Gene and Tommy Riordan help fuel the Red Devils

BY JEFF VORVA

Cookies and cream ice cream may have saved Tommy Riordan’s football career.

It’s a time-honored ritual in sports that older siblings pick on younger siblings during backyard competitions.

That certainly was the case in the Riordan household when Tommy started playing football in second grade, and he had his older brother, Gene, making life difficult for him.

“He definitely made it harder,” Tommy said of Gene. “But it got me better. We still make each other better in practice. If you get knocked down, you have to get back up. I love being in the grind of a tough, physical sport.”

Oh, sure. He can say that now. Tommy is a 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end/tight end and a junior at Hinsdale Central. Even though his senior offensive lineman brother is 6-5, 280, Tommy can still handle himself.

But back in the day, when they were just starting out?

“My dad bribed me with a lot of ice cream to stay in the sport of football,” he said. “Looking back on it, those times made me better. It was a good time. But there were some hard parts being a young kid.”

So, cookies and cream kept Tommy in the game, and he and Gene make quite a pair for the Red Devils.

Gene has gotten a kick out of being the aggressor over the years.

“Yep – it’s a little harder now because he’s gotten a little bigger,” Gene said. “But I’m still taller and heavier and stronger. We’ve had a competitive nature growing up 13 months apart. It’s good to have a little bug behind you.  I think we push each other, and we’ve made each other better athletes and better people. I learned a lot from my brother.”

They are such an elite tandem on the gridiron that the Illinois Inquirer website reported earlier this year that Illinois was going hard after both of them to join the Illini.

As of the beginning of October, however, Gene’s status was that he verbally committed to Iowa, and Tommy said he would wait until the spring to make a decision, even though he had 10 offers in his pocket.

“I’m thinking about all of my options,” Tommy said. “I’m looking for strong academics. I want the coaches to believe in me as a player and as a person. I would like to see a good team atmosphere as well and good coaching on top of that.”

Gene believes he has found his spot in Iowa City.

“I was looking for a school that would treat me like family, and Iowa has a great experience with players and retaining players throughout the years in college,” he said. “Sometimes they may not score very many points, but they do have a vast history of developing linemen for the NFL.”

Eight former Hawkeye linemen were on NFL rosters to start the season.

“It’s really high aspirations for me to look at that and see that they were Iowa Hawkeyes,” Gene said. “We have like-minded goals.”

Tommy had an advantage in learning the recruiting game by making trips with his brother.

The easy ending to the story is that Tommy joins Gene at Iowa. That’s not being ruled out. But it’s not a gimme.

“I got to know all the programs and coaches that he has talked to,” Tommy said of Gene’s recruitment. “It’s been a head start in my recruiting. I’ve gotten a feel for what I like and what I don’t like. I learned you have to be very patient. It’s a long process. You have to go to the school that is right for you. It has to be your own decision. You have to really love the school.

“My brother loves Iowa, and I’m looking and exploring to see what I fall in love with.”

Gene accepts that and encourages it.

“I obviously want my brother to play at Iowa – that would be awesome,” Gene said. “But he has to find it himself. He’s taking his time to process and really decide for himself where he is going to have his heart set on. He’s going to find it and take action.”