Anthony Richardson learning to slide, protect himself for a long season
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There isn’t one player on the Florida Gators‘ roster that is more tied to their success than Anthony Richardson. Football is the ultimate team game but Richardson plays the most important position. Along with the center, Richardson is the only player that touches the football every play.
At 6-4 and 232-pounds, Richardson can be a battering ram if he wants to be. He’s physically gifted enough that we’ve seen him run over, past and around defenders, even jumping over them. It’s a blast to watch but not necessarily a recipe for longevity.
“I do think that for us to win, Anthony Richardson’s got to — we’re going to play to his strengths, right? The guy’s a phenomenal athlete,” Billy Napier said this week. “He can make plays with his feet, some of those being designed, some of those being a threat and some of those are unannounced. And I think the key here is that he makes the right decision. And I think a lot of that is going to be determined dependent on our situation at that position. But there’s no question we’re going to use Anthony’s legs. It’s got to be a part of who we are and what we do.”
With that in mind, we know that Richardson will run the football. Last year, Louisiana quarterback Levi Lewis carried the ball 100 times. Richardson is going to be a huge part of the Gators’ rushing attack but his health is paramount.
Keeping Richardson healthy and on the field
The redshirt sophomore quarterback has had a number of injuries in his career. Just last season a hamstring forced him to miss games against Alabama and Tennessee. A knee injury required surgery and kept him out of the bowl game.
While neither of those were contact injuries, Richardson knows he doesn’t need to take unnecessary contact. That became an even bigger issue when backup quarterback Jack Miller went down with a thumb injury, sidelining him for two games.
“That was also something I tried to improve on, just not trying to be a superhero and take on big hits all the time, and try to hit people,” Richardson said Wednesday. “With him getting hurt, that also shed some light on me having to be even smarter. I’m sorry Jack had to get hurt but being healthy is a key component.”
There’s going to be a learning curve, for sure. Richardson has always been the biggest person on the field. His natural instinct will be to run towards contact.
That’s why this offseason Richardson might have thought about heading over to Condron Ballpark to get some pointers from the baseball team on how to slide.
It wasn’t a direct order, but something Richardson started to do on his own in practice.
“I wasn’t told to do it, but you know, I feel like if I was gonna do it I would have to learn how to do it somehow,” he said. “Just practicing running trying to do it, or if I’m scrambling in practice I try to do it sometimes. So, practice makes perfect.”
