Steven Richardson, a 5-foot-11 285-pound defensive tackle from Chicago (IL) Mt. Carmel, was the third player to commit to Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill.
Steven Richardson, a 5-foot-11 285-pound defensive tackle from Chicago (IL) Mt. Carmel, was the third player to commit to Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill. Gopher Hole recently caught up Richardson to learn more about his decision and his senior season.
Gopher Hole: What was the main thing that made you think that Minnesota was where you wanted to be?
Steven Richardson: Just the people down there. The coaches and the players are really nice as well.
Gopher Hole: You have been up here since you committed. Did that make you even more convinced that you made the right decision?
Steven Richardson: Yes. More and more as I go down there, it feels more like home.
Gopher Hole: How many times have you been up to Minnesota so far?
Steven Richardson: Three times. The first one was a Junior Day. The second was just visiting and third was another visit.
Gopher Hole: When was the most recent visit?
Steven Richardson: I think it was a few weeks ago for the barbeque.
Gopher Hole: During that weekend, Andrew Stetler committed. Have you gotten to know some of the commits and what is your relationship with them?
Steven Richardson: I have a good relationship. I have talked to Andrew a lot. I talk to Connor (Mayes) a lot as well and Jeff Jones. Everybody seems pretty cool.
Gopher Hole: Is it nice to have a little bit of a friendship already with those guys which will hopeful make it easier when you are up here next season?
Steven Richardson: Yes. The problem that I had was that I wanted somebody to come with down there, but now that I have met them, I am feeling OK now.
Gopher Hole: You committed early. Have you ever had an regrets about that or are you kind of glad that you got that decision done with?
Steven Richardson: I never had any regrets. I felt like I made the right choice.
Gopher Hole: I don’t know if you look at football rankings much, but I often think that kids who commit early don’t get ranked as high because they are not getting offers from a lot of schools. Do you ever look at those rankings and feel that you are better than that?
Steven Richardson: Kind of, but I could care less what those things say. I know that I am better than what the rankings put me at. That was why I choose Minnesota because they didn’t need all those stats. They just looked at my film and felt that I was good.
Gopher Hole: Have you heard from any other schools since you committed or has it quieted down?
Steven Richardson: It kind of just went silent.
Gopher Hole: Is that kind of nice not having to deal with that anymore?
Steven Richardson: Yes. I got tired of it.
Gopher Hole: Your team had a great year last season, winning the state title. What are the expectations for this year?
Steven Richardson: My goal is to win our Division, the Catholic League. I haven’t won that yet, but then the next one is to win state. I feel that we can do both this year.
Gopher Hole: Mt. Carmel has a great football tradition with 11 state titles and your head coach Frank Lenti is the state’s winning coach. You have had great players like Donovan McNabb and Simeon Rice. Do you and your teammates look at that tradition and want to keep that going?
Steven Richardson: Yes. We have to have a good rep because our coach just tells us that even at high school and beyond college, you just have to have a good rep and represent Mt. Carmel.
Gopher Hole: You are not as tall as the prototypical defensive tackle. Do you think that in a way since you are lower to the ground and are known as a run stopper that it helps you not being so tall?
Steven Richardson: Yes, I know it does. I got great leverage over most guys that I am going to go up against in college.
Gopher Hole: The only offers that you had when you committed were Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. Do you think that if you hadn’t committed that you would have picked up some other offers?
Steven Richardson: Yes, but I feel that most of the schools were focused on my height and not my ability and Minnesota, that was the first thing that they said. They didn’t really care about my height. They knew that I could play.
Gopher Hole: The coaching staff at Minnesota was previously at Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois. Were you familiar with them at all?
Steven Richardson: No, I wasn’t familiar with them at all. When I went down there, that was the only time that I had met them.
Gopher Hole: How did Minnesota first find out about you?
Steven Richardson: My head coach, Coach Frank Lenti. He has a good relationship with Coach Kill and my coach put my name out to him and they started to talk. They invited me down to Junior Day and they really liked me when I went down there.
Gopher Hole: Were you surprised when you got the initial offer from Minnesota?
Steven Richardson: Yes, I was really surprised because I only went to one camp and it wasn’t for Minnesota. It was at NIU and I had talked to Coach Phelps on Facebook, but I had never met him in person. For them to give me an offer just on a look was pretty shocking.
Gopher Hole: What has been the reaction of your family and friends about committing to Minnesota?
Steven Richardson: They all like it. They congratulate me every time and tell me that I made a good decision and congratulate me and tell me that it is a big chance and a big deal. I am the first one in the family to get an athletic scholarship,
Gopher Hole: Does that even push a little bit harder to prove that you can play at the Big Ten level?
Steven Richardson: Yes, it definitely does. The goal is to make my family and my high school team proud.
Gopher Hole: Have you thought much about what you want to major in at college?
Steven Richardson: I want to major in Technology, maybe like Computer Graphics.
Gopher Hole: Have you even thought about what you would like to do with that?
Steven Richardson: I actually want to become a CEO and I know that a lot of CEOs come out of Minnesota. That is another reason that I picked it was because you can get a hook-up from there.
Gopher Hole: You said that you have been talking to some of the Gopher commits. Are you also talking to some other kids that are considering Minnesota and try to get them to join you next year?
Steven Richardson: When I went down there the last time, I invited a couple of my friends to come down to the camp, so they can try to get an offer from them, so I have been doing some side recruiting for Minnesota.
Gopher Hole: Who are those guys?
Steven Richardson: Nick Johnson and Jack White.
Gopher Hole: What did they think of Minnesota?
Steven Richardson: They really liked it. They enjoyed it a lot. They said it is like a hidden treasure. Nobody knows what is up there until you get there.
Gopher Hole: Have you ever been to Minnesota before you came up to the campus?
Steven Richardson: No and I was kind of shaky about it. I was like ‘What is there to do in Minnesota.’ I just knew that it was cold, but once I got there, it was a really nice campus.
Gopher Hole: Now you can just focus on your senior season and try to win another state title and a conference title, does that make you glad that you committed when you did?
Steven Richardson: It is definitely off my mind. I am just trying to focus and win state again and win conference.