When William Ridley first ran out onto the field in Volunteer Orange he was a bundle of nerves. Ridley lined up on kick coverage as a freshman. He saw the ball leave his kickers foot and he was after it. He was never the fastest kid on the field, but he blew right past wedge blocker after wedge blocker until he had the return man in his sights, he picked his approach angle, as he drew closer, he lowered his shoulder to make firm contact, and nothing. The returner skipped past and worked his way toward a 30 yard gain by finding a crease in the hole Ridley left by outrunning his coverage team. Ridley decided then and there he would never try to make highlight plays at the expense of the team again.
Game 1 of his rookie season Ridley makes a single sack (his only registered tackle) in a lackluster performance in a well defeated side against the Otters. Ridley doesn’t want to fill up the stat sheet at the expense of the team, but he knew his performance was unacceptable, he had to improve.
In Game 5 Ridley didn’t light up the stat sheet, his 2 sacks were a season high for him, but more importantly his team won their first game since Ridley was drafted, and that winning feeling is the biggest highlight of all.
(229 words)
Game 1 of his rookie season Ridley makes a single sack (his only registered tackle) in a lackluster performance in a well defeated side against the Otters. Ridley doesn’t want to fill up the stat sheet at the expense of the team, but he knew his performance was unacceptable, he had to improve.
In Game 5 Ridley didn’t light up the stat sheet, his 2 sacks were a season high for him, but more importantly his team won their first game since Ridley was drafted, and that winning feeling is the biggest highlight of all.
(229 words)
![[Image: HITSVoP.png]](https://i.imgur.com/HITSVoP.png)
