Irish Legend: Theo Riddick

 

Every football player dreams of making it to the NFL. For former Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, that dream came true.

Allison Hayes: What does Notre Dame mean to you? The time here that you spent. How did it set you up for the rest of your life?

Theo Riddick: Oh, man. It changed my life, to be honest with you.  Honestly, that's where I learned how to have a structure and prioritize.

Allison: When you look back at your time at Notre Dame, do you have a moment, a memory that really stands out to you? One of those most memorable, meaningful moments?

Theo: Yeah. I got to say the Stanford game when we stopped them at the goal line 4 straight times. I think right there, that's when we knew as a team and as a unit that we had all of the pieces and that's when things started to click for us.

Allison: Tell us what it's like to be a kid, dreaming of playing in the NFL someday and to now be living that dream.

Theo: To be honest with you, it just blows you away. It's definitely humbling. Every time, I kind of think about it on a day-to-day basis. Again, I'm just very thankful and obviously, I just want to stay as healthy as I can. It's definitely a challenge year in and year out, but again, it's just been a dream. It's definitely been a dream."

Allison: When you look ahead now and your future in the NFL, what goals have you set for yourself?

Theo: To be honest with you, I just want to win. Unfortunately, there in Detroit, we haven't really made it to the playoffs. We haven't won any playoff games for quite some time. The goal is to obviously, win our division, but we want to make it to the playoffs and make some noise there.

Allison:  How about you personally? I know you talked at the pep rally and you said you had a new little one in your life.

Theo: Yeah. He's basically a junior I had to change his middle name. Theo Maury Riddick. My first. 6 months. There's no love - I guess, that can surpass a love that you have for your son as a father. It's a great experience and every day, I'm just blessed.

Allison: Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. Good luck the rest of the season and in your career.

Theo: Thank you so much.

Former Notre Dame wide receivers Golden Tate and TJ Jones also play for Detroit.

The Lions play division rival the Chicago Bears Saturday afternoon at Soldier Field.