| No. 90, 95 | |||||||
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| Positions | Linebacker Defensive end | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born | (1968-02-02)February 2, 1968 (age 58) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||
| Listed weight | 238 lb (108 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school | Atlanta (GA) Lakeside | ||||||
| College | Florida | ||||||
| NFL draft | 1991: 1st round, 15th overall pick | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Huey L. Richardson, Jr. (born February 2, 1968) is an American former professionalfootball player who was alinebacker anddefensive end in theNational Football League (NFL) for two seasons during the 1990s. Richardson playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators and earnedAll-American honors. He was a first-round pick in the1991 NFL draft and played for thePittsburgh Steelers,Washington Redskins and theNew York Jets.
Richardson was born inAtlanta, Georgia, in 1968.[1] He attendedLakeside High School in Atlanta,[2] and played high school football for the Lakeside Vikings.
Richardson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played defensive end for coachGalen Hall and coachSteve Spurrier'sGators teams from1987 to1990.[3] Richardson was a first-teamAll-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in1989 and 1990 and a first-team All-American in 1990, and was selected as a senior team captain.[3] At the end of his four years as a Gator, he totaled 26.5quarterback sacks and 50.5tackles for a loss, still third and fourth, respectively, on the Gators' all-time record lists.[3]
Richardson was honored as an SEC Academic Honor Roll selection all four years, received an NCAA post-graduate scholarship,[3] and graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1990. He was inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2003.[4][5]
Richardson was the first round draft choice (fifteenth pick overall) of thePittsburgh Steelers in the1991 NFL draft.[6] Based on a conversation with the former Steelers director of scouting, Max McCartney, with three picks remaining before the Steelers picked at number 15, they had three players targeted that they would be willing to select:Tennessee Volunteers wide receiverAlvin Harper,Colorado Buffaloes wide receiverMike Pritchard andArizona State Sun Devils running backLeonard Russell. When those three players were all selected with the three immediately preceding picks (by theDallas Cowboys,Atlanta Falcons andNew England Patriots, respectively),[7] the Pittsburgh draft managers were unprepared and were forced to make a selection before their fifteen-minute time limit expired, and they settled on Richardson.
Richardson played only five games with the Steelers in1991, registering two tackles, plus another on special teams.[8][9] Part of the problem was that the Steelers played a3-4 defense, and Richardson didn't have the build to play defensive end in that scheme. The Steelers made him aninside linebacker, and he didn't make the adjustment very well. Following the 1991 season, long-time head coachChuck Noll retired and was replaced byBill Cowher, who tried to switch Richardson to outside linebacker (his position for the first three years of his collegiate career). When that didn't work, Cowher asked player development directorTom Donahoe if it was too soon to cut him.[9] When Donahoe said he should keep the top forty-seven players regardless of their draft history, Richardson was traded to the Washington Redskins for a seventh-round draft pick; if a trade had not been possible, Richardson would have simply been waived. After four uneventful games with the Redskins, he was released and signed with the New York Jets. At the end of the1992 season, after seven games with the Jets, Richardson's short NFL career was over.[8]
Richardson returned to college and earned his master's degree in business administration fromEmory University in Atlanta in 2000, and currently works as a financial analyst forMerrill Lynch in New York City.[9] He was in theWorld Trade Center for a meeting on the morning of the terrorist attacks ofSeptember 11, 2001.[9] His meeting was scheduled to take place on an upper floor of the building, but he was delayed in the lobby before boarding the elevator, and was able to leave the World Trade Center safely after the first plane hit the building.[9] He now lives inMahwah, New Jersey, with his wife and two kids.
