Mullen expects Richardson to “be ready to go” against Vols

Dan Mullen offered an encouraging update on the status of redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson during his weekly appearance on the SEC Teleconference on Wednesday.

“He’s looking good,” Mullen said. “We haven’t really opened him up a whole lot. So, it is a little bit similar to last week. We’re going to do an MRI and see where he’s at and do a full test on Friday to give him the maximum time to get to 100 percent.

“We’ve done more at practice with him this week than we did last week of opening him up some, but we still haven’t gotten him just on a full sprint yet. I would think he’ll be ready to go on Saturday.”

If he does indeed play against Tennessee, the Gators will be adding perhaps their most dynamic offensive playmaker back into the fold. Despite only playing a few series against Florida Atlantic and South Florida, he ranks fifth in the SEC with 275 rushing yards. He ranks second among quarterbacks in rushing yards nationally, and the only player ahead of him is Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez, who’s started all four of his team’s games.

Richardson is averaging a whopping 25 yards per carry, and he’s scored touchdowns of 73 and 80 yards.

He’s also proved to be a threat with his arm. He threw touchdown passes of 41 and 75 yards against South Florida and fired a strike while running to his left for a 36-yard completion to Jacob Copeland on a post route.

Richardson tweaked his hamstring during his 80-yard run against the Bulls. He was medically cleared to play against Alabama last week, but Mullen opted to hold him out until he was 100 percent healthy to avoid risking further injury.

Ethan Hughes
Ethan was born in Gainesville and has lived in the Starke, Florida, area his entire life. He played basketball for five years and knew he wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in middle school. He’s attended countless Gators athletic events since his early childhood, with baseball being his favorite sport to attend. He’s a proud 2019 graduate of the University of Florida and a 2017 graduate of Santa Fe College. He interned with the University Athletic Association’s communications department for 1 ½ years as a student and also wrote for InsideTheGators.com for two years before joining Gator Country in 2021. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter @ethanhughes97.