Setting The Edge
Defensive back Chandler Rivers patrols the perimeter for no-nonsense defense
Jim Sumner, GoDuke The Magazine
A tiring Duke defense was backed up on its own four-yard line in the second overtime of their 2024 visit to Northwestern. The Blue Devils were holding on to a precarious 26-20 lead, while the home team had the ball third-and-one. A touchdown and a two-point conversion would send Duke home with a loss.
Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers gives a clinician’s view of what happened next.
“They ran a QB lead. I was the corner. The tight end came to block out on me. I was thinking I needed to set the edge and then I realized the quarterback (Mike Wright) was trying to go outside and I needed a better angle because he had nowhere else to go if I got the right angle. I really wasn’t trying to do too much but the play came to me and I trusted my preparation to make the play.”
Rivers and his preparation made the play. Wright lost eight yards, Northwestern’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete and Duke walked off the field with a hard-fought win.
Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke says Rivers trusting his preparation is a good thing.
“The quarterback thought he could round our defense and Chandler comes up and tackles, and tackles our way. He does exactly what he’s supposed to do. He tackles around the thigh boards, gets them on the ground. A huge play in the game to get them behind the chains. It’s rewarding to see a guy who practices like he does, who leads like he does, to go out and have a game like that on the road.”
Head coach Manny Diaz is building his first Duke team around defensive aggression and nothing epitomizes that better than an eight-yard loss in the shadow of your own goal line with the game on the line.
“As a defensive coach you always say, ‘Make them snap it again.’ It wasn’t just that he made the play, it’s how he made it. The way he set the edge, the way he ripped through the block, the way he tackled the guy — it was all teach-tape. His tackling in that game was clinic tape. I’ve always felt like as a defensive coach that if you can get your big guys to play fast and run to the ball and get your little guys to play tough and be great tacklers, usually you’ve got a really good defense. I thought Chandler’s play on the perimeter from start to finish was great, to put them in a position they didn’t want to be in.”
This wasn’t the first time Chandler Rivers made a big play at Duke. It wasn’t even the first time in that game. In the second period he dropped the speedy Wright for a seven-yard loss on third down. The 180-pound Rivers stopped 220-pound Northwestern back Cam Porter in his tracks multiple times, most importantly on Northwestern’s final drive in regulation, one that ended in a punt that led to Duke’s tying score.
Eight days later Rivers forced a Connecticut fumble that Tre Freeman recovered at the UConn 39. Duke kicked a field goal on the ensuing possession. Rivers had a pick-six against Florida State last season, and was named MVP of Duke’s Birmingham Bowl win over Troy after notching two tackles for loss and three passes broken up.
Chandler Rivers grew up in Beaumont, Texas, about 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and 30 miles west of the border with Louisiana. Like most cities, Beaumont has some places you don’t want your children to go. Rivers’ parents made sure he didn’t go.
“My parents put me in a great position where I was able to accomplish whatever I wanted by putting me around great people. They kept me in great situations by keeping me away from the not-so-good part of the area.”
Sports was a big part of that. Rivers started playing football when he was around four or five years old, quipping “growing up in Texas, football starts early.”
By the time he hit high school he was a standout in basketball and track and field. He finished second in the state in the long jump (22 feet, 11.25 inches) and helped Beaumont United to an undefeated state basketball championship in 2021; current Houston basketball wing Terrance Arceneaux keyed that team.
Rivers and his family had lots of choices to make when he was in high school and he approached all of them methodically.
Basketball was his first love. But 5-10 wasn’t going to work. “I wanted to play basketball but being honest with myself, I realized I wasn’t big enough.”
Track and field was big in his family. Sister Sheila was a long jumper at Louisiana Lafayette.
But football was his choice. It was Texas, after all.
“The other sports I enjoyed doing. I wanted to do other sports while I could because I knew there was a time when I was just going to play football.”
