Richard looking for more attention
Shaquille Richard often gets overlooked because the two-star running back plays with five-star receiver George Farmer and four-star athlete Marqise Lee at Gardena (Calif.) Serra but the 5-foot-9 running back is fine performing behind the scenes - he just wishes his recruitment would take off a little more.
"I know we have a great receiving corps and I know a lot of teams when they scout us they key on locking down on our receivers," Richard said after Serra's 35-21 victory this past weekend.
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"What better game to break out on than this one? I keep it level-headed. That's more motivation for me to succeed in what I do."
Richard finished with 135 rushing yards and touchdown runs of 66 and 8 yards on 11 attempts in Serra's most recent win but he admits recruiting is still going pretty slow.
Cal Poly has offered and he's receiving interest from Fresno State, Idaho, Air Force and Villanova but things haven't picked up just yet.
"I'm very interested in Cal Poly," Richard said. "I definitely want to see what other schools are going to come later in the season, schools where I know I can succeed so I'm just trying to mellow it out."
Through nine victories this season, Richard has 1,077 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns and averages about nine yards per carry. Those numbers are good enough to earn more attention and Serra coach Scott Altenberg said more programs should get involved with Richard later in the season.
Altenberg hopes so anyway. His running back is good enough to play at a high level even if he's being overshadowed in Serra's offense by two superstars. Richard is putting up numbers though and proving he's one of the better running backs in Southern California.
"Shaq could be a featured, No. 1 guy on every team but he plays second fiddle here but when we need him he breaks a big one and does what needs to get done," Altenberg said.
"He's going to have more (offers). As this thing is coming on and they see he's not that small and they see he can run between tackles, he's pretty special."