Riddick Places Fifth In Final Buck Buchanan Award Voting
December 16, 2013 | Football
The award, administered and presented since 1995 by The Sports Network, is named for the late Buck Buchanan - who starred at Grambling and later in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Montana State defensive end Brad Daly won the 2013 trophy, James Madison linebacker Stephon Robertson finished second, Samford linebacker Justin Shade finished third and South Carolina State linebacker Joe Thomas was fourth in the final tally.
Riddick (Akron, Ohio / Buchtel HS) posted the highest finish in the voting for a Gardner-Webb student-athlete ever. Former GWU end Brian Johnston finished ninth in the voting in 2007.
The 6-foot-7, 240-pound standout finished the 2013 season with a career-high 67 total tackles and set a new Big South Conference record with 8.5 sacks in 11 games played.
Riddick added 19.0 tackles for loss, and led the nation with 109 negative yards recorded on those hits. He also ranked second nationally in tackles for loss per game and was regularly in the backfield with a career-high 17 pressures.
The rangy All-America candidate had multi-sack games against three opponents, collecting 2.0 at Marshall (9/7), 1.5 at #6/8 Coastal Carolina (10/12) and 2.0 in a win over #12/13 Charleston Southern (11/16).
He was at his best in Gardner-Webb's four games against ranked foes, totaling 28 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss (minus-52 yards), 3.5 sacks (minus-27 yards) and nine pressures. GWU went 3-1 in those games against ranked foes, with all three wins coming against teams ranked in the top-15 at the time.
The first-team All-Big South Conference selection helped lead an impressive team defensive turnaround for Gardner-Webb, which saw the Runnin' Bulldogs move from 101st in total defense in 2012 to No. 6 nationally at the end of the 2013 regular season - allowing a Big South-record 296.8 yards per game. Gardner-Webb finished the season with a 7-5 overall record, its highest win total since 2003 - when the 'Dogs went 8-4.
Riddick is one of 18 starters expected to return on offense and defense for Gardner-Webb in 2014.
| Final 2013 Buck Buchanan Award Voting | |||||||
| Name | School | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Total |
| 1. Brad Daly | Montana State | 64 | 26 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 485 |
| 2. Stephon Robertson | James Madison | 43 | 28 | 21 | 13 | 5 | 421 |
| 3. Justin Shade | Samford | 4 | 23 | 20 | 14 | 13 | 213 |
| 4. Joe Thomas | South Carolina St. | 6 | 6 | 14 | 12 | 19 | 139 |
| 5. Shaquille Riddick | Gardner-Webb | 3 | 12 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 124 |
| 6. Terrence Fede | Marist | 2 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 105 |
| 7. Quinn Backus | Coastal Carolina | 2 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 87 |
| 8. Lynden Trail | Norfolk State | 3 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 86 |
| 9. Tyler Starr | South Dakota | 4 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 82 |
| 10. Jordan Tripp | Montana | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 70 |
| 11. Marcus Williams | N. Dakota St. | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 69 |
| 12. Ronnie Hamlin | Eastern Washington | 3 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 66 |
| 13. Davis Tull | UT-Chattanooga | 2 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 63 |
| 14. Jerome Couplin III | Wm. & Mary | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 61 |
| 15. Caleb Schaffitzel | Missouri St. | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 54 |
| 16. Zach Hodges | Harvard | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 31 |
| 17. Robert Simpson | Miss. Valley St. | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 18. Caraun Reid | Princeton | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| T19. Clarence Bumpas | No. Colorado | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
| T19. Colton Underwood | Illinois St. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
