Bridgewater ready to compete with the best

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The U.S. Army All-American Bowl selection tour continued its tear through Florida on Friday and made its way to Miami (Fla.) Northwestern to officially extend an invite to quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The talented signal-caller is looking forward to the opportunity to be a part of the East team in the game.

"It meant a lot because I really wanted to play in the game," Bridgewater said of the invite. "To play in the game, it took hard work and dedication."

For Northwestern Head Coach Billy Rolle, he is proud of and for Bridgewater.

"Teddy is a gentle giant," Rolle said. "He is a quiet kid, a great academic kid, and a momma's boy if you will. He is a great student. He leads, not very loudly, but in the right way. He carries himself very well on and off the field.

"I am very proud of him for this accomplishment," Rolle said. "This accomplishment is very good for the school to let people around the nation know that we are doing good things here at Northwestern both athletically and academically. I am very proud of Teddy, I am not surprised, because you expect this of him but he is a very deserving kid."

Bridgewater has had an accomplished career at Northwestern, but said that today's invite ranks at the top of his list of those accomplishments.

"Right now it ranks No. 1," Bridgewater said. "Until I get a state championship."

Speaking of a state championship, Bridgewater is a major reason why the Bulls are sitting at 9-2 on the season after defeating Miami (Fla.) Columbus 27-24 in the opening round of the state playoffs on Thursday night. He hopes that he can continue to lead his team towards Orlando for the state championship in December.

"Right now we are just trying to prove a point," Bridgewater said.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound quarterback is 164-for-243 on the season for 2,170 yards, 20 touchdowns, and just two interceptions. He has also rushed for 193 yards on 64 attempts and scored six rushing touchdowns. Bridgewater missed two games during the regular season with a minor knee injury, which he has since recovered from.

He is hoping that he can have similar success over a week of practice in San Antonio and earn the starting job as quarterback for the East team.

"It is going to be great," Bridgewater said. "I am going to have to put in a lot of work and I am going to have to compete like always."

Starter or not, he will play and he is looking forward to testing his talents against some of the best players that the West has to offer.

"Oh yeah," Bridgewater said. "Life is all about competition and competing. I feel I am ready to compete whenever I get to that next level."

The Rivals100 prospect committed to nearby University of Miami back in June, but has admittedly waffled a bit on that commitment in recent months. While he remains a member of Randy Shannon's commitment class, he intends to look at a few options with LSU and Florida having been mentioned as possible visit destinations. On Friday, Bridgewater shed no light on any developments with regards to his recruitment.

"I don't want to talk about that right now," Bridgewater said.

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl will be played Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and will be nationally televised by NBC.

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