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Positives: Has a tall, angular frame with the potential to reach at least 355 pounds (25 additional pounds) with no loss in quickness or lateral agility … Despite being high-cut, he flashes good snap quickness to generate movement and gets his hands into the defender with force to shock and jolt … Compensates for a lack of hip roll and overall flexibility with active hand usage and good upper-body strength to lean into and occupy the defender in one-on-one confrontations … Lacks flexibility and hip-roll, but shows adequate hand usage, good upper-body strength, and foot quickness to gain inline movement … Plays with good effort to complete the job and flashes a little nastiness … Has the ability to learn and retain information, as he is a highly intelligent player who is not going to be fooled by the edge rusher's array of moves … Has the vision to recognize the defensive coverage and is alert to twists and games … A physical grinder who came to Clemson at a young age and matured over the years … Takes well to hard coaching and while quiet, he is respected in the locker room and cited by the coaches for mentoring younger players on his own … Shows good initial quickness out of his stance to generate short-area power with good arm extension at the point of attack to hold off the bull rushers … Shows good pop at the point, flashing snap quickness to generate energy on contact … Tries to shock with his initial strike and has the large mitts to latch on and drag a defender to the ground … Shows adequate hands to steer and push pass rushers past the quarterback … Has some of the strongest hands in the college game and knows how to use it to lock onto his opponents … .Could use some more lower-body strength, but drives hard with his legs off the snap and despite marginal timed speed, he can maintain position and stay in front of the defender … Lacks lateral agility, yet uses his long stride to get out and seal on the edge … Despite playing the toughest position on the offensive line, he might have gotten a few bumps and bruises, but never missed a game due to an injury … With his long reach, he can engulf smaller edge rushers … If he hits an opponent with his punch, he will shock, jolt and halt his forward progress … Might be a better fit on the right side, where his long reach and ability to work with guards and tight ends on combo blocks can be more effective than stationing him on an island.
Negatives: Has a wide frame, but while he has good body mass he is high-cut and legs are quite thin for a player of his size … Because he does not play with aggression, some scouts have questioned his desire to play the game, but he doesn't take plays off and is businesslike by nature … Plays to the level of the competition, occasionally disappearing … A quiet kid who is not a rah-rah leader … Uses his hands for an initial shock, but is not a consistent striker … Displays marginal knee bend and hip-roll for power … Makes initial contact with his chest too often, despite his long reach … Shows only adequate hand usage to control and foot quickness to sustain … Lacks flexibility in his hips to quickly redirect on the move … Narrows his base on inside cutoffs, losing balance … Displays short leg drive, resulting in marginal movement in the run game … Struggles to get hips through for wall-off blocks … Shows stiffness while getting out of his stance … Does an adequate job with phone-booth strikes, but struggles to adjust to targets while on the move … Will use a leg whip in space, but sets up too high in pass protection and will reach for his opponent, rather than punch … Shows only an adequate short slide in pass protection … More of a waist-bender who can't adjust to quick setup moves across his face … Looks a little mechanical in his slide-step … Shows just an adequate anchor in pass protection and needs to play lower in his pads … Has the ability to mirror lethargic rushers, but struggles with speed-rushers.
Compares To: ANDREW WHITWORTH-Cincinnati … Left tackles in college, Richardson's poor knee bend and timed speed will dictate that he follow Whitworth with a move to offensive guard or right tackle, as to not be exposed by top-tier defensive ends when playing on an island. Scouts question his lack of emotion, but he has shown good maturity and an even-keeled temperament. Would you rather have a guy with no flash that goes out and quietly does his job, or a rah-rah, penalty-prone type that gets too emotional, resulting in costly penalties and mental meltdowns? To those that label him "looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane," get your vision checked. Richardson lacks muscle tone, disqualifying any comparisons to Tarzan. And with a combined blocking consistency grade of 85.71% and 134 knockdown blocks, Jane must be one aggressive woman.
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