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YSU’s Rivers, Moss a dynamic duo
YSU’s Rivers, Moss are disrupting life for opposing
offenses
Offenses all year long have been trying to devise a way to stop Youngstown State’s defensive end combination of Derek Rivers and Avery Moss.
The results haven’t been great.
The pair of ends has combined for 103 tackles this season and have devastated opposing offenses in the backfield. Rivers has 17.5 tackles for losses totaling 91 yards while Moss has 14.5 for 80 yards. Rivers has 14 sacks and Moss has 10.
As two key figures causing havoc on an elite defense, you would think Rivers and Moss would feel like they shoulder a lot of the defensive responsibilities. But both say other units within the defense are the biggest reason for their personal success.
“If it weren’t for our defensive backs and our back seven we couldn’t have the time to get to the quarterback,” Rivers said.
Moss gives credit to the defensive tackles for performing their jobs at a higher level which occasionally give the ends one-on-one opportunities against offensive tackles.
“You can’t double everybody,” Moss said. “If [the defensive tackles are] eating inside and doing their job like they’re supposed to, which they normally do, that makes it easier to have a one-on-one. Then when we’re getting doubled they’ll have a one-on-one and it’s easier for them, so we feed off each other.”
Both are grateful for the other not just from a team or friendship perspective, but it’s also much easier to demolish offensive lines when there are threats coming from both sides.
“If it was just [Avery] they’d just slide the protection his way and rely on someone else to make plays,” Rivers said. “So with him being on the other side and me being on the other side for him, it’s a blessing.
“When you get that one-on-one situation you’ve got to go make a play and it brings a sense of urgency to you.”
Benefitting from their teammates or not, Rivers and Moss are both natural leaders at practice and on the field. Rivers said part of that is making sure you’re leading everyone, not just a group of friends or a specific defensive unit.
“It doesn’t really matter where you come from it just matters how much work you put in,” Rivers said. “You’ve got to be a presence to everyone in the locker room.”
While Moss didn’t see much playing time against Eastern Washington while nursing an ankle injury, both said the game was fun because of the game plan. EWU had one of the best passing attacks in the nation so the goal nearly every play was to simply get to the quarterback.
“The whole game plan was just to go,” Rivers said. “The first day when we were working on our scheme for them our coach was like, ‘We’re going to let you play some NFL-type defensive end.’ It was fun. It’ll be a game that’ll be missed because I’d love to do it again. It’s probably the only time you’ll ever see that happen in our defense.”
No matter the outcome Saturday, when the Penguins will either win or fall just short of a national title against James Madison in the FCS championship game, this will be the final college game for both players. Moss said he’s been relishing some of the final moments leading up to his final game.
“[Tuesday] at practice we were joking around about how this is our last one-on-ones and stuff like that,” Moss said. “It’s crazy here with stuff like that. We’ve both been doing this for five years. We both graduated high school in 2012. It’s just like we’re now going into the next phase of our lives and what a blessing that is.”