When a football team has a player who can excel at all three phases of the game, they have found someone truly special. Liberty High School in Bakersfield, California has that special player in Hunter Riley.
Riley credits his ability to stand out in all three phases of the game to his hard work he puts in during the offseason to make himself better for any situation those phases put him in. The Senior plays Wide Receiver, Safety, and Punter. He is a very explosive player, extremely coachable, and a leader on and off the field. His strengths on offense include his crisp routes, sticky hands, aggressiveness towards the ball, and he can make defenders miss. His defensive strengths include his ability to get the ball out, he can read and make plays on the ball, and he is a heavy hitter.
In his Junior year, Riley finished the season with 40 solo tackles, 62 total tackles, 2 interceptions, 6 passes deflected, 257 all-purpose yards, and 36 punts for 1085 yards. These stats stood out to bring home some awards, which included being named the 2017 Hitman of the year which came with a $2000 scholarship, 2nd Team All-League, and Honorable Mention All-Area.
This offseason, Riley has been training harder than ever before. He feels he did well last season, but is looking forward to increasing his production for himself and his team this season. He has been reviewing his film from last year to visually correct all the mistakes he made, and then working on physically correcting them on the field to get better. As fundamentals and conditioning go, Larry Parker Jr, a former NFL player, has been working with Riley and his teammates this summer. Riley also played with Proway Central Valley 7’s team in order to stay in football game shape.
Riley’s goals for next season make perfect sense, excel and beat his opponents on a weekly basis. The end game is to play college ball, so he has been attending camps, including ones at the University of Redlands, UC Davis, and Cal Poly. These camps have been a teaching tool to improve his game, so he can excel in his senior year and get the offer he is looking for. He will surely impress playing all three phases of the game at a high level.