VALDOSTA — Named Valdosta State’s starting quarterback Tuesday, Roland Rivers III didn’t waste time sharing his expectations heading into the 2016 season.

Rivers, a redshirt sophomore, posted “<<<< Best Quarterback in the GSC” on Twitter, setting the bar high.

But Wednesday, Rivers said it was more a reflection of how he feels about the entire Blazers team ahead of Saturday night’s season opener against Albany State at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium at 7.

“Well, I’m not cocky, I’m confident,” he said. “But it was just really, I put that out there so people know what I expect out of myself. I’m excited for the opportunity that I have and that we have as a team. 

“I’m the best quarterback in the GSC because I have the best offensive line in the GSC, I’ve got the best coaches in the GSC and I’ve got the best teammates. All together, they make me better and we make each other better.”

Those teammates also have an unwavering belief in the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Rivers. That support was one of the little things that helped Rivers separate from South Florida transfer Adam Robles during the competition throughout camp.

“I think he has that innate ability, he has that ‘it’ that people talk about,” VSU coach Kerwin Bell said. “You feel that ‘it’ factor about him. He seems to make plays, he seems to make people believe in him and this team believes in him. I think he’s going to be a good player for us.”

Throughout the Blazers’ fall camp, Rivers was definitely good. In VSU’s three scrimmages, Rivers unofficially completed 26 of 38 passes for 384 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 36 yards and a touchdown on six attempts, leading his unit to scores on all but two possessions.

“He’s playing at a very high level,” Bell said. “He has really, I think Adam has pushed him to pick his game up even higher and play at a higher level. Even when he went with the 2s, I was really impressed with how he handled himself and the plays he made. That sort of was the No. 1 factor.

“I think overall he just had more of a command over the whole offense. I thought, like I told them, the first week and a half, two weeks, I thought he was definitely the better guy. But then the last week, boy, Adam really came on which is pretty natural of him doing because he only had been in the system for two weeks. He got better and better and it made it tough. I thought they both performed extremely well the last week or so, together, on a high level.”

Rivers said Robles’ presence did make him better, but so did his experience in Bell’s system after getting acclimated during spring practices.

“It just made me grind harder,” he said. “With competition, you’re either going to break or you’re going to rise above it. We both competed, he did a great job this camp, but we all know our roles here now and my job right now is to go out here and lead this team to W’s.

“It let me get used to the system, the terminology, it wasn’t all new to me. I had the whole summer to go over it and learn it, so coming in here I did feel like I had an edge from already knowing the system.”

Rivers also had the summer to hone the areas of his game that Bell felt needed improvement. It was another area where the signal caller excelled.

“I’ve told people, I’ve been trying to find something wrong with him,” Bell said. “Most kids have a lot of physical ability, which he does, but sometimes they’re lazy or they just don’t pay attention to detail. But he has this great physical ability and he has this great ability to really understand the art or working and how had you’ve got to work. He worked extremely hard this summer on things we asked him to work on, a lot of it was footwork which translates into accuracy. I think that has taken him to another level, as far as being a lot more accurate as a thrower.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked and he’s been a joy to coach so far.”

Now Rivers plans to make it a joy to watch on the field as well. 

“It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I’ve been here, and even when I was a kid, being a starting quarterback at a university is definitely a dream come true,” he said. “God has blessed me to get to this point and now I have to put in the work and lead this team to a national championship.

“We’ve got a real good team, offense, defense, special teams, we’ve got great coaches who know how to get us to where we want to go. I’m excited for the season. Blazer fans, we should all be excited because it’s going to be a great year.”

Jamie Wachter is the sports editor of the Valdosta Daily Times and can be followed on Twitter @jlwachter.

Sept. 3	Albany State	7 p.m.
Sept. 17	at North Alabama	7 p.m.
Sept. 24	West Florida	7 p.m.
Oct. 1	Kentucky State in Waycross	2 p.m.
Oct. 8	West Georgia	7 p.m.
Oct. 15	at Mississippi College	4 p.m.
Oct. 22	Delta State	3 p.m.
Oct. 29	at Florida Tech	7 p.m.
Nov. 5	at West Alabama	3 p.m.
Nov. 12	Shorter	7 p.m.