Now that Clifton Richardson is officially a part of the 2013 Liberty Flames football team, what kind of impact should we expect him to have?
Richardson, who also considered transferring to Old Dominion or Richmond, was a highly recruited athlete out of high school. He had offers from numerous schools including Virginia Tech, West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Miami (FL), and Louisville before deciding on Virginia. He could arguably be the highest rated recruit to ever end up at Liberty.
Richardson is a 6 foot, 210 pound athlete who runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. At Virginia, Richardson was exclusively a running back, but that does not mean he will line up only at RB for the Flames. In high school he played running back, wide receiver, and even quarterback. As a senior at Menchville High School in Newport News, Virginia, Richardson ran for 871 yards and passed for 505 yards. He said one of the reasons he chose Liberty was because the Flames plan to use him the same way he was used in high school and he can get back to “having a little fun out there.”
He was injured much of 2012 and only appeared in 7 games. In his true freshman season in 2011, Richardson rushed for 366 yards on 72 carries. That’s 5.1 yards per carry as a true freshman against the likes of Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Auburn. For comparison’s sake, Rashad Jennings rushed for 411 yards on 86 carries as a true freshman at Pittsburgh before transferring to Liberty. That’s an average of 4.8 yards per carry.
I think it’s safe to say that Richardson, if healthy, should have a BIG impact at Liberty.
With the probable loss of AA, it’s great that Liberty has found someone who can help take some pressure off of Josh Woodrum. I imagine the biggest unknown is the development of the OL.
Hopefully, Richardson will be as good as advertised. TG wants balance in the offense and if the OL can avoid injuries and gel together there’s a good chance that LU puts up some good numbers running and throwing the ball.