He was the darling of college football on Labor Day weekend and has been borderline disastrous ever since.
What’s up with Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson heading into this week’s showdown at Tennessee?
“I don’t know. That’s a great question. I don’t even know,” the 6-foot-4, 232-pound redshirt sophomore from Gainesville said this week in a news conference. “I guess I just started holding myself back from running, and that’s a part of the offense that helps us move the ball.
“I guess I’ve got to pick it up and bring that back.”
The Gators opened the Billy Napier era in thrilling fashion Sept. 3, with Richardson’s dual-threat talents leading them to a 29-26 upset of seventh-ranked and defending Pac-12 Conference champion Utah in the Swamp. Richardson completed 17 of 24 passes (70.8%) for 168 yards and rushed 11 times for 106 yards and three touchdowns.
In the two games that followed, a 26-16 home loss to Kentucky and last weekend’s 31-28 home escape of South Florida, he has completed just 24 of 53 attempts (45.3%) for 255 yards with four interceptions. He has rushed 13 times for 28 yards.
“Teams are very aware that this guy can beat them with his feet, and he may be getting different structure as a result of that,” Napier said. “We’ll do our best to use his skill set, and I think we’ll continue to grow in that area, but we need to improve in the throw game. It’s one of our points of emphasis.
“We need precision in the throw game, and I think settling into some lineups and figuring out what we do well and what’s the quarterback comfortable with — all those things go into that. It’s the first year in a new system and a first-year quarterback in a new system, too.”
Richardson saw action in four games in 2020, when he redshirted, and played in eight contests a year ago. He spent most of last season as the backup to Emory Jones but got his first career start against top-ranked Georgia, completing 12 of 20 passes for 82 yards with two interceptions and rushing 12 times for 26 yards in a 34-7 loss.
The Bulldogs would go on to produce five first-round NFL defenders, but in four career starts entering this week, Richardson has been intercepted six times while still seeking a touchdown toss.
“It’s going to come,” Richardson said. “I’ve just got to let it come to me. I can’t force it.”
The Gators defeated Tennessee 38-14 in last year’s matchup, with Jones completing 21 of 27 passes for 209 yards and rushing 15 times for 144 yards. Stopping quarterback runs was an issue throughout last season for the Volunteers, who allowed 40 yards to Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, 42 to Alabama’s Bryce Young, 47 to Kentucky’s Will Levis and an eye-popping 195 to Matt Corral of Ole Miss.
Tennessee has not been affected by that this season — opposing quarterbacks have 18 rushes for minus-22 yards in a statistic containing sacks — but the Vols haven’t faced the challenge that Richardson presents.
“He can throw the football, and he can do that on the move and from inside the pocket,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “He’s big, physical and imposing, and you have to bottle him up in the quarterback run game. As you’re trying to apply pressure when they’re dropping back to throw it, he’s got the ability to make you pay if you don’t have rush integrity inside your pass rush lanes.
“We’ve done a better job this year than we did a year ago, but that’s going to be a critical part of this football game.”
Junior edge rusher Tyler Baron, who had two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble in Tennessee’s overtime win at Pittsburgh on Sept. 10, agrees.
“He’s a very skilled guy, and we need to give him different looks to make him make decisions and make him beat us,” Baron said. “I think we’ve been doing a good job up front as well as everybody in the front seven of creating edges and getting in the backfield.
“We’re going to continue to be us and do what we do.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.