Richards copes with highs, lows
CORAL GABLES — He arrived at Miami as a high school All-American, one of the nation’s most highly recruited young receivers. And he wasted little time in showing his coaches what he could do, working his way into the starting lineup before last year’s season opener.
Ahmmon Richards went on to break Michael Irvin’s 31-year-old freshman receiving record and earned all kinds of postseason recognition, most notably being named a Freshman AllAmerican by a plethora of media outlets, including USA Today and ESPN.
So to say that the start of his sophomore season has been frustrating would be an understatement to Richards, who has exacting standards for his play.
First, there’s the problematic hamstring, strained during the latter part of camp in August and re-aggravated multiple times since. There have been the games he’s missed. And then came Saturday against Syracuse.
Richards finished with six catches for a game-high 99 yards. But he had multiple dropped passes the surehanded receiver knows would have not only improved his numbers, but likely would have helped the Hurricanes build a significant lead in what was eventually, a tight 27-19 win.
Officially, three of those passes counted as drops. The receiver insists he had four. In his eyes, one is too many. That’s why at one point, Richards came off the field and wondered if he should even be playing.
It was then that Malik Rosier — his quarterback and his roommate — sought him out on the sideline.
“I was kind of down because I was blindsided, dropping a ball. I’m not used to doing that,” Richards said. “I was kind of down on myself and he was just telling me, keep my head up. Even when I’d put my head down, he’d lift my head right back up. He was trying to keep me motivated. I needed that.”
Said Rosier after the Syracuse game, “Ahmmon is one of those guys that if you put it anywhere around him, he’s going to catch it, and you can tell there were certain times he walked off and his head was down. I looked at him, grabbed his head and threw it up. I was like, ‘Yo, head up. Let’s go. It’s a long game. It’s only the first or second quarter. We’re fine. I’m going to keep throwing you the ball. Keep making plays.’ And he started making plays later on down the road.”
Like Rosier, no one at Miami has lost faith in Richards, a former standout at Wellington High. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound receiver has missed three games. He’s been limited in others. And he’s still got 13 catches for 273 yards. His 21-yard average per catch leads the Hurricanes receiving corps and would place him among the top 15 players nationwide if he had enough catches.
The Hurricanes won’t stop targeting Richards, and they want to make sure the sophomore knows he remains a vital part of the offense, especially with Miami (6-0, 4-0) moving through the bulk of its ACC schedule.
This week, Richards said he feels well enough to play at North Carolina (1-7, 0-5). Beyond that, there are games against Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia and Pittsburgh looming.
“He's anxious to play and anxious to play great,” Miami coach Mark Richt said. “... He'll settle in and do really good.”