The 5-foot-11, 180-pound redshirt senior has done his part leading a big-play resurgence for No. 16 Georgia Tech, which heads into its ACC road opener Saturday against Wake Forest (Noon ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network). Last year the Yellow Jackets ranked 58th nationally in plays from scrimmage of 40 or more yards. Through four games, they’ve almost equaled that.
| Year |
Plays of 40-plus yards |
NCAA Rank |
| 2024 |
13 |
t-58th |
| 2025 |
11 |
t-3rd |
Rivers had a few other chances to add to that tally – he couldn’t run underneath a pair of barely overthrown balls on post routes against Gardner-Webb and Temple, and he narrowly missed a 50-50 ball near the goal line against the Owls. He’s also still searching for his first receiving touchdown, where he ranked in the top five nationally last season.
Asked about his scoring drought, Rivers swatted away any talk of frustration or impatience.
“Whenever it’s time for me to get in that end zone, that’s when I’ll get in that end zone. I’m not rushing anything. I just feel like it’ll come when it comes,” he said.
Based on his numbers from last year, that seems like an inevitability. And Rivers speaks with the breezy confidence of someone who always expected this type of success for himself. Yet little of his path to Georgia Tech felt inevitable, a rare two-time walk-on who went from a sparingly used defender to a premier pass catcher and playmaker.
“Eric’s a unique kid. His story, and his journey, has been really remarkable,” said head coach Brent Key.
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As a two-way star at McCallie School in Chattanooga, where he won a pair of state titles as a junior and senior, Rivers had a handful of offers from NCAA Division I FCS schools, including offers from Chattanooga and Eastern Kentucky to play both football and basketball. A voice in his head instead told him to strive for something bigger, which prompted him to walk on at Memphis.
“I just believed in myself initially. Like, I’m going to take this chance and prove that I can play at this level,” he recalled.
He had hoped to catch the coaches’ eyes at wide receiver, where earned all-state honors from the Tennessee Sports Writers Association. They instead slotted him at defensive back.
“As a walk-on, you don’t really have any say-so. You’ve just got to do what the coach says, be your best at what he says. I just kind of accepted that role,” Rivers said.
He didn’t begrudge the decision. If that became his entrée into FBS football, so be it. Rivers appeared in six games as a freshman in 2021 and recorded six tackles for the Tigers, primarily on special teams. He moved back to receiver after the season and flashed in Memphis’ spring game with three catches for almost 150 yards, but he tore the labrum in his shoulder while lifting weights over the summer and missed the year. The birth of his son, Eli, in February 2023 caused him to change course once more.
“I ended up walking on at (FIU). I was going to go home or go to where his mom’s from. That’s how I ended up down there,” explained Rivers, who enrolled at FIU in January 2023. He earned a scholarship from the Golden Panthers at the end of his first semester.
After catching 32 passes as a redshirt sophomore, the former defensive back began terrorizing opposing defensive backs in 2024. Rivers ranked fifth nationally in receiving yards per game (97.7) and receiving touchdowns (12), and his school-record 295 receiving yards against New Mexico State was the second most in an FBS game last season.
“It was definitely fulfilling, because I always knew I could do it,” Rivers said. He capped off the year by being named first-team all-Conference USA and an Associated Press third-team All-American, the first player in FIU history to earn All-America honors.
Not surprisingly, those numbers made the former walk-on one of the more sought-after wide receiver prospects when he entered the transfer portal at season’s end. The prospect of playing in Georgia Tech’s beguiling, high-powered offense, led by a three-year starting quarterback in Haynes King, appealed to him. Just as important, the demeanor inside the Yellow Jackets’ facility did too.
