NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Will Richard was a pretty good football player as an adolescent. Call it part of little Richard’s pedigree. His father was a defensive lineman at Clemson, so he naturally gravitated toward the gridiron and even played the same position. It was there, in the trenches, that Richard made a memorable play that is still talked about in his family.
Seventh grade. Middle school football team. On the d-line. Rushing the quarterback. The charging, bull-rushing Will got his hands up, tipped the pass and pulled the ball in, with only green grass (and, no doubt, a fleeting thought of reaching the end zone) in front of him.
“I was fat,” Richard said. “I made it like five yards. Everybody caught me.”
His mother, Helen Richard, was there that day.
“It was like watching him in slow motion,” she said. “After that, he was pretty much done.”
Will Richard. Yes, thatWill Richard. The lithe wing who sprints the basketball floor for the Florida Gators and who when on target with his 3-point shot makes Coach Todd Golden‘s team one of the most lethal offenses in college basketball, was once a 6-foot-1, 230-pound eighth-grader when — as a 14-year-old clearly mature beyond his years — he made a commitment to his body and the game of basketball. Richard shed the pounds, moved out of the post and became a standout Georgia prep player who attracted mid-major college scholarship offers. Off he went to Belmont University, where Richard parlayed an excellent freshman season in the Ohio Valley Conference into becoming the first player signed by Golden and his UF staff when he transferred in the spring of 2022.
And, yes, it was thatWill Richard who poured in 23 points and a trio of 3-pointers in Tuesday night’s wood-shedding of No. 16 Alabama in UF’s home finale. On Saturday, Richard will help lead the Gators (21-9, 11-5) when they close out the regular season on the road at Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14), about a mile from Belmont, the place that launched him to the SEC. It was at Memorial Gym, home to the Commodores, where Richard played his final game as a Bruin — a loss to Vandy in the NIT — but one that left him convinced he was ready to take his game to the high-major level.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry’s “Pregame Stuff” setup here]
After this homecoming of sorts, Richard, now a streamlined 6-4 and 206 pounds, will get to test his…