Rivers excelled on both sides of the ball at Beaumont, catching 85 passes in three seasons.
He says he loved having the ball in his hands. But that methodical approach took over.
“I love offense. Everybody loves scoring touchdowns, catching passes, running the ball. I played offense all my life. That was my first love.
“But when you go to camps, you see lots of receivers, maybe 10 DBs and a hundred receivers. Me and my dad had a conversation one day and he asked if I ever thought about playing cornerback. I said we can try and I’ve stuck with it ever since. I was up for the challenge. I was prepared for the work.”
Duke saw Rivers at some summer camps and liked what they saw. Trooper Taylor was his primary recruiter.
Duke checked all the boxes, Rivers says. “Big-time football, Duke degree second to none, I wanted to play as a true freshman. Looking at the pros and cons, this looked like the best situation for me. It felt like home away from home.”
He committed to Duke in the spring of 2021, turning down Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee, among others.
His high school coach, Marcus Graham, told the Port Arthur News that Duke got a steal.
“If he was 6-1, all of the big schools would have him. When people call me, I tell them he is special. You can’t coach competitive spirit. Everywhere he goes, he’s a winner. He has a tremendous work ethic.”
Rivers decided to enroll early, in January of 2022. It wasn’t an easy choice. He gave up Senior Prom, a chance to repeat as state champions in basketball, a chance to turn that second-place long-jump into first-place.
Rivers says he wanted to become acclimated to big-time football, to college academics, to being far from home for the first time.
This was around the time Duke and David Cutcliffe parted ways. Rivers says he never wavered.
“I didn’t pick a coach, I picked a school.”
It helped that Taylor stuck around. And it helped that Mike Elko was a defensive-minded coach.
Rivers did see the field as a freshman, playing in all 13 games in 2022. But he says it still was a humbling experience.
“In high school, you’re the guy. In college, it’s a whole different world. My biggest lesson my freshman year was learning that everyone around me was also a college athlete. Getting down on myself if someone caught a ball, getting down on myself if someone beat me on a rep, I had to learn that I was going to get the best of the best every day. There was a learning curve. The game was faster.
“I wasn’t used to not playing as much. It was kind of weird sitting on the bench. Once everything started going for me, my confidence grew. I started playing better. That made me what I am today. I learned so many lessons I wouldn’t have learned if I had played more earlier.”
Rivers gained a starting spot in the second half of the season, was named Duke’s freshman of the year and honorable mention freshman All-American and intercepted a pass in Duke’s 30-13 win over Central Florida in the Military Bowl.
Rivers started all 13 games last season and was second on the team in passes broken up (seven) and fifth in tackles (58).
Rivers says he’s a “savvy player. I know the game of football. I understand route concepts, formations. I understand Xs and Os. I’m not the biggest, I’m not the strongest, I’m not the fastest. But the game is 90% mental and understanding my abilities and what I can do and cannot do, that’s my superpower.”
There’s still room for improvement.
“I want to grow in all parts of my game, polish what I’m good at, improve on what I’m not good at, be more consistent.”
Rivers spent part of last summer back in Beaumont, teaming up with some other area athletes to host the “More than an Athlete Camp,” saying he wants to give back to the community that nurtured him.
“When I was younger, I always wanted someone like that to interact with,” he told KBMT-TV. “I hope they see me as a big brother.”
Rivers wants to play in the NFL but sees himself staying in sports after he hangs up his spikes for the last time.
Right now, he says he’s in a good place.
“I want to be consistent in everyday life. School, football, my walk with God, my relationship with my family, all of that is going in the right direction.”
This story originally appeared in the 16.2 issue of GoDuke The Magazine – September 2024. Dedicated to sharing the stories of Duke student-athletes, present and past, GoDuke The Magazine is published for Duke Athletics by LEARFIELD with editorial offices at 3100 Tower Blvd., Suite 404, Durham, NC 27707. To subscribe, join the Iron Dukes or call (336) 831-0767.