JSU Wide Receiver Rico Richardson Eyes Title 11/9/2012 11:51:00 AM Roscoe Nance Jackson State wide receiver Rico Richardson is on pins and needles as the Tigers prepare to host Alabama A&M Saturday in what amounts to a SWAC East Division elimination game for both. Alabama A&M’s defense is among the best in the conference, ranking in the top three in fewest points, total yards, passing yards and rushing yards allowed. But that’s not what has Richardson, the conference-leader in receiving yards with 922, on edge. The Tigers (5-2 SWAC) are tied with Alabama A&M (7-2, 6-2 SWAC) and Alabama State (6-3, 6-2 SWAC for the division lead. A victory against the Bulldogs coupled with a loss by Alabama State against Southern would send the Tigers to the conference championship game for the first time since 2008. If they lose, they will be eliminated from the race regardless of the outcome of their season finale against arch-rival Alcorn State Nov. 17. “We’ve never been in this position,’’ says Richardson. “It’s a great feeling. It (winning a championship) is what I’ve been trying to do since I’ve been playing football. But it’s nerve wracking knowing that if you lose one game you’re out of it.’’ The prospect of covering Richardson is a nerve-wracking proposition for Alabama A&M’s secondary. He is Jackson State’s No. 1 offensive weapon with 50 pass receptions, which makes him No. 2 in the SWAC, and he averages 18.5 yards a catch, tops in the conference and No. 2 in the FCS among receivers with at least 50 receptions. “Rico is one heck of a football player,’’ Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones says. “He’s going to get his one way or the other. He has heart; he has speed; he has size, and he has great hands. He understands the game. He loves to play the game. When he scores touchdowns, he acts like he’s been in end zone before and he has (has scored eight touchdowns). He enjoys making big plays. How do you stop him? I don’t know if you do that. You have to try to find a way to contain him. If you put all your resources into trying to stop him, Jackson has other weapons that can hurt you. He’s going to get what he’s going to get. You got to try to limit him, try to contain him. To say we’re going to stop Rico, that’s probably not a bright idea.’’ Richardson averages 5.6 catches and 102.4 yards a game. He is the only SWAC receiver averaging at least 100 yards a game. He had a conference single-best 11 catches against Southern, and he had 235 receiving yards and caught three touchdown passes against Texas Southern. Both marks are single-game conference highs for this season. “He knows how to approach the football,’’ Grambling State coach Doug Williams says. “He knows how to get to the ball. Some things are taught and some things are caught. When the lights come on the receiver has to have some instincts that you can’t coach. Rico has those types of instincts of knowing how to place his body on the DB, knowing how to set DBs up to run the rout. The little things you see every day going against your teammates is little different at game time. Rico knows how to turn it on at game time.’’ Jackson State offensive coordinator Derrick McCall makes no secret that he plans to give Richardson an opportunity to turn it on early and often Alabama A&M. McCall’s strategy serves dual purposes. He wants to make sure that Richardson gets the 78 receiving yards that he needs to reach the 1,000-yard mark for the season. More importantly, he says wants to open up Jackson State’s offense by stretching the field with Richardson on the outside. “Richardson is our deep threat our go to guy,’’ McCall say, “a sure-handed receiver with speed. We rely on him very heavily’’ Richardson’s presence as a deep threat in the passing game has helped make Jackson State a better at running the ball. The Tigers average 181.1 yards a game on the ground, second-best in the conference. “It’s very important to establish him early,’’ McCall says. “What it will do is a (defensive) guy out of box. I go into games trying to set up the run with the pass. We rely on him very heavily. He makes our offense go.’’ Richardson prides himself in being more than a receiver who catches passes and that’s it. Jackson State coaches say he is outstanding blocker as well. “He has pulled out some games with big catches,’’ Coach Rick Comegy says. “But there have been games where his blocking was a better asset.’’ Richardson says receivers coach Chris Buckner motivated him to take pride in blocking when Buckner said to him, “You can only be a complete receiver if you can catch, run routs and block. It was hard at first. I really didn’t like to block. But I take pride in everything I do’’ Richardson hit the weights to increase his strength and became a proficient blocker in short order. He continued to work on blocking when he realized how much it helped the team. “It really opens up run game,’’ he says, “and I do whatever I can to help us win games.’’ Still, Richardson figures to do most of his damage against Alabama A&M catching the ball. Even though the Bulldogs’ have been strong statistically defending the pass, some chinks in that area have been exposed in recent games. Alabama State quarterback Greg Jenkins threw for 264 yards while completing 10 of 15 attempts against them two weeks ago. They stepped up a couple of notches last week in their 24-23 victory against Southern, holding the Jaguars to 148 yards through the air. “We made some adjustments, and we were a little more disciplined,’’ Jones says, evaluating Alabama A&M’s pass defense against Southern. “We made some mistakes against Alabama State. They’re a good football team, and when you make mistakes against them they make you pay. We put more pressure on (quarterback Dray Joseph. Our guys were where they needed to be for the most part and we held them in check for a while.’’ Three weeks ago, Alabama A&M seemed to be a lock to make its sixth championship game appearance. The Bulldogs were 6-0 and cruising. But they suffered back-to-back losses to Alcorn State and Alabama State, and now they have zero wiggle room if they are to retain any hope of repeating as division champs. Saturday’s game is their conference finale, and even if they win Alabama State would have to lose to Southern in the Hornets’ final conference contest in order for the Bulldogs to win the division. “You talk about putting all the marbles on the table,’’ Jones says. “This is an all or nothing game for everyone involved. It’s one of those games that if you play college football, it’s what you aspire to be a part of. You couldn’t ask for a game to mean more.’’