II-AA competition. He also passed for more than 300 yards against Father Ryan (19-25-0, 316), MBA (26-32-0, 324) and Ensworth (33-55-2, 392).
The four games equal a .721 completion percentage, 1,337 yards and seven touchdowns.
For the year the senior has thrown for 1,642 yards with a .718 percentage (148-of-206) and only two interceptions (both vs. Ensworth).
"He's playing at a very, very high level right now. He played well last year and he has improved with every game this year," Potter said. "The decisions he's making, the plays he's making, and he's probably more accurate than B.J. (Coleman, the McCallie alumnus who became a record-setting star for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). He's not quite as strong as B.J., but he can make every throw a college quarterback needs to make."
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Riddle also is McCallie's third-leading rusher, gaining 333 yards (5.2 per carry).
And therein lies the rub for Potter, himself a former quarterback for UTC. The veteran coach doesn't care for new-era recruiting in which most high school quarterbacks have scholarship offers by their sophomore seasons.
"I think he can play anywhere," Potter declared. "The problem is that college recruiting is so fouled up right now. (Recruiters) are making decisions early when guys are sophomores or even freshmen, and there's no room for late-bloomers. That's the disappointing thing to me for Robert: They don't wait a little longer."
Riddle has had some conversations with Richmond, but Potter and his staff are promoting the standout to every recruiter who has an email address or Twitter account.
"We're talking to everybody about him - anybody that will listen," Potter said. "They all say, 'We'll look at him.' All they have to do is look at HUDL online, but most, where quarterbacks are concerned, want to see them live, watch them throw."
The coach said also that Riddle did his share of camps last summer, again noting how much Riddle had improved from the season opener.
"Hopefully people are looking at how he's playing right now - the confidence he's gaining and the throws he's making," Potter said.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.