Besides being the primary of Florida’s lengthy line of quarterback greats, Steve Spurrier produced his share of them.
Spurrier would have welcomed an opportunity to develop Anthony Richardson into the subsequent one.
“I tell people all the time, I would have loved to have coached him,” Spurrier instructed the Orlando Sentinel. “But that didn’t work out.”
Instead, Richardson had three coaches in three seasons whereas by no means absolutely capitalizing on his appreciable bodily instruments.
“I had to learn a new offense in six months,” Richardson wrote throughout an April 13 contribution on The Player’s Tribune. “Even though I didn’t always get the result I wanted … I never gave up.”
The query ‘what could have been’ will cling over Richardson’s faculty profession.
On Thursday night time, NFL decision-makers will ask themselves, what could possibly be?
Richardson shall be among the many first quarterbacks drafted, a call primarily based on his elegant athletic skill and huge potential somewhat than his haphazard manufacturing or deficiencies as a passer.
Spurrier and two of his most profitable quarterbacks, Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews, are desirous to see how Richardson’s future unfolds.
“Both the physical stature, the power and agility, combined with great arm talent is clearly what has all these teams — or at least most of them — really interested in what he can be,” Wuerffel stated. “He has an extremely excessive ceiling, and also you simply don’t get that sort of participant fairly often. The problem is it hasn’t developed but into being a refined, productive quarterback.
“That’s sort of the opportunity that teams are going to have to work with … just so much possibility.”
No prospect exemplifies the draft’s risk-reward nature greater than Richardson. No place does, both.
“It’s always a risk anytime you take a quarterback, regardless of who it is,” Matthews stated. “You simply by no means understand how they’re going to pan out. He’s extraordinarily gifted. It simply hasn’t translated at a excessive stage on the sector on a constant foundation. Lots of people suppose, if that’s his job and he trains 12 months spherical, learns from different guys, that potential might turn out to be actuality.
“Only time will tell. He’s a gifted kid, but it’s a different animal in the National Football League.”
Matthews was Spurrier’s first star quarterback, a two-time SEC Player of the Year who went on to a protracted NFL profession primarily as a backup. During three seasons at Florida (1990-92), he accomplished 60% of his passes and ended his profession with an SEC-record 74 landing throws since eclipsed by 16 gamers, 4 of them Gators.
Listed at 6-foot-3 and 196 kilos, Matthews wonders what he might have performed with Richardson’s dimension (6-4, 244), velocity (4.43 seconds within the 40) and the arm energy capable of produce easy 75-yard throws.
“If I’d had his tools, I’d have been the No. 1 pick in the draft,” he quipped. “I might have made a lot cash and performed longer than I most likely did. I might have had an unbelievable profession.
“Put it this way: I didn’t last 14 years because of my physical ability.”
Richardson’s athletic items produced NFL Scouting Combine data and can garner NFL hundreds of thousands. Those distinctive measurables and a franchise’s sizable funding will enable him each probability to succeed or fail.
Richardson plans to do no matter it takes to meet his promise.
“Everybody’s not coachable,” he stated following the Gators’ Pro Day final month. “Everybody doesn’t need to be nice. Everybody doesn’t need to work. So, I undoubtedly take satisfaction in that.
“I always want to grow.”
The sky’s the restrict with Richardson, who turns 21 on May 22. Yet, his flooring raises pink flags.
Richardson closed his profession 9-of-27 passing throughout a 45-38 loss at Florida State to finish final season with 53.8% completion accuracy, the bottom by a Florida participant since Treon Harris in 2015.
The efficiency perplexed even Richardson, who stated, “That’s just crazy to me.”
The effort culminated a season rife with inconsistency and inexplicable moments.
After his season-opening, 3-touchdown efficiency in opposition to Utah within the Swamp thrust him into the Heisman Trophy dialog, Richardson displayed spotty decision-making throughout a 10-point loss at residence to Kentucky.
Richardson threw a pair of ill-advised interceptions, together with a pick-six to a Kentucky defender with no UF receiver within the neighborhood — a gaffe paying homage to one other pick-six in opposition to Georgia throughout his first profession begin in 2021.
“After our Utah game, we were all saying he runs like Lamar Jackson and passes like Tom Brady,” Spurrier stated. “Then we’re all saying what in the heck is going on? Why’d you do that?”
Richardson’s toughness additionally got here into query in opposition to the Wildcats. Successful to his proper ankle early within the recreation as he scrambled despatched Richardson right into a shell. He ended with 4 dashing yards after tallying 106 in opposition to Utah.
A reluctance to run the ball in site visitors or tackle smaller tacklers turned a sample.
“He can run over guys, he can juke them, he can do it all,” Spurrier stated. “Then sometimes he’ll just run out of bounds when he’s bigger and stronger than those little DBs. The coaches may tell him to run out of bounds. I don’t know.”
Richardson couldn’t get previous his inconsistency.
During 12 begins, he threw for 400 yards twice and rushed for 100 yards twice, but additionally had 25 dashing yards or fewer thrice and fewer than 150 passing yards 4 occasions.
“That’s part of the concern: just overall mental and passing consistency,” stated Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman winner and a six-year NFL veteran. “Will that enhance and meet up with the unbelievable expertise? Or will that be one thing that type of sticks with him?
“That’s the thing that all these teams are trying to sort through right now.”
In a career judged by wins and losses, Richardson’s 6-7 report as a starter will solely add to the record of considerations.
But Richardson’s youth and inexperience, the Gators’ teaching instability and underwhelming supporting forged, and his generational athleticism at his place shall be too tempting to go up for a franchise with looming quarterback wants.
“He certainly had some unusual challenges and he’s still a young person,” Wuerffel stated. “He’s just got so much talent. A lot will depend on if he gets in a good situation … that would give him the time to really develop and grow.”
While analysts anticipate groups to pick out Ohio State’s CJ Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young earlier than Richardson, predictions the place he’ll land vary from Indianapolis at No. 4 and Seattle at No. 5 to Minnesota at No. 23, per esteemed NFL author Peter King.
Wherever Richardson finally ends up, he may have a captive viewers. At Florida, the previous Gainesville highschool star was as apt to make a highlight-reel play as a head-scratching one.
No one who watched him, although, questioned whether or not he had the expertise to succeed.
“Everybody knows he runs 4.43, does the backflips, can throw, can run, can do it all,” Spurrier stated. “And then you definately say, nicely, the final two years at Florida they have been 6-7. So is it unhealthy teaching? Is it unhealthy gamers round him? What is it?
“He’ll go to the NFL and we’ll find out … see if the coaches up there can bring him to an elite quarterback. We all believe he can be an elite quarterback.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at [email protected] or comply with him on Twitter at @osgators.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com