Arizona Cardinals draft pick Shaquille Riddick: ‘I go as hard as I can in everything I do’

Effort will not be a problem for Shaquille Riddick, the Arizona Cardinals fifth-round pick and the 158th overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft.

“I go as hard as I can in everything I do,” Riddick told Bickley & Marotta Tuesday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Last season at West Virgina, he finished the year with 27 stops, including 11 tackles for loss, including seven sacks — twice as many as the Mountaineers’ next best pass rusher.

The previous season at FCS-level Gardner-Webb, he amassed 8.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss and 17 QB hurries en route to being an All-America selection at defensive end by eight different services.

But it’s not just on the field where he’s experienced success, as he graduated high school with 70 college credits.

“My parents and the family I grew up with always was academics first type of family,” said Riddick. “So I was into programs and into ideas that had given me better ways to forward my education at a faster pace.”

Riddick attributes his successes to his upbringing.

“I couldn’t have been raised any better than what I was, but I feel like that’s the reason I got this drive and ambition I have today,” he said.

Though Riddick has excelled in academics and college athletics, now it’s time to prove himself in the NFL.

But to do so, he will have to make the transition from defensive end to outside linebacker.

“It’s a different position than what I played in college, but I’m athletic enough to do whatever they need me to do,” said Riddick. “Rushing the passer is rushing the passer, whether my hand is in the ground or I’m standing up on two feet. I have a knack to getting to the backfield. It will all end up being the same at the end of the day.”