Cael Richardson Commits to BYU Football as PWO

BYU has prioritized the preferred walk-on program (PWO) since Kalani Sitake was named the head coach - it has paid off in a major way this season. BYU's leading rusher (Tyler Allgeier) and leading receiver (Dax Milne) both arrived on campus as preferred walk-ons in 2018. Payton Wilgar was a PWO before being named a Freshman All-American at linebacker in 2019. Cael Richardson hopes to be the next PWO turned scholarship player at BYU. Richardson bet on himself when he committed to BYU as a preferred walk-on over scholarship offers from other schools.

Richardson is an inside linebacker out of Timpview High School who holds scholarship offers from Penn and Northern Colorado. I caught up with Richardson to discuss his decision to commit to BYU.

He listed three different reasons that drove his decision to commit to BYU:

"First, I’m confident in my abilities to earn my spot and eventually earn a scholarship. Second, BYU is a great environment that will help me become the person I want to be and help me achieve my goals in football and also in life. Third, it’s always been one of my dream schools and I will be close to family and friends and surrounded by great coaches and teammates."

Richardson joins teammates Logan Fano and Raider Damuni as the third Timpview player to commit to BYU as part of the 2021 class. Richardson said playing with his teammates at the next level played "huge role" in his decision:

"Logan and Raider played a huge role in my decision! I’ve been playing with Logan since 5th grade and we’ve all been super close since freshman year. Those guys are my brothers and I’m so excited to step onto the field with them again."

Cael will serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after he graduates from high school. He will enroll at BYU as soon as he gets home from his mission.