INDIANAPOLIS — As Barry Sanders’ backup the first four seasons of his NFL career, Ron Rivers always admired how effortlessly his Hall of Fame teammate set up opposing defenders.
Sanders had an uncanny ability to spin out of, cut back on or jitterbug his way through defenses, and while much of it was an innate trait few running backs in the history of football could match, Rivers said Sanders’ real secret was his ability to analyze defenses.
“Barry was one of the best at it.” Rivers said. “Guys were always asking, ‘Hey, you made this cut, how’d you see it?’ To be honest with you, he pre-read it, so he had an idea that, that might happen, so it wasn’t a shocker to him when he got to it.”
He said Sanders had a special understanding of the angles defenders would take and where holes would open based on how the defense flowed and where it aligned.
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Rivers said he never had the same understanding as a young running back, and when he began coaching his oldest son, Ronnie, in peewee football, he set out to make sure his kid had a Sanders-like grasp of the game.
Ronnie was a 9-year-old running back for the East County Lions in suburban San Diego when his father sat him down for his first of too many film sessions to count.
“I remember me talking to them in the front room, putting the tape on for the youth game before and I’m like, ‘Hey, why did you go here?’” Ron Rivers said this week. “He’s like, ‘I don’t know?’ I go, ‘What do you mean, I don’t know? That’s not an answer.’ He said, ‘I don’t know Dad. I just got the ball and ran there.’ I go, ‘Well, it was a good run, but you got to know why you did that. There’s a lot of guys that can do it, but to make it to the next level, you got to know why you did that.’
“And so we would go over why we did that and what he’s looking for.”
The Rivers’ film sessions grew more involved over the years.
Ron kept a white board by the television, and he and Ronnie — and, eventually, Ronnie’s younger brother, Devon — would talk through defensive concepts as they sketched out formations and plays.
As he reflects on them now, Ronnie said the knowledge he gleaned from those sessions is a big reason why he is on the verge of following in his father’s NFL footsteps today.
“It was definitely a big help with my development as a player,” the younger Rivers said Thursday at the NFL combine. “All throughout youth and high school he’s always been there coaching me, so I think it’s helped a lot.”
One of 37 running backs invited to the combine, Rivers is projected as a Day 3 draft pick.
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Like his father, who played six NFL seasons with the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons, he’s undersized at 5 feet 8 and a shade over 200 pounds, but scouts have praised his football IQ, blocking acumen and hands.
Ronnie said he hopes to break 4.5 seconds when he runs the 40-yard dash Friday, besting the 4.6 time his father ran at the combine nearly 30 years ago.
“I told somebody earlier, he’s better than I was,” Ron said. “He’s faster than I was. He does everything complete, so it’s kind of weird listening to guys say that he’s just a complete guy, he doesn’t stand off the charts in any one way or another. I’m like, ‘Well, isn’t that what a complete guy’s supposed to be?’ So it’s kind of weird, but it’s good ’cause he gets to go to the combine, he gets to prove to everybody that once again, short running backs can play in the league, too, so it’s one of those deals again.”
At least a part-time starter in all five of his seasons at Fresno State, Ronnie finished with 3,417 yards rushing, just behind Ron (3,473 yards) on the school’s all-time rushing list.
Ronnie set Fresno State records in touchdowns scored (52), rushing TDs (40), and receiving yards (1,417) and receptions (150) by a running back.
Though he’s too young to have any recollection of his father’s playing days in Detroit (1995-99), Ronnie said Thursday he always has had Sanders as his favorite running back.
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“Dad used to show us like VHS tapes, I think that’s what they’re called,” Ronnie said. “So it was always watch through those on our VHS player, whatever it’s called.
“He always used to say I ran naturally like him, especially when I was younger, just being able to make people miss and go score.”
Ronnie said it would be “an honor” to follow in his dad’s footsteps and play for the Lions, and he met with Lions running backs coach Duce Staley at the combine this week.
“It’s been a crazy experience,” he said. “Just knowing that he’s been here, done this, yeah, he’s accomplished everything that I hope to accomplish one day so it’s just a crazy experience and I’m glad that I can talk to him about it and share these experiences with him.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.