The coaching staff still felt that Riordan had the makings of an Ivy League cornerback and little or no shot at the quarterbacking job, but Restic agreed to let him return to Crop at the position of his choice.
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At first, the decision seemed baffling Why would anyone in his right mind surrender a virtually guaranteed starting slot to play be hind other people.
According to roommate and defensive back John Rice: however, Riordan "is not scared to do anything for someone or something that's important to him." And apparently, playing quarterback was very important to him.
So important that he didn't mind playing (or not playing, to be accurate) behind a cast of thousands during his junior year. So important that he came back this season even though he knew the formidable Allard-Cuccia duo stood in front of him.
Certainly, the decision resulted in some frustration, but Riordan insists he never considered leaving the team because he wasn't playing.
"This will sound kind of corny, but I really love the game, and I just couldn't see myself sitting in the stands watching a Harvard football game when I know I could be in there or on the sidelines as a part of the team," he says.
At the beginning of the season, it seemed as though Riordan would indeed spend most of the year spectating from the sidelines. But then Harvard's unfortunate tradition of losing quarterbacks made him the starter for the Dartmouth game.
Columbia linebacker Dan Smith had put Cuccia out of commission with a rib injury in the season opener and three weeks later, Allard sustained a bruised collarbone midway in the Cornell game.
Riordan filled in for Allard during the second half of the Cornell contest, and the following Saturday Restic tapped him to call the signals in Hanover.
It was Riordan's misfortune to make his first collegiate start against an 0-4 Big Green squad that decided to alone for all of its previous failures in a 14-12 win over the Crimson.
But the brief experience should justify Riordan's decision to return to QB.
To his credit are a 15-yard TD run that put the Crimson within striking distance near the end of the Dartmouth game and a 41-yard run from the line of scrimmage against Cornell, a fast that tops all other Harvard running efforts this season.
And for the moment, Riordan is content with that.
He seems to have forgotten that he could be starting on defense. And right now he is interested in seeing Harvard best Princeton tomorrow afternoon and eventually win the Ivy title--regardless of who is at quarterback.
"I'm on the team; and I want to win as much as anybody else," he says, if I were there just for the sake of my playing, I would have been gone a long time ago."