Ex-Marble Falls quarterback Mike Richardson now Texas Tech Red Raider
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
LUBBOCK — Former Marble Falls High School quarterback Mike Richardson’s day started like any other on Jan. 15. He woke up, got dressed and headed to class at Texas Tech University.
The biggest difference that morning, though, was he was wearing official Red Raiders football attire — as a member of the 2014 team.
“I don’t have to try out,” he said. “I’m already on the team.”
Texas Tech head football coach Kliff Kingsbury told his players he was happy to have three quarterbacks, including Davis Webb and another transfer, Richardson said.
“It’s a good opportunity here,” he said.
Richardson, a 2013 Marble Falls High School graduate who still holds the state record for most passing yards in a single game — 724 yards against Boerne Champion in a 62-55 win Sept. 20, 2012 — said he talked to offensive coordinator Eric Morris and Kingsbury a few weeks ago before moving to Lubbock and enrolling in classes at Texas Tech. He spent last semester at a Houston junior college attending classes and working out on his own.
When Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M University in 2012, he coached quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
“That’s pretty cool,” Richardson said. “(Kingsbury) knows what he’s talking about.”
Richardson said he sees his role as being the same as it always has.
“Distributing the ball,” he said. “That’s been my job the past four years. To do that and help the team.”
While not playing, Richardson continued to put himself through some of the same drills he learned in high school, lifted weights and worked out on the track. He said spending a semester away from football helped him in some ways. Still, he missed being part of a squad, he said.
“That’s what it was about last semester – staying mentally motivated,” he said. “I knew I was going to do something; I knew I was going to be somewhere and play. I did what I needed to and kept my mind to it. It was something that was good for me in the end to experience.”
The Red Raiders begin spring football in March, he said. Right now, they’re working out and watching film.
Richardson is majoring in sports management at Texas Tech.
jfierro@thepicayune.com