In My Own Words: Grayson Rigdon
Arriving at a power conference team from a small town is not that distinctive of a story. Yet doing so after playing the majority of your high school career on a six-man team while also excelling at basketball in one of the largest states in the country certainly tells a recruiting journey story like no other. Stepping up his game as the level of competition increases is hardly a foreign concept for incoming Arizona State freshman running back Grayson Rigdon. And now the multi-sport talent will look to make his mark on the biggest stage he has ever been on.
As a senior playing for the first time on a traditional 11-man team, not only did he capture a Texas state championship with Columbus High School, but he also played an integral part in their 15-1 record, posting 2,071 yards and scoring 39 touchdowns, including four in the state championship game. On the hardwood, his 35.1-point average ranked No. 15 nationally among high school players this past season, and this followed back-to-back campaigns in which he averaged over 40 points.
In our conversation, Rigdon shared with us his unconventional sports background and his decision to bet on himself as he pursued the opportunity to play for the Sun Devils.
“I’m originally from Savannah, Georgia, but my father is a coach, and I moved to Oklahoma, back to Georgia, to Florida, and then I was in Texas from about 6th grade up until last year. I started playing football probably as soon as I could walk. Growing up, I remember watching my brothers play. I got six older brothers, and I’m the youngest boy, and then I got a younger sister. All six of them played football, and that was a good motivation for me to not only get into the game but also be really good at it. I was being beaten up by my older brothers my whole life, but junior high is when I felt I started playing well and scoring a bunch of touchdowns playing at a higher level.
“Up until my senior year, I played six-man football because we lived in a small town that didn’t have enough players for an 11-man team. This is where you have three linemen, usually a quarterback, and two running backs. The position I played was called spreadback, where I had the option to run or pass. Whoever gets the snap, they have to pitch it before somebody can run past the line of scrimmage. Anyone is eligible to catch a pass, and it’s like a backyard football game. It can look like a wishbone offense or a normal passing game. Honestly, it’s a crazy game that’s hard to describe, and you’d have to watch for yourself just to understand how crazy it is.
“The decision to go and play on an 11-man football team my senior year, was wanting to have an opportunity to play for a bigger school. So, one day I told my dad, ‘Let’s bet on me, just trust me.’ And he ended up taking a job at this 3A school down there, west of Houston, and it just took off from there. The hardest thing to adjust to going from six-man to 11-man was probably just the slower pace of it, because you have a lot more people on the field. I had to start reading blocks and stuff like that. But once you run past the line of scrimmage, I felt like it was still a 6-on-6 game even with safeties and all that.
“Before I played 11-man football, there were not a lot of schools really recruiting me, and I had just one offer from Air Force. I was playing six-man football when I committed to them early because I thought I was going to stay in six-man, and then I ended up making that jump my senior year. They bet on me when no one else did, and I was going to take that offer. But I know it was gonna be a sacrifice going to a school like that, and I knew I wasn’t going there just to play football, and honestly, I didn’t know if I could have mentally been able to do all the extra stuff.
“Because I had a good senior season, I was getting more interest, and NC State offered me, and I committed to them. But I flipped to Wyoming because there I could play football and basketball, and that’s who I signed with on the first signing day. But two of the coaches at Wyoming who brought me in ended up taking a different job, and that led me to getting out of my Letter of Intent with them.
“All throughout my football career, I was also playing a full season of basketball. It was like a day or two after football season ended and we were going right into basketball, so it wasn’t much of a break. I definitely think basketball made me a better football player, just because of having to move around so much. But I also feel like football helped basketball with all the cutting and having quick bursts. But I’m proud of the jump I made going from 1A to 3A in basketball. That jump was more just understanding a little bit more with the speed of the game, and it took a little bit to get used to, but it wasn’t too much of a difference. I knew how hard I worked, so I wasn’t surprised by the senior year stats I now had at a higher level because I had high expectations for myself.
“After I decommitted from Wyoming, playing both sports was still definitely a thought. But I wouldn’t have told any coaches that I wanted to do both. But if it came up, I would definitely try to play both, and I’d definitely give it a shot. Playing both sports never came up with Arizona State. I was hitting up Arizona State for about two weeks, and in the beginning, they told me they didn’t have a spot. And then Coach Bryan Carrington told me they were coming down to see me, and we talked for a little bit.
“As soon as they offered me, I had made up my mind that I wanted to go there. One of my friends, (freshman quarterback) Cam Dyer, committed up here. And I told him for a while, ‘Hey, bro, get me up there with you. It didn’t work out before, but it worked out later. It was cool texting Cam saying, ‘hey, bro, I’m coming with you.’ I like how they run the program. and how they have the underdog mentality betting on themselves and all that. That does fit like how I look at myself and how I want to be. Committing to them was an easy decision on my part. Before I visited them, I already knew that I was going to commit there. And getting out there and seeing Tempe, it was a no-brainer at that point. Man, this place is beautiful.
“When I talked to the Arizona State coaches, they said that they like what I can do when you get me out in space, and bringing that dawg mentality. I know I will be learning from some of the older guys we have in the room right now. And I need to step up my game, knowing that every day, I will learn something new. I really like the relationships on the team because they got built super fast. You got teammates calling, checking in on me, just when I got here, showing all the love. That’s how it was on my visit, and then now that I’m here, it was never different. It was always the same love., It’s so much different here than any other college I’ve been at.
“Since I got here, I love how competitive it is, and that really stands out, how hungry they are. The team is always strong about making smart decisions, being a leader, putting the team first, and all that type of stuff is sitting in well with me. (running backs) Kyson Brown and Kanye Udoh have been line mentors to me, but really, everybody in the (running back) room has been like that. I can’t say it’s just one of them. When one of them is taking reps, the other one is showing me how it’s done. And that’s how I learn, which is great. They always tell me to stay patient because it’s not like you’re going to pick up something the first time you do it. In the beginning, I was getting overwhelmed with that because I was trying to get it right in a snap. But they always tell me to be patient with it, and then it started to come to me more and more. But I know I’ve got a long way to go.
“I had a lot to prove going from six-man to 11-man, and now I know I have to prove that I can play on this level.”
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