Quarterback Desmond Ridder said goodbye to his home of the past five years with a video posted to his Twitter account Friday night. While it seems obvious that a red-shirt senior is headed to the 2022 NFL Draft, because of the COVID-shortened season, Ridder had the option to return for a sixth year.
In an early mock draft, ESPN’s Todd McShay had Ridder as the fourth quarterback off the board and the 19th overall pick in the first round. The Kentucky native isn’t considered a consensus first-round pick, but he is consistently ranked as one of the six quarterbacks in the top tier with Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh), Matt Corral (Mississippi), Sam Howell (North Carolina), Malik Willis (Liberty) and Carson Strong (Nevada).
A three-star recruit out of St. Xavier in Louisville, Ridder chose Cincinnati over Eastern Kentucky and went on to amass a starting record of 44-6 for the Bearcats. Ridder and his teammates did what most presumed was impossible when they became the first Group of 5 program to qualify for the 2022 College Football Playoff.
Ridder and cornerback Ahmad Gardner are striving to become the first Bearcats taken in the first round of the NFL Draft since defensive lineman Bob Bell was taken 21st overall in 1971. Regardless, Ridder has certainly made a name for himself as the University of Cincinnati’s winningest quarterback of all time, ranking third overall in the statistic for all college football with his 44 wins trailing only Boise State’s Kellen Moore (50) and Texas’s Colt McCoy (45).
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