Florida Gators

Seventh grade. Middle school football team. On the d-line. Rushing the quarterback. The charging, bull-rushing Will got his hands up, tipped the pass and pulled the ball in, with only green grass (and, no doubt, a fleeting thought of reaching the end zone) in front of him.

There was just one problem. A big problem. 
 

"I was fat," Richard said. "I made it like five yards. Everybody caught me." 
 

His mother, Helen Richard, was there that day. 
 

"It was like watching him in slow motion," she said. "After that, he was pretty much done."
 

Will Richard. Yes, that Will Richard. The lithe wing who sprints the basketball floor for the Florida Gators and who when on target with his 3-point shot makes Coach Todd Golden's team one of the most lethal offenses in college basketball, was once a 6-foot-1, 230-pound eighth-grader when — as a 14-year-old clearly mature beyond his years — he made a commitment to his body and the game of basketball. Richard shed the pounds, moved out of the post and became a standout Georgia prep player who attracted mid-major college scholarship offers. Off he went to Belmont University, where Richard parlayed an excellent freshman season in the Ohio Valley Conference into becoming the first player signed by Golden and his UF staff when he transferred in the spring of 2022.

And, yes, it was that Will Richard who poured in 23 points and a trio of 3-pointers in Tuesday night's wood-shedding of No. 16 Alabama in UF's home finale. On Saturday, Richard will help lead the Gators (21-9, 11-5) when they close out the regular season on the road at Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14), about a mile from Belmont, the place that launched him to the SEC. It was at Memorial Gym, home to the Commodores, where Richard played his final game as a Bruin — a loss to Vandy in the NIT — but one that left him convinced he was ready to take his game to the high-major level.
 

After this homecoming of sorts, Richard, now a streamlined 6-4 and 206 pounds, will get to test his game in the SEC Tournament, back here again next week (but downtown at 20,000-seat Bridgestone Arena), then on to his first NCAA Tournament, with the Gators having played their way into at-large berth status. 

What a wonderful, rewarding and circuitous route it's been. Not bad for the once "pudgy" (mom's word) kid who moved in slow motion.

"I always believed I could play at this level," Richard said.

It was his goal from an early age. His sixth-grade Sunday school class (mom was the teacher) was given an assignment to write their visions for the future. Will was going to play basketball in college, graduate, get married, have children, play in the NBA for 15 years and then become a youth minister.

The first couple boxes are checked and only time will tell about the rest. 

"And I'm not sure about the youth minister thing now, either," Helen Richard laughed. 

Getting on track for his declared basketball goal demonstrated just how dedicated her son was willing to be, given the roadblocks of his waistline at the time. 

"I liked football and didn't mind [the physicality] at all. I just liked basketball better, but I wasn't in good enough shape to have fun with it the way I wanted to," Richard said. "I started running. I ran a lot." 

It didn't go great at first for the "chunky" (his word) version of Will, but he stuck with it and refused to quit. He got to school early and ran before classes, then again after school before practice. Mom, meanwhile, did her part at home by making lots of salmon and lots of salads, which became her son's favorites. As Will lost weight, he gained more athleticism and speed, while maintaining the spot-up shooting skills he had as a softer, rounder player. 

By the end of his sophomore year, Richard weighed 195 pounds and was dunking the basketball. 

Schools began to take notice. North Alabama checked in with the first of what became a few dozen mid-major scholarship offers, including Loyola-Chicago and Virginia Commonwealth, among others. There probably would have been a lot more — and better ones — but Richard's recruitment, like so many his age, was hit hard by the Covid pandemic that wiped out a large portion of his junior-to-senior-year summer AAU circuit and kept coaches away from his hometown of Fairburn, Ga., and a state-championship run at Woodward Academy.

Richard and his family locked in on Belmont, with its faith-based curriculum. As a college rookie, he averaged 12.1 points and 6.0 rebounds on his way to Freshman All-OVC honors. Some of his best games came against the best competition the 25-win Bruins faced (LSU, Dayton, St. Louis), including that season-ending NIT loss at Vandy. Richard scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked three shots and was the best player on a floor that featured two-time first-team All-SEC guard Scottie Pippin Jr. (now on a two-contract with the Memphis Grizzlies) and Jordan Wright (former Commodores star now averaging 19.1 per game at LSU). 

Though Richard liked Belmont, the transfer portal beckoned. 

"I'd had a pretty good freshman year, so I knew there would be a lot of people interested," Richard said. "We tried to narrow it down to the things I was looking for in a program; a good relationship with the coaching staff, a place where I could develop and be used the way I wanted to be; a good fit academically, too." 

