Ronnie Rivers (born January 31, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was signed by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

after being

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

. He played

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for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

Early life

Rivers attended Freedom High School in

Oakley, California Oakley is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is within the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The population at the 2020 United States census was 43,357. Oakley was incorporated in 1999, making it the newest incorp ...

, where as a senior in 2016, he was named Bay Valley League Most Valuable Player, East Bay Offensive Player of the Year by the

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

, and All-NorCal Offensive Player of the Year by

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is currently owned by PlayOn. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including boys, girls, and co-ed sports. ...

, and All-North Coast Section Player of the Year by Prep2Prep. During his senior season, Rivers rushed for 2,239 yards and scored 33 touchdowns while posting 100-yard plus rushing performances in 11 of 13 games, breaking numerous school rushing records previously held by Joe Mixon. His efforts led the Falcons to an 11–2 record and a runner-up finish in the CIF-North Coast Section Open Division in 2016.

College career

Accepting a scholarship to

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, Rivers played in all but one of the team's 14 games, including seven starts. As a true freshman, Rivers ran for 480 yards on 101 carries and scored five touchdowns while also catching 20 passes for 129 yards and a TD in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, with his best game coming in a 27–10 victory over

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

, in which he ran for 105 yards on 19 carries and two TDs. Against

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, Rivers scored the first receiving touchdown of his college career on 21-yard reception in the second quarter, which proved to be the Bulldogs' only TD in a 13–7 victory that clinched a berth in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

championship game. He was also named Mountain West scholar-athlete. In his sophomore season, Rivers appeared in 11 games and made six starts and totaled 1,192 all-purpose yards and scored a team-high 13 touchdowns. He was the Bulldogs' leading rusher with 743 yards on 132 carries and 10 rushing TDs while also recording 26 receptions for 311 yards and three receiving touchdowns. He also led

in punt returns with 14 for 138 yards. Against

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, Rivers scored a career-high three TDs (two rushing, one receiving) in Fresno State's 38–7 win. Other season highlights included 125 yards on 11 carries, including a 76-yard run against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and scoring the game-winning TD in overtime against

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

in the Mountain West Conference Championship Game. Rivers was named MVP of the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, before moving t ...

after setting single-game career highs in rushing attempts (24) and yards (212) while also having a 41-yard punt return as the Bulldogs defeated

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

31–20. Rivers started all 12 games as a junior in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, leading the Bulldogs in rushing with 899 yards and 13 touchdowns along with 348 yards and three TDs receiving to earn second team All-Mountain West Conference honors. He had four 100-yard rushing games including three straight against

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

(146 yards, two TDs), at

(103 yards, two TDs), and

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal land-grant institution, Utah State serv ...

(102 yards, three TDs). In Fresno State's season-ending 17–16 loss to

, Rivers had a season-high 177 yards on 29 carries and a touchdown and caught eight passes for 63 yards. As a senior, Rivers started five of Fresno State's six games and started five during the Bulldogs' 3–3 season which was abbreviated due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Rivers ran for 507 yards on 100 carries with seven touchdowns on the ground and 27 receptions for 265 yards and two TDs receiving. He was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week against

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

after totaling 19 carries for 133 yards and three TDs and catching six passes for 99 yards and one more touchdown in the Bulldogs' 40–27 victory. The following week, Rivers ran 25 times for 132 yards and a TD and added six receptions for 51 yards as Fresno State beat

35–16. Rivers was named first team All-Mountain West running back following the season. Granted an extra year of eligibility following the pandemic, Rivers returned for a fifth season and was a Bulldogs team captain for

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. Rivers had a season-best 136 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 21 carries at then-No. 13

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, leading Fresno State to a 40–37 upset of the Bruins. In a 40–9 rout of

, Rivers had a season-high 169 all-purpose yards, finishing with 65 yards rushing and 91 yards receiving, while adding 13 kick return yards. Starting all 11 games on the season, Rivers was again named first team All-Mountain West Conference with 788 rushing yards on 162 attempts with five TDs and 34 receptions for 364 yards and two TDs receiving. Rivers finished his Bulldog career with team records in touchdowns scored (52), rushing touchdowns (40), receiving touchdowns by a running back (12), receiving yards by a running back (1,417) and pass receptions by a running back (150); was third in program history with 3,417 career rushing yards, second in career rushing attempts (672), and fourth in 5,208 career all-purpose yards.

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Rivers was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

on May 2, 2022. He did not see any action in the Cardinals' first preseason game and was released on August 14, 2022.

Seattle Seahawks

On August 24, 2022, Rivers was signed by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. He carried the ball two times for six yards in the Seahawks' final preseason game, a 27–26 loss to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, and was waived on August 28.

Los Angeles Rams

On September 15, 2022, the

signed Rivers to their

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

. He was promoted to the active roster on November 26, 2022. He appeared in eight games as a rookie, rushing nine times for 21 yards and catching five passes for 29 yards. Against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

in Week 8, Rivers got his first NFL start, rushing eight times for 21 yards and catching four passes for 15 yards in a 31-14 loss. Rivers entered the 2023 season as the Rams third running back. He suffered a knee sprain in Week 6 and was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on October 18, 2023. He was activated on December 21 and finished the season with 32 carries for 129 yards and five receptions for 22 yards while appearing in nine total games. Rivers again suited up for the Rams during the 2024 season, playing just over 75% of his snaps for the team on special teams. In Week 18, Rivers got his second career start at running back and rushed for a career-high 13 times for 52 yards in helping the Rams to a 21-20 victory over San Francisco. He finished the season with 22 carries for 99 yards rushing and five receptions for 34 receiving yards. Rivers agreed to a one-year deal to remain with the Rams on March 16, 2025.

References

External links

Los Angeles Rams bio

Fresno State Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivers, Ronnie 1999 births Living people American football running backs Fresno State Bulldogs football players Arizona Cardinals players Seattle Seahawks players Los Angeles Rams players People from Castro Valley, California Players of American football from Oakland, California Asian American players of American football