A number of SEC schools have turned up the recruiting heat on DT T-Ron Richardson (6-5 285) of Hopewell, VA, and one of those is South Carolina.
The Director of Recruiting-Defense for the Gamecocks, Brandon Middleton, made the first contact earlier this year and had Richardson send in transcripts and tape. Things cooled off for a bit before defensive line coach Travian Robertson got back in touch with an offer.
“Maybe a week before South Carolina offered me, that’s when they started communicating again, and things started to get a little serious,” Richardson said. “The rest is history. They offered me a scholarship and now we are where we are.”
Robertson was in for a school visit with Richardson about two weeks ago and the two talked about a number of things, including a possible visit in June.
Wednesday, Georgia offered Richardson. He also has SEC offers from Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Auburn. Penn State also offered on Wednesday, and he also has offers from Maryland, Boston College, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, East Carolina, Marshall and UConn.
Richardson said it’s pretty obvious why the defensive coaches from these schools and others are so interested in him.
“My size and my athleticism,” Richardson said. “I don’t know if you know this or not, but I actually run the 110 hurdles. My size, athleticism, get off and power, just all that type of stuff fits well into their scheme.”
And how does someone weighing 285 pounds clear a hurdle on the track?
“Man, athleticism. That’s the only way I can explain it,” he said. “You’ve got to be very coordinated. It’s a mix of coordinator and balance, a mix of a little bit of everything.”
The Gamecocks have cleared one hurdle with Richardson by making him the offer. He has never seen the school, so the next hurdle is to get him in for a visit as soon as it can be worked out.
“I’m feeling pretty positive towards South Carolina right now,” Richardson said. “There’s still more stuff I need to figure out such as an official visit, unofficial, or just my own research on the school. South Carolina is a big-time offer. SEC football, big-time football, great school. That’s big for me.”
Richardson has official visits set to Virginia June 13th and Virginia Tech June 20th. He said he also has visits set with Maryland, Auburn and Oklahoma. There is no favorite going into his officials.
“Honestly, not right now,” Richardson said. “Right now, I’m just accepting everything. Really appreciate all the offers and the love that I’ve been getting. Coming closer to that decision, that’s when I’m going to start narrowing it down and figure out what’s the best fit for me.”
Last season Richardson had 62 tackles with 32 tackles for loss and six sacks.