RIGERMAN, ANDREESEN PREPARING FOR NFL DRAFT

Given the difference in population size between Buffalo, N.Y. and other major American cities, it’s a bigger cause for celebration when an athlete from the 716 is drafted by a professional sports team.

To have two Buffalonians drafted by the same league in one year is nearly as rare as the recent solar eclipse. That scenario may happen this month, as Joe Andreessen and Mike Rigerman are preparing for the National Football League’s draft and for a pre-draft workout with the Buffalo Bills this Friday.

While Rigerman, a tight end from the University of Findlay (D-II) who was the 2018 Connolly Cup winner from Pioneer and Andreessen, a product of Lancaster who played linebacker at Bryant University and for the University of Buffalo  (FCS) don’t know where they will be selected in the draft set to be held from April 25-27 in Detroit Mich., they each have fond memories of their time playing high school football in Section VI – which nurtured their love of the game and burnished their dreams of playing pro football.

Here are their unvarnished thoughts on their respective journeys to the NFL:

Mike Rigerman

WNYA – What are your thoughts on your upcoming workout with Buffalo on Friday?

Rigerman – I just want to go out there and show them what everybody else who is around me already knows. And just be confident in myself. It's another opportunity for me, so I'm prepared to show the NFL that I belong and to show that I can play at that level.

WNYA – You won the Connolly Cup as a running back while at Pioneer. What prompted the switch to tight end in college?

Rigerman – At Pioneer during my freshman year, I got pulled up to varsity to play linebacker and tight end. I played those my sophomore year, and then in my junior year I played tight end and running back. As a senior, I made the full switch to running back just because that's where I was best suited for our team to win. When I got to college, the coaches viewed me as a hybrid-type of tight end – which is somebody who can block on and off the ball, run with the ball, catch the ball and be a lead blocker. So the transition was more or less just based off what I can do as an athlete.

WNYA – What would you saying were your biggest strengths? And what would you say are some things that you think you might need to work on?

Rigerman – My biggest strength is definitely my work ethic. Everybody around me always says how hard I work and how hard I play, whether that's players or coaches, or even just people in the community. Like everybody says, I've worked so hard at everything I do. So I think that's one of my strongest qualities. 

Something I think I need to work on is, I guess, my self-confidence. Coming from a smaller area where football isn’t the heaviest-recruited area – it's getting better now, which is nice to see. But sometimes you’ll have people tell you you're not going to make it to the NFL. So I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder to try and prove people wrong.

WNYA – What would be the biggest things that you've taken from Pioneer and Findlay during your journey to the NFL?

Rigerman – At Pioneer, I learned that no matter what anybody tells you, you can always achieve your dreams as long as you are dedicated, put work into it and you're committed and disciplined throughout the process. 

Findlay proved that for me. Coming here, I've grown up so much and learned how to handle myself in different situations on and off the field and how to work through life at a very good pace for myself. Findlay also put me in a situation where I have a plan B and C if football never worked out and it allowed me to grow up as an adult. Findlay helped me mature in so many ways.

Joe Andreessen

WNYA – What’s the biggest thing you’ve taken from your time at Lancaster during your journey to the NFL?

Andreessen – I can remember at a young age playing youth football and our teams would go watch the varsity play their games. There's a big sense of community in Lancaster and they have a long football history there too. Both my parents are Lancaster grads, and my dad played football there as well. Some of my best friend's parents played football at Lancaster. 

Football is a big thing there in terms of the dedication to the game. I think that's why Lancaster has had so much success just because the guys there put a lot of time into it. Probably more so than a lot of other high schools in the area, and they instilled that work ethic in me. God has blessed me with a lot of talent, but if you want to be good at something you have to work hard for it.

WNYA – What prompted your decision to transfer to UB?

Andreessen – Bryant was great. I really enjoyed it there and I think Bryant’s a great school. I’ve met some of my best friends for life over there, but football-wise, I was going into my fifth year at Bryant, getting my MBA and was an All-American there. But I still wanted to pursue professional football. I started getting in contact with agents around that time and I asked them “What's the best route for me to make it to the NFL? And I was pretty much advised that the best thing for me would be to go play a different level of ball and perform at that level because you'll have a better chance of making it. 

It's hard to make the NFL out of an FCS or Division II or III school. So that's kind of what went into the decision to enter the transfer portal. Ultimately, I got an offer from UB and it was kind of easy to go there because it was like a homecoming for me in my last year of college football. Why not be home when I have all my friends come watch me play?

WNYA – Describe the role you played in UB’s defense compared to the responsibilities you had at Bryant.

Andreessen – I played UB’s “buck” linebacker spot, so that would be the weak side linebacker spot which is Matt Milano’s position. I played middle linebacker at Bryant, because of the personnel we had. UB thought I’d be the best guy to be that coverage linebacker on the outside.

WNYA – I'm sure that gives you a different perspective because you've got different responsibilities than you would at the “Mike” spot – dropping into zone coverage, taking on tight ends in the passing game, having certain keys against the run and so on.

Andreessen – Definitely. I think it allowed me to show more athleticism then probably the “Mike” position would. You kind of have more of a coverage emphasis, especially when matching up with running backs and tight ends, dropping to certain areas in zone coverage. I think it was a good thing to show you can do multiple things.

WNYA – A guy like Matt Milano must be a good role model for you to pattern your game after.

Andreessen – He’s my favorite linebacker. It's funny, my linebacker coach at Bryant, Steven Daniels, played with Milano at Boston College so we always talked about him and the way he plays. As a Bills fan growing up, I always kept an eye on him.

I remember thinking how underrated this guy is, always making big plays and always seemed to be in the backfield. He's not the biggest guy on the field, which stuck out to me since I’m not the biggest guy either. He's undersized compared to the prototypical linebacker, he's not athletically jumping off the charts. I think it's his instincts, his ability to make big plays. That's someone that I want to be like. 

WNYA – Thinking back to how linebackers used to be built 20-25 years ago, most linebackers today aren't really the size of guys like a Ray Lewis or a Brian Urlacher. The game has changed. Instead of defenses being geared to stopping the run, it's gradually gotten towards that place where it's become much more based on defending the pass and now with the exception of a guy like Tremaine Edmunds you have people the size of Milano or Roquan Smith in Baltimore becoming more prevalent. I’m sure that helps give guys like you (Andreessen is listed at 6’1”, 232 pounds) more of a fighting chance to make a roster.

Andreessen – No doubt.. My dad always wanted me to put on more weight and be the biggest, strongest guy I can be. I was kind of a late bloomer – I was always a skinny kid. Not everyone's given a height of 6’3” or 6’4” or something like that. Obviously, everyone's frames hold different weight better than others. You just have to find what's comfortable with you. Obviously weight and strength and stuff like that will always be a big part of the game, and the more weight and strength you can have and still move as well as other guys, the better.

WNYA – What are your overall thoughts going into Friday's workout with the Bills?

Andreessen – At the end of the day it’s just football drills and stuff I've done for the past 10 years of my life. I’ve been training with John Opfer at the Northtown Center in Amherst and I think he's the best in the area. So I think I’m prepared and I just need to leave it all out there on the field. No nerves or anything like that, I’m just really excited.