Florida Gators Freshman QB Anthony Richardson Impressing Mullen, Johnson
Image credit: University of Florida Athletic Association
It hasn't taken long for Florida Gators freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson to impress his teammates and coaches in college.
Richardson, an area-standout at Eastside (Gainesville, Fla.), routinely produced highlight-worthy plays in high school that led to Florida and Power 5 programs nationally coveting his services. There were aspects of Richardson's game left to be refined, but his combination of raw arm power, mobility, and finesse aren't easy to find.
Florida quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson calls it "God-given ability."
"[Richardson]'s a really fast learner," said Johnson on Wednesday. "He was really engaged in our Zooms over the Summer. He’s a great note-taker. He’s a great listener. He really gives you everything in terms of his energy and effort to become a really great player."
Richardson got a head start on his development, enrolling in December and even practicing with the Gators prior to the 2019 Orange Bowl against Virginia. Starting quarterback Kyle Trask called Richardson a "stud" after seeing him on the field for a couple of days.
At Eastside, Richardson completed 53.2% of his passes, posting a career-high of 64.5% as a senior, throwing for 4,633 career passing yards, 37 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. He added 1,633 yards and 41 touchdowns on the ground across 250 rushing attempts.
"I was a little concerned in terms of him not being able to get those reps and miss those really, really valuable reps in the spring," Johnson said.
Of course, spring camps were canceled across the country amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Richardson's attention to detail in offseason team meetings, however, seems to be paying off early on in his Florida career.
"I think he is a really good young guy, picks it up very quickly, very natural, doesn't get flustered," Mullen said of Richardson last week. "The fact that you have two other veteran quarterbacks in there, things have been thrown at him pretty fast, and we haven't pampered or babied him. We've just seen how he's picked it all up, and he's done a pretty good job of it."
Florida feels comfortable with their quarterback situation entering a unique season where injury risk, paired with potential cases of COVID-19, could hamper any roster. The Gators return Trask, who has made five major award watch lists this preseason after a productive first year as a starter in 2019, along with "playmaker", as Mullen calls him, redshirt sophomore quarterback Emory Jones.
Having two experienced and productive quarterbacks on the roster, as Jones has combined for 679 passing and rushing yards and nine total touchdowns, Florida has more stability at signal-caller than most, if not every, team in the SEC.
However, Richardson is the third and only other scholarship quarterback on the roster, meaning his number could be called at some point if one or both quarterbacks go down - or perhaps even in his own small role. It should be noted, Jones saw 61 snaps at QB in four games as a true freshman before redshirting. The NCAA also recently voted to grant all fall athletes a blanket waiver and an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic, meaning Richardson doesn't need to redshirt.
"He’s got a fantastic skill-set," said Johnson. "We just got to keep developing him at a rapid rate and he’s got to continue to just keep pushing, keep developing. But I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far out of him.”
