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Nashville, TN.- Big time lineman are thick in the 2011 class. One of the nation’s best is hidden in Tennessee and is a dandy. Massive 6’6″ 310 pound ineman Antonio Richardson is easily one of the best around, and he’s got all of the tools any major SEC program would want. He’s up over 20 offers now and hearing from the top schools in the country. Currently he’s working hard on his summer courses but will soon hit the road and take some visits.
“Right now I am doing summer practice every day. I am learning lots. There are lots of guys who play sports and football. But football is special, you gotta work hard to be a great player. Harder than any sport I believe. I’m really working on my speed, it keeps getting better. I ran a 5.05 (40 yard dash) the other day, I’m trying to get it down to 4.9 or better. I’ve also been working hard on my academics, just working on becoming an all round better person. My school is one of the hardest academic schools in Tennessee, so I have to keep working hard to keep my GPA up. I’m thinking about majoring in business management or sports management.”
Summer time can provide some much needed time for top recruits to take some visits. It’s hard to do during the season and with only five official visits, some recruits want to see more schools. Antonio has no firm plans for visits yet but mentioned several schools he’s got his eye on.
“I’ve been getting a lot of mail invites to camps. Florida, FSU, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern have all invited me to camps. Me and my dad will start putting together a list. We might run over to Miami maybe. We might get over to Kentucky. Michigan has not offered but we may get up to Ann Arbor to check it out. We’ve been to Alabama and Tennessee, but not Auburn so we’ll try to get there. We will probably get to Athens too, we will make some stops this summer. We are still considering a lot of schools.”
The rumors have been that Alabama and Tennessee are considered the front runners for his services. A lot of that rumor may stem from the fact that those are the only two schools he has visited so far.
“Auburn, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, and Clemson are all coming hard, but so are the others. Most of them like me for offense, I love defense, but I think my college career is on offense. Miami, Virginia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina are my most recent offers. I know a lot of people think I like Alabama and Tennessee only, but that’s not true. They are up there and they’ll be in it when I make my list. Auburn, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, Oklahoma are all some schools I’m looking at. I’m still open and distance won’t be a factor for me.”
His most recent visit was to a lineman camp in Tennessee. He spoke briefly about that camp and his tour of Tuscaloosa.
“Tennessee likes me for offense. The d-line coach likes me there too. I talk to coach Smith and Chaney pretty often. I like the staff and everything. I was there for a camp two weeks ago, it was about an 8 hour day camp. It went pretty well. The coaches tell me they like my demeanor, my ability to get to the second level.”
“Alabama is great, I’ve been there a couple of times. I’m really open but they will definitely be in it. I like the campus and the coaches there. And of course winning the national championship helps.”
When you see Antonio it’s hard not to look. He’s 6’6″ 300 pounds and is a massive young man. However Antonio wants people to know his appearance does not match his demeanor off the field.
“I’m really outgoing, I like to have fun and be silly. When it’s time to be serious I get after it. I’ll talk to anybody I’m very open. I got a real mean streak on the field though. And I’m also a very strong Christian, that’s important to me.”
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Antonio, we’d love to see you in orange for the next 4 years! Help us get back to the national prominence we enjoyed up until the last few years. I’m not a coach at UT but everything points to new recruits getting an opportunity to play early, ESPECIALLY offensive and defensive linemen.
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