UCLA football’s Dietrich Riley, who would have been a redshirt junior safety during the upcoming 2013-2014 season, was forced to medically retire Tuesday because of continued neck and shoulder injuries.
Riley reportedly was unable to be granted final medical clearance for the team’s upcoming fall camp at Cal State San Bernardino. The former defensive starter last appeared in a game in October of 2011.
The Pasadena native was a highly touted class of 2010 recruit, earning a four-star ranking with ESPN, as well as the No. 108 position in the ESPN150 football recruit rankings. He considered schools like Florida, LSU, Notre Dame and USC before committing to then-coach Rick Neuheisel’s widely celebrated 2010 recruit class at UCLA.
As a true freshman, Riley saw action for the Bruins on defense and special teams in 11 of the team’s 12 games, totaling 20 tackles.
In his second season with the Bruins, the defensive regular played in the season’s first eight games, earning five starts at safety, his first coming against Texas in UCLA’s third game of the season.
The strong safety recorded a total of 36 tackles on the season before sustaining a season-ending neck injury in a collision with California running back Isi Sofele. Riley took a medical redshirt during what would have been his junior season, limiting his participation to the scout teams in practice.
After nearly an 18-month layoff, Riley was named a starter heading into UCLA’s 2013 spring season, but a shoulder setback in the team’s third workout kept him in a red non-contact jersey for the remainder of spring football.
In a span of four months, the Bruins have now lost the two most experienced members of their defensive backs corps – Riley to injury and rising junior Tevin McDonald in April because of a third failed drug test.
There is a great deal of uncertainty as far as who will see the lion’s share of repetitions in fall camp among UCLA’s remaining defensive backs. Rising junior cornerback Anthony Jefferson and rising senior safety Brandon Sermons have both seen limited action in their respective careers at UCLA, but will be joined in San Bernardino by a talented corps of incoming defensive backs including ESPN four-star recruits Priest Willis, Tahaan Goodman, Johnny Johnson, Jr. and Jalen Ortiz, as well as ESPN three-star recruit Tyler Foreman.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin Sports senior staff.