Golden, by way of the University of San Francisco, was barely off the plane when he began juggling portal names and rebuilding the Florida roster with his new staff. Richard was the first visit and, frankly, the Gators didn't have a whole lot of time to break down his game like they normally would. They loved his numbers, though, and pitched a hard sell. Having been raised mostly in South Carolina and Georgia, Richard had no reason to know anything about Golden or what the young, new coach had done with the Dons to get his big SEC break. 

Didn't matter.

"Everything just felt right," he said. 

The family had a trip to Georgia Tech scheduled next. The portal process was just underway and Ohio State, Virginia and about 40 other Division-I schools also had reached out. Even Clemson, where both Richard's parents (college sweethearts) and his two siblings (older sister, older brother) had gone, wanted in the mix.   

"We talked a lot and prayed a long time about it," said Helen, recalling how her son made a just-to-be-sure call to UF associate head coach Carlin Hartman and heard everything he needed to hear. "Will told us, 'I don't need to visit any more schools. This is the program, this is the place I need to be.' So that's what he did. No regrets. I think we made a pretty good decision, don't you?"
 

Golden and his '22-23 Gators went through a transition year (a tough one, with the season-ending injury to three-time All-SEC forward Colin Castleton) in finishing 16-17 and losing in first-round play of the NIT. 

A second roster overhaul in as many years left only Richard, Riley Kugel, Denzel Aberdeen and Alex Szymczyk as the lone holdovers. They were joined by five transfers and three freshmen. 

Richard was leaned on in the locker room to make it all mesh during the offseason, a role that fit him perfectly.

"Will might be the most universally respected player since I've been here," walk-on fifth-year senior Alex Klatsky said. 

And now he's an equally pivotal cog in the Gators' transformation (some might say resurrection) from NIT fodder to a team some bracketologists are projecting as a dangerous middling seed in great part because of its guard play — Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton Jr., alongside Richard— and ability to score. 

Florida is currently ranked 15th overall in offensive efficiency and 33rd in pace of play. Richard is fourth on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game to go with 3.8 rebounds. Those '23-24 numbers hover right around his career ones, but below the elite digits he compiled his first year as a Gator. Richard's shooting percentages are down from his '22-23 sophomore campaign when he ranked in the top 5 percent nationally in offensive efficiency in hitting 50.4 percent from the floor and 41.6 from the 3-point in SEC play. This season, he's shot 40.4 percent overall and 33.5 from deep, but those stats dip to 37.9 and 30.2, respectively, in SEC play. 

He's had some tough outings along the way. Richard missed all eight of his field-goal tries, including 0-for-7 from the arc, and scored just two points in the 87-85 home loss to Kentucky to open the SEC season. Last week at South Carolina, he had just the third scoreless game of his career, as the Gators blew a 10-point second-half lead and lost 82-76. 

When Richard is not making shots, UF only has few other places to look for scoring. 

"What I tell him all the time, when you shoot a lot of 3s it's going to be volatile, so be a consistent defender, go to the glass, take care of the ball and the other stuff will work itself out," Golden said. "He didn't shoot well against Missouri [in a win] and didn't shoot it well against South Carolina [loss], but he still played with confidence, took the right shots, had a solid floor game and was good defensively. In my mind, that was a breakthrough moment for him." 

The Alabama game came next. Richard finished 8-for-12 from the floor on his way to equaling his season-high of 23 points, dropped three of five 3s, was perfect on four free throws, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals. It all played out in a deafening O'Dome atmosphere reminiscent of the Gator glory days; the very kind of moment and big-time college basketball experience that Richard came to Florida for.

The kind he believed he was made for. 

"We've been at our best offensively when Will has scored and shot the ball and got out in transition to give us some break points," assistant coach John Andrzejek said. "Opposing defenses have to put so much time and energy into trying to stop Walt and Zyon and game-planning for [forward Tyrese Samuel's] post moves and duck-ins that when those other guys get going — and Will is next in line — it really takes the roof off our offense."

And what is that roof? More specifically, that ceiling? How good can the Gators be? They're a week away from finding out, first, at the SEC Tournament, then in the so-called "Big Dance," their first since 2021.

But first comes this stop in the Music City and just a few blocks up Broadway from his old Belmont stomping grounds. As he walks on the court Saturday, Will Richard will look into the crowd and exchange the traditional pregame hand signal he's been doing with his mom and dad since those "pudgy" and "chunky" days.

"FAO," they'll shout back and flash a fist in the air. It means "Family Over Everything." 

And Helen Richard's baby will look bigger than ever.