Post by rainman on Aug 30, 2007 5:57:14 GMT -5
Kent Richardson new WVU starter; Broncos aim to shock
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— Kent Richardson is expected to make his first start at a cornerback position for No. 3-ranked West Virginia in Saturday’s 2007 season-opener against upset-minded Western Michigan at home.
The 6-1, 195-pound sophomore from Tallahassee, Fla., lettered last season as a redshirt freshman. He played in 11 games and was credited with three tackles.
“I’m really looking forward to the game,” Richardson said. “It’s something I’ve been working hard to do. It is a different feeling (to start), but I can adjust to it.”
He obviously knows the system better now, and he believes he’s more consistent in practice than he used to be in the past.
“I made some plays last year, and I was tickled to death to show I could play every down,” he said.
Richardson thinks the changes on defense have made it easier to play back there. He believes he can make more plays in the revised coverages.
Like other defensive backs, he credits the expected improvement in part to the addition of free safety Ryan Mundy, who started 18 of 35 games at the University of Michigan.
“He brings some things in,” he said.
“I think the whole secondary is stepping up.”
Richardson is a strong, highly competitive youngster with good speed. He made the all-state first team at Tallahassee’s Rickard High. He had 75 tackles, seven interceptions, two blocked punts and a forced fumble as a senior.
He also was an outstanding sprinter in track and a member of his school’s state-champion 4x400 relay team.
A business and economics major at WVU, Richardson has made the athletic director’s academic honor roll at WVU.
Kickoff time for Saturday’s contest is 3:30 p.m., with a sellout crowd of 60,000 assured at Mountaineer Field/Milan Puskar Stadium. This will be only the second meeting ever with Western Michigan in football.
Meanwhile, word from Kalamazoo is that the Broncos will be galloping into Morgantown aiming to “shock the world” by knocking off WVU, a 23 1/2-point favorite.
The Mid-American Conference favorite is 0-18 against ranked teams all-time.
But a story in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Tuesday said the WMU players view this as an opportunity to leap onto the national stage, surge into the polls, and do so before Labor Day.
Junior receiver Jamarko Simmons was quoted, “We have a big chance right here, man.”
Sophomore cornerback E.J. Biggers said, “Like Coach (Bill) Cubit said (in a rousing post-practice speech), we’ve got to do something to shock the world this year.”
Cubit, whose teams went 7-4 and 8-5 in his first two years at Western Michigan, was quoted in the same story: “We’re not a team that’s going to shy away. (West Virginia) is a great team. They really are.
“They’re one of the top three teams in the country. But when you bring guys here, that’s the kind of guys who you want to go play. We’re not like some teams and go play a bunch of nobodies and get the record up there.
“I’d rather go play those types of teams.”
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— Kent Richardson is expected to make his first start at a cornerback position for No. 3-ranked West Virginia in Saturday’s 2007 season-opener against upset-minded Western Michigan at home.
The 6-1, 195-pound sophomore from Tallahassee, Fla., lettered last season as a redshirt freshman. He played in 11 games and was credited with three tackles.
“I’m really looking forward to the game,” Richardson said. “It’s something I’ve been working hard to do. It is a different feeling (to start), but I can adjust to it.”
He obviously knows the system better now, and he believes he’s more consistent in practice than he used to be in the past.
“I made some plays last year, and I was tickled to death to show I could play every down,” he said.
Richardson thinks the changes on defense have made it easier to play back there. He believes he can make more plays in the revised coverages.
Like other defensive backs, he credits the expected improvement in part to the addition of free safety Ryan Mundy, who started 18 of 35 games at the University of Michigan.
“He brings some things in,” he said.
“I think the whole secondary is stepping up.”
Richardson is a strong, highly competitive youngster with good speed. He made the all-state first team at Tallahassee’s Rickard High. He had 75 tackles, seven interceptions, two blocked punts and a forced fumble as a senior.
He also was an outstanding sprinter in track and a member of his school’s state-champion 4x400 relay team.
A business and economics major at WVU, Richardson has made the athletic director’s academic honor roll at WVU.
Kickoff time for Saturday’s contest is 3:30 p.m., with a sellout crowd of 60,000 assured at Mountaineer Field/Milan Puskar Stadium. This will be only the second meeting ever with Western Michigan in football.
Meanwhile, word from Kalamazoo is that the Broncos will be galloping into Morgantown aiming to “shock the world” by knocking off WVU, a 23 1/2-point favorite.
The Mid-American Conference favorite is 0-18 against ranked teams all-time.
But a story in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Tuesday said the WMU players view this as an opportunity to leap onto the national stage, surge into the polls, and do so before Labor Day.
Junior receiver Jamarko Simmons was quoted, “We have a big chance right here, man.”
Sophomore cornerback E.J. Biggers said, “Like Coach (Bill) Cubit said (in a rousing post-practice speech), we’ve got to do something to shock the world this year.”
Cubit, whose teams went 7-4 and 8-5 in his first two years at Western Michigan, was quoted in the same story: “We’re not a team that’s going to shy away. (West Virginia) is a great team. They really are.
“They’re one of the top three teams in the country. But when you bring guys here, that’s the kind of guys who you want to go play. We’re not like some teams and go play a bunch of nobodies and get the record up there.
“I’d rather go play those types of teams.”
