Florida football: Billy Napier says why Anthony Richardson isn’t running
The sentiment was the same for many Florida football fans on Saturday:
“Enough with the trick plays Burt! Run the dang ball!”
Florida was able to run at will against USF with Montrell Johnson, Trevor Etienne, and Nay’Quan Wright. Noticeably absent from the run parade was QB Anthony Richardson, who was credited with seven rushes for 24 yards.
The Gators have seemed hesitant to use Richardson on QB keepers since the Utah game and head coach Billy Napier gave insight during his press conference on Monday.
Florida football: No backup QBs
Before the start of the season, we highlighted the backup QB situation for Florida football. It wasn’t pretty. Jack Miller had a terrible Spring Game and has been out with thumb surgery. Florida has listed Jalen Kitna and Kyle Engel as the backups, but neither invokes great confidence. Kitna also didn’t have a great Spring Game and Engel is a walk-on.
Napier alluded to this situation when asked why Richardson isn’t running the ball more.
"“I think our situation at quarterback has something to do with that if that makes sense”"
Richardson confirmed this philosophy shortly after when he stepped up to the microphone
"“They tell me every week I have to be careful. I can’t take big hits. I can’t be Superman out there”"
To be fair, Kentucky schemed specifically to stop Richardson from running and had multiple blitzers in his face to prevent him from running. But Napier and Richardson both admitted it was fear of Richardson getting hurt that has limited his running.
Early in the Kentucky game, Richardson took a low hit that might have confirmed the very fears Napier has. Richardson said it was a hit he felt (though didn’t seem to limit him from dunking from the free throw line later in the week).
Florida football: Safe is death
Former Tampa Bay Lighting and current Philadelphia Flyers, head coach John Tortorella had a phrase when the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004 “Safe is death.” If you played scared, you won’t win.
So how did we go from Billy Napier saying “Scared money don’t make money” to being scared about getting Richardson hurt?
He’s not wrong that if Richardson gets hurt that there isn’t an SEC-level QB waiting behind him. But is it possible that the doubt Napier is putting into Richardson’s head about running freely is getting so far into Richardson’s head that it’s affecting him mentally?
Napier praised Richardson’s first half against USF and he’s not wrong that he played well. But on the first interception, Richardson’s mechanics were completely out of sync. His feet weren’t set and he was late on the throw.
On the second interception off the goal line fade to Shorter, Napier said that Richardson had a run-pass option. But, if Napier has been putting doubt into Richardson’s head is it possible that he wanted to run, had a light bulb go off saying don’t do that, overthought it, and threw one of the worst fade routes one could throw?
For Florida football to be successful against Tennessee, Richardson either needs to keep his mechanics in order and hit the 15-yard passes he is fully capable of hitting, or Napier needs to let him loose and go win a football game for the Gators as he did against Utah.
At this point, keeping Richardson in a box isn’t helping anyone. And while Napier is scared for what is behind Richardson, it might be a long season anyway if Richardson is forced to always second guess himself.
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