Why the recruiting industry got it wrong with Steven Richardson

CHICAGO - Steven Richardson does not believe in playing with a chip on your shoulder. If he did, the senior Minnesota defensive tackle would justifiably have one of the biggest in the Big Ten.

Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck called his star senior “not a very vocal guy,” and generally optimistic about life at Big Ten Media Day. Richardson’s off-field demeanor, however, belies a tenacious competitor who has a chance to finish his career as the Gopher’s most prolific sacker in a decade, and top five all-time, if he can match last year’s totals as a senior.

The expectations for Richardson, however, were not always so high.

Minnesota was the only Power Five school, and one of just three FBS programs, to extend an offer to Richardson coming out of high school even though he played for a Chicago Mt. Carmel team that won state championships in both his junior and senior seasons. Recruiting networks, like-wise, were less than optimistic for Richardson’s college career. He was ranked no higher than the 56th best defensive tackle prospect in the 2014 class and as low as the 57th best prospect coming out of the state of Illinois that year.

“Honestly, I think it was just the height,” Richardson conceded at Tuesday’s Big Ten Media Day. “If I was 6-3 maybe I would have gotten a couple more stars or a couple more looks.”

As the director of Midwest scouting for Rivals.com, I am one of the culprits. We initially rated Richardson as a two-star prospect, elevating him to a 5.5 Rivals Rating, lowest in the three-star category, only after a productive senior season in which he helped Mt. Carmel to their second straight state title.

While a three-star rating is a Power Five rating, Richardson’s career has played out better than expectations for a prospect rated just above the dividing line between Group of Five and Power Five. Height, or lack thereof, was certainly a major factor in Richardson’s prospect rating. The official Minnesota roster generously lists him at 6-foot even. His Rivals.com prospect profile had him at 5-foot-11, and even that may have been optimistic. The production was certainly there – he had 34 tackles for loss and 17 sacks among 65 total tackles as a senior – and he truthfully was the catalyst of a Mt. Carmel defensive line that also featured four-star Enoch Smith. Ratings are projections, though, and his effectiveness battling taller offensive linemen with longer reaches at the college level was reason for concern.

Rating prospects involves more than film review or in-person evaluations. We talk with others who have coached or scouted these prospects. One who advocated strongly for Richardson, and ultimately proved to have a more accurate handle on the Chicago native’s potential, was Rivals.com’s Illinois High School publisher EdgyTim. His input was a catalyst for Richardson’s bump to three stars following his senior season, though Tim was advocating for an even higher move.

“If you look at him on the hoof and compare him to other defensive tackles in the class it is pretty understandable why he was ranked where he was,” EdgyTim commented. “But he showed me three years of production that was really second-to-none. He went up against top-notch competition that also had size and strength. He never backed down and never had a problem with anyone.”

Fleck, who was one of only two other head coaches besides Jerry Kill to offer Richardson coming out of high school, selected as one of three Gophers to represent the program at Big Ten Media Day in part because Fleck wanted to get him out of his comfort zone and challenge him.

“I wanted to be able to show him this. This is part of development,” Fleck said. “You’re not going to answer every question right. You’re not going to be the media king of the Big Ten Media Day, especially when you don’t talk much. We brought him here to learn and as he continues to go through his career this is going to be beneficial.”

I gave Richardson the chance Tuesday to get a little revenge on the recruiting industry that underrated him, to play a little “I told you so,” and tell us where we erred. True to form, though, he did not bite.

“To be honest, I just don’t really think about it,” Richardson said. “If I just play my (game), then everything is going to work out for itself. That’s exactly what I did when I played at Mt. Carmel.”

Fleck bringing Richardson to Media Day was in part preparation for next off-season, when expectations are for an opportunity to play in the NFL. Assuming that day comes, Richardson is going to be answering the same questions about height and size.

“I definitely think that it probably will creep back up,” Richardson acknowledged. “But, if the film is there, then someone is going to have to give me a chance just like coach Fleck did and just like Jerry Kill did.”

The foresight and belief shown by Kill, and Fleck as well, in the face of skepticism from almost everywhere else has paid off for the Golden Gophers. Scouts are stubborn, however, and Richardson is likely right – those same questions that plagued him coming out of high school will creep back up when the NFL starts to evaluate him next off-season.