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Derek Rivers at a glance

Derek Rivers recorded 15 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss in 2016.Tony Gutierrez/AP

Here is a closer look at Derek Rivers, whom the Patriots drafted in the third round with the 83rd overall pick:

Position: Defensive end. College: Youngstown State. Height/Weight: 6-4/248.

Need to know: A three-year starter at Youngstown State . . . Holds the Penguins career sack record with 41, 19 more than No. 2 on the list . . . Attended Fork Union Military Academy in 2012 to get his grades in order . . . Became a starter as a sophomore in 2014, posting a team-best 17 tackles for loss and 14 sacks to earn First Team All-MVFC honors . . . Started all 11 games in 2015 as a junior, recording 52 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, and 9 sacks, again taking home First Team All-MVFC honors . . . Had 58 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, and 15 sacks in 2016, helping lead the Penguins to the FCS National Title Game, where they lost to James Madison . . . In 2016, he earned First Team All-MVFC for the third straight season and was named a Second Team FCS All-American . . . Hometown is Kinston, N.C., where he attended Kinston High School.

Miscellany: Rivers benched 225 pounds 34 times in preparation for the NFL Combine. He recorded 30 reps at the Combine, tied for fourth among defensive linemen and linebackers.

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■ Rivers began suffering from seizures when he was 9 years old. “Not the grand mal type; he would just kind of space out,” his mom Mary Leinonen said in a 2014 interview. “He was on medication and he seems to have outgrown them as an adult, but he’s had to overcome a lot.”

■ Of his experience at Fork Union Military Academy — which claims the likes of Vinny Testaverde, Eddie George, and Plaxico Burress — Rivers said, “That was an experience, man. The first thing they do is take you to the barbershop to get a haircut. You had to get up at 6 every morning and make your bed. Make sure your room is clean. And if it wasn’t, they had these things called ‘tours,’ where you march back and forth for 45 minutes.”

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■ Rivers’s father, John, played football and basketball at Virginia Tech.

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Foolin in my dad old uniform

A post shared by Derek Rivers (@d_rivers11) on

■ Rivers does the same thing at the end of each defensive series. He points to the sky and says “To God be the glory” when he gets to the sideline.

■ He played high school basketball with the Lakers’ Brandon Ingram. Rivers was a senior when Ingram was a freshman. “I had a couple of inches on him, and I schooled him,” Rivers said with a laugh on a conference call Friday. “He must have grown 4 or 5e inches that year, though. By the end of the season, it was a whole different story.”

Bill Belichick on Rivers: “[He] played competitively in the all-star games and in a good program there with coach [Bo] Pelini, who we know very well. Derek’s been in a good system, has been well-coached. Even though he’s from a smaller school we’ll see what he can do for himself here, as well, when all is said and done . . . He’s been well-coached, and sure, it’s a big adjustment for him or anybody else moving to the National Football League. I think he’s been in a solid program. We’ll see how it goes.”

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Watch highlights of Rivers:

Here are some highlights from Rivers’s Friday night conference call:

Q: What was your immediate reaction when the Patriots selected you?

A: Man, I was shaking. It was an overwhelming feeling. To God be the glory. It’s all because of him. So that was awesome. It was a blessing.

Q: What was that meeting like with Coach Belichick?

A: It was awesome, man. I mean, we talked ball. I love Coach Belichick. I love everything he is and what he stands for and how he coaches, his demeanor. I mean, he’s an awesome dude, man. I could learn a lot from him.

Q: How would you describe yourself as a player?

A: I mean, I’m a hard worker. You get work ethic out of me. I do whatever the coaches want me to do, and that’s the type of guy I am.

Q: Why did you decide to stay at Youngstown?

A: I mean, because I love Youngstown. I loved every coach that I had come through here. I loved the city. And I knew it really didn’t matter what school you went to. It just mattered what you did on the field.

Q: What did you feel like you had to do during the pre-draft process to let coaches know your skill set would translate to a higher level of competition?

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A: Just play football. Don’t go out there and try to do too much. Just play football, honestly, man. Just go on out there and playing your game and playing as hard as you possibly can and doing all you can and leaving the rest in the Lord’s hands. [When] you go out there and play for the Lord, it’s different. You let him handle the rest.

Q: What type of player are the Patriots getting in you?

A: Like I said, I’m work ethic. No. 1, my faith in God is what got me here. And then, besides that, he gave me my work ethic. So I’m work ethic. I do more than what’s just asked of me, and that’s the type of player they get – a guy that he does more than what’s just asked of them and he does everything that the coaches want him to do. I listen to whatever my coaches need me to do. I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it 100 percent.

Q: How important was being a non-qualifier and going to prep school before Youngstown in developing your work ethic as a football player?

A: Oh man, it’s huge, and that’s one thing that Coach Bo really told [us]. That was the first thing that Coach Bo said in his first meeting with us when he got to Youngstown was that he was like, ‘What you do off the field is going to reflect on how you play on the field.’ So I was a non-qualifier in high school. At Youngstown, I’m probably going to graduate with a 3.0, and it makes sense. If you’re lazy off the field, you’re going to be lazy on the field. If you miss assignments in class, you may miss assignments on the field, so they translate. I mean, they correlate.

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Q: Tell us about how you ended up with No. 11 as your jersey number.

A: I have a cousin that plays basketball overseas. He’s like my brother. He wears No. 11, so that’s kind of how I got the jersey No. 11. I just kept it through high school and then on to Youngstown.

Watch an interview with Rivers at the Senior Bowl:


Stats Inc., contributed to this report. Follow Rachel G. Bowers on Twitter @RachelGBowers.