http://www.linfield.edu/sports/release.html?id=6561&sport=fb
December 14, 2016
Riddle runner-up as nation's top player
http://www.d3football.com/videolink/gagliardi-trophy-2016
SALEM,
Va. – Sam Riddle, Linfield College quarterback, husband and father of two, was
runner-up for the 2016 Gagliardi Trophy honoring the best all-around football
student-athlete in NCAA Division III. Despite Riddle's glossy statistics, the award
instead went to to St. John's University linebacker Carter Hanson, who became
the first defensive player to win since 2004.
Co-sponsors Jostens and the J-Club of St. John's (Minn.) announced the 24th annual award – the Division III equivalent of the Heisman Trophy – Wednesday night during a formal banquet at the Salem Civic Center. The 45-pound trophy is named for John Gagliardi, head football coach of Carroll College 1949 to 1952 and St. John's from 1953 to 2012.
“It's been an amazing experience,” Riddle tweeted shortly after the nationally streamed announcement. “Not the outcome I hoped for, but honored to be here nonetheless. Congrats Carter, you earned it man!”
Named a first team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association on Monday, Riddle is one of the best playmakers ever to compete at Linfield, a school known for its unequaled string of 61 consecutive winning seasons. He set Linfield career marks for total offensive yards (9,617) and touchdowns responsible (118). In three seasons as the Wildcats' starting quarterback, he won 30 games and lost just four.
“Sam has been the spark of this team for the past three seasons,” said Linfield coach Joseph Smith of his graduating star. “He's given us the confidence and the play-making skills to go head-to-head with the very best team in the country.”
A two-time All-American, West Region and Northwest Conference Player of the Year, Riddle passed for a career-best 3,317 yards in leading Linfield to the 2016 Northwest Conference championship and the NCAA playoffs. He threw 32 touchdowns and ran three more scores.
In all, Riddle's senior season included six 300-yard passing games. He achieved personal bests for completion percentage (64.9), passer efficiency rating (167.9), average yards per pass (9.5), average yards per completion (14.7), and average passing yards per game (301.5).
Riddle threw at least one touchdown pass in all but one game of his career in which he started.
A business management major from Hillsboro, Oregon, Riddle plans to pursue a career in commercial real estate once his football career runs its course. He and wife, Bri, are raising two sons, Mason, 3, and Henry, 10 months.
“I am so proud to have been his coach. And so very proud of Sam as a man,” said Smith. “There was so much placed on his shoulders and he bore that load with a strength and poise that is truly admirable. When we needed it most, he was a role model for our entire program as to how to be a man of character and a man of action. He did the heavy lifting that was required. He was a wall for those in need. And he was one giant hammer."
Co-sponsors Jostens and the J-Club of St. John's (Minn.) announced the 24th annual award – the Division III equivalent of the Heisman Trophy – Wednesday night during a formal banquet at the Salem Civic Center. The 45-pound trophy is named for John Gagliardi, head football coach of Carroll College 1949 to 1952 and St. John's from 1953 to 2012.
“It's been an amazing experience,” Riddle tweeted shortly after the nationally streamed announcement. “Not the outcome I hoped for, but honored to be here nonetheless. Congrats Carter, you earned it man!”
Named a first team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association on Monday, Riddle is one of the best playmakers ever to compete at Linfield, a school known for its unequaled string of 61 consecutive winning seasons. He set Linfield career marks for total offensive yards (9,617) and touchdowns responsible (118). In three seasons as the Wildcats' starting quarterback, he won 30 games and lost just four.
“Sam has been the spark of this team for the past three seasons,” said Linfield coach Joseph Smith of his graduating star. “He's given us the confidence and the play-making skills to go head-to-head with the very best team in the country.”
A two-time All-American, West Region and Northwest Conference Player of the Year, Riddle passed for a career-best 3,317 yards in leading Linfield to the 2016 Northwest Conference championship and the NCAA playoffs. He threw 32 touchdowns and ran three more scores.
In all, Riddle's senior season included six 300-yard passing games. He achieved personal bests for completion percentage (64.9), passer efficiency rating (167.9), average yards per pass (9.5), average yards per completion (14.7), and average passing yards per game (301.5).
Riddle threw at least one touchdown pass in all but one game of his career in which he started.
A business management major from Hillsboro, Oregon, Riddle plans to pursue a career in commercial real estate once his football career runs its course. He and wife, Bri, are raising two sons, Mason, 3, and Henry, 10 months.
“I am so proud to have been his coach. And so very proud of Sam as a man,” said Smith. “There was so much placed on his shoulders and he bore that load with a strength and poise that is truly admirable. When we needed it most, he was a role model for our entire program as to how to be a man of character and a man of action. He did the heavy lifting that was required. He was a wall for those in need. And he was one giant hammer."
