Richardson on board with WVU
SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest in Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
West Virginia kept one of its best home when Morgantown (W.Va.) University athlete Amir Richardson decided to commit to the Mountaineers.
Richardson, 6-foot-2, 198-pounds, selected West Virginia over his six other finalists that included Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, Temple, Marshall and Army.
The Mountaineers were the first program to extend a scholarship offer to the local product and the coaching staff established a strong bond with him from the start given his proximity to campus and connections to the program. That helped get their foot in the door.
Richardson, the son of former West Virginia football player Tony, had long been interested in the Mountaineers and things only continued to develop over the course of the process. Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson served as the lead recruiter for the versatile athlete.
The Mountaineers offered the Rivals.com three-star prospect during the evaluation period in 2017 and at the time that was a significant step in the process for him.
“It was just overwhelming. I couldn’t even speak,” he said at the time. “It was just a complete shock with me being an in-state kid and West Virginia being my first offer right off the bat. It was my dream school growing up and they offered me before anybody else. It’s a great feeling.”
Still, Richardson wanted to let the process play out and visit some schools and he proceeded to do that over the next year and change receiving offers from over a dozen schools. Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech were the other two power five programs to extend a scholarship and he considered both.
The Panthers envisioned him as a linebacker at the next level, while Georgia Tech preferred him at wide receiver but the Mountaineers are keeping things open with the possibility to play either side of the ball. Likely to start his career at safety or linebacker, the West Virginia coaches have told Richardson that he could end up at wide receiver depending on how things develop in the coming years.
A regular visitor to campus given the proximity to his home, Richardson made multiple trips to check out the program over the past couple seasons including for the Showtime Event over the weekend.
Richardson becomes the twelfth commitment for the Mountaineers in the 2019 class and the first at the safety spot, although as mentioned he could end up at several different positions.
A 5.6 three-star prospect, Richardson also represents the third prospect from inside the borders of West Virginia to pick the Mountaineers in this cycle following Martinsburg athlete Dewayne Grantham and Charleston (W.Va.) Capital athlete Kerry Martin.
WVSports.com will have more with Richardson in the near future.
Enter the contest by clicking on the following link and choosing to subscribe to the channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=VideoGlide
