10/11/2017 football Edit

Will Richardson sees work in practice paying off

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

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Richardson was named the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week. (Larry Blankenship)

NC State redshirt junior right tackle Will Richardson called the Thursday night win over No. 17 Louisville “my best game since I’ve been in college.”

The ACC agreed. It named Richardson the conference’s Offensive Lineman of the Week after Richardson graded out at 96 percent on his blocking assignments and tallied a pair of knockdown blocks.

For Richardson, he hopes it is only the start of something.

“It just gives me more motivation going into next week, just to go out there and practice hard still, and go out there and do the same thing I did [against Louisville] the next week,” he said.

Richardson claimed he will not let the ACC honor get to his head. He will use the same approach that he used before, beginning with practices. Richardson believes that focusing on the task can keep NC State on the same upward trajectory it has been enjoying during its five-game winning streak.

“I think the biggest thing with that is starting with having a good mindset in practice,” Richardson said. “We got Pittsburgh this week, and they’re coming in there to knock us off. That’s their biggest goal, knowing that we have been doing so good.

“Coach always tells us never get complacent.”

Richardson is part of a NC State offensive line that has come together nicely this season. In ACC play, the Pack has not allowed a sack on starting quarterback redshirt junior Ryan Finley, while averaging 4.2 yards per carry on the ground.

Richardson, who was suspended the first two games, has played all 244 snaps in his three ACC games and has not allowed a sack or a single pressure on the quarterback.

Offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford has molded a tight-knit group with his “Band of Brothers” approach (read about it here), and it has paid off. Richardson shares a house with three other starters — redshirt juniors Garrett Bradbury and Terronne Prescod, and senior Tony Adams. Prescod and Adams start at left guard and right guard respectively, and Bradbury at center.

Ledford also has made the offensive line fundamentally sound, Richardson believes.

“We work on technical things way more than we work on schemes,” he said. “If you get your techniques down pat, it makes picking up the schemes a lot easier.”

Richardson needs to only look at this performance against Louisville for proof.

“I felt really good,” Richardson admitted. “Like I said, it starts at practice. We walked through so many blitz pick up and so many blitzes in the pass game, and just makes it so that when you get into the game I can play a lot faster.”