NATCHEZ — New England Patriots’ running back Stevan Ridley will step on the big stage tonight when he takes the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

It is an opportunity that a very small percentage of football players get in their lifetimes, but it is something that Ridley’s high school coach at Trinity Episcopal, David King, could have predicted years ago.

“I told everybody when he was in sixth grade that I had a great idea that he’d be something special,” King said. “We talked about in his sophomore and junior years in high school that I knew he’d be in the pros.”

King said Ridley’s ability to play football was easy to spot at an early age.

“He was the real deal,” King said. “He was everything you want. He was big, fast, strong, mean and had great hands and great feet.”

King said Ridley was in a class by himself in terms of athletes that he has coached.

Yet, King said Ridley came across many doubters in his career.

“He was the most scrutinized player to come out of Natchez,” he said. “People said he couldn’t play at the 5A-level, then they said he couldn’t play in the SEC and then he definitely couldn’t play running back in the SEC and certainly not in the pros. And he ended up All-SEC and is playing in the Super Bowl.”

King said one moment that proved how special Ridley was came in his freshman season.

“It was his ninth-grade year against Oak Forest, and we put him at nose guard,” King said. “He had two sacks in one drive. Two sacks, and he had never put his hand down (played nose guard) out there before.”

King said he still keeps in touch with Ridley regularly, and it will be a very special moment for the coach when his player takes the field in the Super Bowl.

“It’s certainly emotional,” King said.

King said he and Ridley have had a bond since Ridley’s days at Trinity and when Ridley was a running back at LSU he would always recognize King in the stands before the games and with the pounding of his chest with his fist would let King know he saw him.

King said his message to Ridley before the game tonight is similar to what he told him years ago.

“It would be the same thing I told him in the fifth grade — hold on to the football,” King said.

If the Patriots manage to beat the Giants tonight, Ridley would have achieved a unique feat. He won a state championship ring with Trinity, a national championship ring at LSU and he would add a Super Bowl ring to group.

“There cannot be more than a handful of guys with a state championship, national championship and Super Bowl,” King said. “I just can’t imagine there being more than a handful.”

Even before Ridley made it to the high-school level to star for the Saints there were coaches in Natchez that knew he had something special.

Greg Ketchings coached Ridley in baseball, basketball and football when Ridley was a boy, and he said his talent was overwhelming even at a young age.

“His fifth- and sixth-grade years he was totally dominant,” Ketchings said. “Especially in sixth grade. He played defensive line, because he was too big (to play in the backfield), and he could have sacked the quarterback on every play.”

Ketchings said Ridley did not record as many sacks as he could have, because he always had his eyes out for the ball and wanted an interception.

“The ball would be snapped and Stevan would be standing there with the safety waiting on the football,” he said. “I told him to sack the guy if you can go ahead and sack him. But he had to get back and get that interception.”

Ketchings said he saw the same potential in Ridley that King saw.

“I told everybody after his sixth-grade year that he was going where he is today,”

Ketchings said he is a big Ole Miss fan, and it hurt him to see Ridley attend LSU. But he pulled for the Tigers when Ridley was there and will pull for New England tonight.

“It killed me,” he said. “I had to watch him and had to pull for him,” Ketchings said. “It was the first time I pulled for LSU in my life. Now I’m in a bind because I have Eli Manning (on the Giants), but I have to pull for Stevan.”