quarterback D’Vontrey Richardson’s future at Florida State last season seemed so dim at one point, his mother demanded him to transfer.
In 2007, after Richardson, a former Lee County High School star, entered his second and final play for the Seminoles that season — another 1-yard loss just like the one he had against Alabama earlier in the year — Gevett Roberson, Richardson’s mother, said she had seen enough. She could hardly watch as injured starter Drew Weatherford and her son stood by as backup Christian Ponder played out the game.
“When I saw Christian Ponder go in, I texted him, ‘You’re leaving that school,’ ” Roberson laughed during an interview with The Herald earlier this week. “Even though he had changed his mind about possibly leaving, I still was like, ‘You’re leaving that school, you’re leaving that school.’ He didn’t want to leave, and it turned out to be a good decision.”
That seemed to be the case last Saturday against Western Carolina when Richardson entered early in the third quarter and took his second snap, scoring on a 52-yard run. He later added a 7-yard touchdown run and then a 3-yard pass to Jarmon Fortson.
Not much time had passed Saturday after the win when Richardson noticed 35 text messages and countless missed calls on his cell phone after the 69-0 rout. The focus of most of the messages?
This was long overdue.
“Everybody was saying, ‘Good job’ and they were proud of me,” Richardson said.
Richardson’s guardian and foster dad, Steve Glover, said Richardson once lightly considered two options. He could switch to running back or receiver and continue playing on Florida State’s baseball team or play junior-college baseball somewhere.
However, patience prevailed.
“We’ve been talking about being patient since he went there,” Glover said. “The first time he wanted to transfer was his freshman year. It was very hard on him, so patience is something we had been preaching since Day 1.”
While Richardson had to sit out last baseball season because he did not meet the academic standards he and coach Bobby Bowden agreed to for playing both football and baseball, his biggest changes took place.
“I’ve just seen a world of difference in him in the last several months,” Glover said of Richardson, who was just 17 when the became a Seminoles in 2006. “We always knew he had it in him. The maturity had to come. He realized it was never his talent that was keeping him off the field. Once he figured it out it wasn’t the coaches, or his teammates, that it was him keeping him from being out there, it’s just been a world of difference.”
And that transformation’s process revealed itself in Richardson’s performance against Western Carolina.
“It was great for me to see D’Vontrey succeed like he did,” Lee County coach David Johnson said. “I went down to watch the game, and it was great to see him come on the field and show what he can do. I’ve always said that once he had an opportunity to get on the field and show his talent, he would make a statement that he was one of the best quarterbacks around, and that’s what he did (last) Saturday night.”
A former GHSA Class AAAA Player of the Year at Lee County, Richardson possibly changed the dynamics of his collegiate career in the span of two quarters and 125 yards of total offense (68 yards rushing, 5-of-6 passing for 57 more). After what seemed at first potential going unfulfilled now seems to have a solid foundation for unlimited growth. The first person he called after the game was Glover, whose family Richardson had lived with since he was a junior. They saw firsthand his determination.
“It was an overflow of emotions,” said Glover, who attended the game but had to leave shortly before the game ended because the weather-delay pushed everything so late. “He and I are probably two of the few that really know all that he had to go through to get to that moment. I was just happy for him. It was really emotional, a lot more emotional than I thought I would be when he first ran onto the field.”
After Richardson scored his first touchdown, he was more intent on crediting his offensive line’s performance even though the 52-yard run was recognized by the Seminoles’ sports information department as being the longest run by a quarterback dating back to at least 1967 (records beyond that are unclear).
“I was hyped,” Richardson said. “Whenever I had scored, I looked back and I was looking for my linemen because I was wanting to celebrate with them because it was such a big hole. I was trying to thank them because it was really their touchdown.”
After the game, while Richardson talked on the phone with Glover — whom he calls “Coach Glover” — it was a special moment for him in more ways than one.
“(Coach Glover) means a lot,” Richardson said. “He’s like a dad to me. He has done everything for me, trying to do everything he can for me. I just basically look at him as a dad.”
As Richardson prepares to be the backup again this Saturday against Chattanooga, he says he’s growing more confident every day about how he can contribute to the team.
“I feel way more comfortable,” Richardson said. “I’m feeling confident, and I feel the coaches are confident to put me in the game at any time in any situation.”
Seminoles offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher certainly took notice of that swagger that seems to be spreading.
“It builds confidence not only in him, but in the team, and it’s important that the team has confidence in him,” Fisher said. “I think both of those things happened when he went into the game.”
First-round San Francisco Giants pick Buster Posey already has put the Trojans’ baseball tradition on the Seminoles’ map at Florida State.
Now, it appears to be Richardson’s turn to attempt the same thing in football.
“A lot of my friends after the game were glad that I had that kind of game because I was representing Lee County and trying to put Lee County on the map,” Richardson said. “Everybody was happy.”
However, Richardson is only content with being the starting quarterback, and he knows he has to keep making his case.
“I have to go this Saturday, step it up,” Richardson said. “Go the next Saturday, step it up, and then step it up some more. I just have got to keep improving every Saturday.”
