Breaking down Desmond Ridder against UCF
As the race for QB1 heats up, a quarterback that seems to be flying a bit under the radar is Desmond Ridder from Cincinnati. Despite the Bearcats remaining undefeated this late in the season, Ridder and company are not exactly feeling the love. The initial College Football Playoff rankings saw the Bearcats slide in at the sixth spot, behind teams with some losses on their record.
As for Ridder, while quarterbacks such as Malik Willis, Kenny Pickett and Matt Corral are getting a lot of attention, Ridder almost feels like an afterthought. He is not without believers, however. The team of analysts at Bleacher Report have put him in the top quarterback spot, and with reason. Their first mock draft had Ridder come off the board sixth overall — and as the first quarterback selected — to the Washington Football Team:
“Although no QB is even in the top 20 on B/R’s big board, that doesn’t mean NFL teams aren’t hungry to find their guy,” [Nate] Tice reconciled. “Washington goes with the improving Desmond Ridder, the current QB1 on our board.
“Ridder has good height (6’4″) and arm strength with very good athleticism and toughness. His accuracy can be shaky to start games but improves throughout the contest and leads to clutch play in late moments. In an iffy QB class, Ridder’s improvement with more room for growth makes him an intriguing quarterback to build around for Washington.”
What makes Ridder enticing? We’ll dive into that, as well as some areas where he could improve, in this breakdown of his outing against UCF:
