North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers
publicly stated yesterday he is "99.999% sure" that he will return to Raleigh
for another season of college football, though he did throw in a caveat saying
he may still consider submitting an application to the NFL advisory committee in
order to assess his draft value.
Rivers,
who is married and has a young daughter, hopes to graduate on time and receive
his degree before leaving for the NFL.
Another junior planning on returning to college
for his senior campaign is Minnesota tight end Ben Utech. The pass
catching specialist struggled through an injury plagued junior campaign in
2002. Starting only nine of twelve games, Utech caught a disappointing 32
passes after much more was expected of him off a breakout season in 2001.