Florida Gators 2020 Signee Profile: QB Anthony Richardson
Anthony Richardson, Quarterback
School: Eastside High School, Gainesville (Fla.)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 233 lbs.
247Sports Composite Rating: Four stars, No. 9 dual-threat quarterback, No. 30 state (Fla.), No. 201 national
Recruitment History
An area standout who played high school ball merely 15 minutes away from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Florida quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson and company were in on Richardson early in his recruiting process. Gators head coach Dan Mullen even watched Richardson play in person during his senior season.
One of his first offers, Richardson committed to Florida for seven months from 2018-19 before taking a step back to assess all of his options. Through March, Richardson had namely received offers from Georgia, Penn State, Michigan, Virginia Tech, UCF, and others.
The de-commitment came days following an unofficial visit to Florida in February, but Richardson was quick to turn around and get back into the class two months later on April 6th. Richardson never wavered from that pledge, visiting multiple times afterwards, helping recruit other 2020 prospects, and eventually signing in December. He was the only qarterback Florida took in the 2020 class.
Netflix will feature Richardson's senior season and signing with Florida in its fourth season of the QB1: Beyond the Lights series, expected to be released in August.
Richardson graduated early from Eastside and enrolled at Florida in January. Due to his early graduation, Richardson and fellow 2020 signees, offensive linemen Joshua Braun and Richie Leonard IV, were able to practice with the Gators in December prior to the 2019 Orange Bowl. Teammates were impressed with Richardson's performance right out of the gate.
"He’s got some zip. The way he throws the ball. I’ve seen him just throwing it around, tossing it around, he’s got an arm," said former Gators and now-Houston Texans linebacker Jonathan Greenard of Richardson in December. "He’s got good size. He’s very mature coming in so far, kind of jelling with the older guys and young guys really well."
The Gators starting quarterback and now a mentor to Richardson, Kyle Trask, also heaped praise for Richardson early on. "He is a stud. He is going to be great for this university as well," said Trask. "My first impression is that he is really athletic and he has a very strong arm. He is a very talented kid."
Long-Term Projection and Outlook
With Trask returning for a redshirt senior season and rising redshirt sophomore Emory Jones pushing for extended playing time of his own, it's hard to expect seeing Richardson receive snaps this fall other than at the end of blowout victories. Richardson is very likely to receive a redshirt to extend his development plan under Mullen, similar to Jones.
Jones, the first Mullen-recruited quarterback at Florida who has been through two years of Mullen's development plan, will be in line to start in 2021 after Trask graduates. The timeline suggests that Richardson will step up as the primary backup when Jones takes over. Should he progress as well as Jones did within his first two seasons, Richardson could begin to see the field similarly.
While he wouldn't neessarily change the pace of the offense like Jones does now, as both are dual-threats, Richardson offers a more powerful rushing approach at his size while Jones is an open-field threat given his great speed and elusiveness. As the run game continues to improve moving forward into 2021, it could be in Mullen's best interest to diversify the quarterback run game with Jones and Richardson to make concepts even less predictable.
Of course, Richardson's developement as a passer will be critical as well, and he certainly made big strides in high school that should provide confidence in his ceiling being sky-high. The Eastside offense wssn't overly complex so a lot of mental progression will have to be made in learning Florida's offense, but Richardson's raw tools are jaw-dropping.
Statistically speaking, Richardson improved every year as a starter by improving his accuracy and cutting down turnovers. His senior season was cut short after six games following an injury, but it looked to be his best one yet as Richardson had completed a career-best 64.5% of his 124 passes for 1,398 yards (11.3 yards per attempt), eight touchdowns, and only one interception. Richardson also added 151 yards and seven touchdowns on 33 rushing attempts.
In total, Richardson completed 53.2% of his 523 high school passing attempts 3,633 yards, 37 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions across 32 games. Richardson also rushed 250 times for 1,633 yards and 41 scores.
Possessing a cannon arm and great mobility, Richardson fits Mullen's traditional quarterback mold and has fantastic upside. Richardson has previously run a 4.64-second 40-yard dash, well above average for quarterbacks despite his bigger stature. Richardson has shown the ability to make impressive window throws and anticipate open zones to complete quick passes, which will continue to be a focus in his development.
Eastside would often run four vertical passing concepts and trust Richardson to make big-time throws. More often than not as his career went on, Richardson connected with receivers on deep passes with multiple throws going well over 50 yards in the air and meeting the receiver in stride, all with a simple flick of his wrist.
When protection broke down, Richardson had no issue taking matters into his own hands and extending plays with his feet - sometimes tucking and running, and other times making spectacular off-platform throws.
As long as Richardson's development goes as planned and Florida's quarterback pipeline remains in tact, he should be in line to replace Jones as UF's starter whenever Jones' time as a Gator is over.
With Mullen and Johnson's history of developing quarterbacks in mind and Jones' prospects as a high school recruit, that could be as early as after the 2021 season should Jones elect to declare for the NFL Draft following his redshirt junior year - leaving Richardson as the guy entering 2022.
