Alabama Game Week Scouting Report: Cincinnati Quarterback Desmond Ridder
How important is quarterback Desmond Ridder to the Cincinnati football team this season?
His name is mentioned 371 times in the game notes for the Cotton Bowl Classic, where he'll lead his team into the College Football Playoff semifinal against reigning champion Alabama.
Ridder has 3,190 passing yards this season. He needs 353 yards to tie the single-season school record of 3,543 set by current quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Gino Guidugli in 2002.
He also needs one touchdown pass to tie the school record of 31 set by Ben Mauk (2007) and Gunner Kiel (2014).
Ridder (12,280 career total yards) broke the AAC and Cincinnati total yardage records earlier this season. He is also the AAC's and Cincinnati's all-time leader in total touchdowns with 116 (87 passing, 28 rushing, one receiving).
“As a quarterback, you have to know everyone on the team, even the defense, have that connection," he said. "Because they know you’re supposed to be the leader. Just being around those guys and joking with them, it helped me build a team camaraderie. I feel like that’s what set me apart.”
Desmond Ridder
Jersey: No. 9
Position: Quarterback
Height: 6-2.6
Weight: 215
DOB: 8/31/99
Draft eligible: 2022
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
High School: Saint Xavier
Background
Ridder attended St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky where he threw for 2,270 yards and 19 touchdowns and ran for 1,583 yards and 30 scores during two seasons as a starter. After high school, 247Sports ranked him as a 3-Star recruit, the 1657th-best recruit nationally, the 116th-ranked dual-threat quarterback recruit in the country and the 10th recruit in the state of Kentucky.
Ridder committed to Cincinnati and redshirted his true freshman season in 2017. In 2018, he was the AAC Rookie Of The Year and started 11 games, threw for 2,445 yards and 20 touchdowns to five interceptions, completed 62.4 percent of his passes and rushed for 583 yards and five TDs. In 2019, he started 13 games and threw for 2,165 yards at 55.4% completion percentage, with 18 touchdowns to 9 interceptions, plus 650 rushing yards and five rushing TDs. Ridder dealt with nagging injuries throughout the year and was also named to the AAC All-Academic Team. In 2020, Ridder was named the AAC Offensive Player of the Year, First Team All-ACC and the 2020 AAC Championship Game MVP. On the season, Ridder started 10 games, threw for 2,296 yards, 19 touchdowns compared to six interceptions, and rushed for 592 yards with 12 TDs.
“How far Des has come is astounding. He was my first roommate when we moved in, so I’ve seen the whole transformation over the last five years, and it’s absolutely incredible," senior linebacker Wilson Huber said. "He is the sole leader of this team now, and it’s incredible how he’s grown. Not only as a quarterback — obviously he’s gotten better and better every year — but as someone who can take this team under his wing and really push everybody in the right direction.”
The Ridder Factor
Nine things You Need to Know about No. 9 Desmond Ridder, from Cincinnati sports information:
- He is the winningest active quarterback in College Football (44-5, 89.8 percent). He has never lost at home (26-0).
- The Louisville, Ky., native has passed for more than 10,000 yards (10,095) and accounted for more than 12,000 total yards (12,281).
- He has 37 total touchdowns (30 passing, six rushing, and one receiving) and eight interceptions in 2021.
- He has passed for 3,190 yards and is completing 65.9 percent of his passes in 2021.
- Ridder was named the National Quarterback of the Week after leading Cincinnati to its first-ever road win over a Top 10 team against No. 9 Notre Dame (24-13).
- Ridder was 2021 and 2020 AAC Player of the Year, 2020 AAC Championship Game MVP and the 2018 AAC Rookie of the Year.
- A former two-star recruit, current Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor gave Ridder his first FBS scholarship offer when he was the offensive coordinator at UC.
- His debut came on the third offensive series in the 2018 season opener at UCLA where he led Cincinnati to a 26-17 comeback win (UC trailed 10-0).
- He became a father in April to a baby girl, Leighton, with his partner, Claire.
Pros
Desmond Ridder is an athletic quarterback who displays strong mental attributes when executing the Cincinnati Bearcats’ offense. Ridder regularly shows a good pre snap plan of where his advantages are and strong anticipation of where he should be going with the football. He understands where his numbers advantages are versus zone coverage and which concepts should be open, plus takes advantage of off man coverage with quick underneath routes. Ridder is a solid processor post snap, reading coverage rotations and making full field reads when necessary. He has active feet in the pocket and makes subtle movements to buy himself time and extend the play. Due to Ridder’s processing of defenses, he regularly gets the ball out on time and to his receiver in stride. He can make throws to all three levels of the field, showing flashes of layering throws over the middle and has a strong willingness to drive the ball downfield with sufficient velocity. Ridder’s legs are a weapon that offenses should take advantage of, he has good foot speed and solid agility, plus regularly keeps his eyes downfield when scrambling, scanning for open options.
Cons:
Ridder has flashes of high level play but has inconsistencies in his fundamentals which lead to volatile play. Accuracy and ball placement are his two biggest weaknesses and it is largely due to his throwing mechanics. He is most often inaccurate when throwing to his right because he struggles to get his hips and feet pointed to his target, leading to misses too far in front or behind his target. In addition, there are some throws where Ridder leads with his arm more than his hip and cannot generate a fluid throwing motion/rotation, leading to misses above his target. In addition, Ridder is a very “toesy”’ quarterback as he rarely plays with all of his cleats in the ground. This leads to him bouncing around the pocket a lot, hurting the balance in his base and thus his overall accuracy. Finally, Ridder has made some bad decisions while under pressure, lacking ideal poise at times and throwing it into double coverage or fading away and lofting a jump ball into traffic.
Summary:
Ridder’s experience has molded strong pre snap plan and post snap processing abilities, leading to astute anticipation and timing on most of his throws. He can attack all three levels of the field with sufficient velocity and has plus athleticism to extend plays. His throwing fundamentals mainly with his base — hurt his overall accuracy and need to be cleaned up. He could be a strong backup early in his pro career and could develop into an average starter by refining his mechanics.
Grades
Current value 7.6/Potential value 8.1
BamaCentral Analysis
We keep going back to the Notre Dame game with Ridder, because it's the biggest win of his career and the program. For the day he was 19-for-32 (59.4 percent) for 297 yards and two touchdowns during the first top-10, regular-season matchup in program history. The key was the final scoring drive after the Fighting Irish closed to within 17-13 with 8:20 left in the game. Ridder went 3-for-3 while leading a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive keyed by a strong throw over the middle to Leonard Taylor for a 36-yard gain. He capped it off with a 6-yard touchdown run around left end. The line that got out attention was "I don't think we let the stage get too big for us," Ridder said, as Notre Dame is a pretty intimidating place to play. For Cincinnati to find a way to beat Alabama, it'll have to be behind Ridder, who had six comeback wins in 2021. However, while his 164.78 passer rating was 11th in the nation this season, it would have only been fifth best in the SEC, which is obviously a much tougher conference.
As part of the buildup to the College Football Playoff semifinal, BamaCentral will profile numerous Cincinnati players as the Crimson Tide returns to the Cotton Bowl. Also check out NFL Draft Bible for more evaluations.
