Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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44 OCT. 12, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY MIKE SINGER G reenville (Ga.) High class of 2025 athlete Antavious Richardson added an offer from Notre Dame at the end of August, and with his high school football team's bye week scheduled for Sept. 20, the Irish made the smart move of lock- ing in an official visit for those dates be- fore other schools had the chance to. By all accounts, the official visit for the weekend of the Miami (Ohio) game went well for On3's No. 12 athlete and No. 292 overall player in the nation. "I enjoyed the atmosphere and the culture — that was the most amazing part about it," Richardson told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "When you go places, you don't always meet people who are that nice and kind — you don't always get that atmosphere and culture. " T h a t's so m e t h i n g No t re Da m e has that separates itself from a lot of schools. The coaches, players and ev- eryone were nice the whole time. They really want you to feel a part of the team. The people there want you to get your degree and succeed in life. The culture — that's a big thing." The staff gave their 4-for-40 pitch to the 6-2, 170-pounder, selling him on what life after football looks like after graduating from Notre Dame. "They're the type of program that if things don't work as planned, a degree from Notre Dame will set you up for life," Richardson said. "If I were to get injured or something, a degree from Notre Dame will help me out. That's how they try to differentiate themselves from other schools." Through four games of his senior season, Richardson had thrown for 411 yards with 5 touchdowns and 1 inter- ception. He also had completed 63 per- cent of his passes and run for 571 yards and a score on 44 carries. On the other side of the ball, he had notched 33 tack- les (5 for loss) and 1 interception. Notre Dame is recruiting him as a wide receiver, a position he's never played be- fore. He's been a quarterback and de- fensive back to this point. But during a sit-down conversation with Notre Dame wide receivers coach Mike Brown, Rich- ardson learned that the coaching staff will help him make that transition if he chooses the Fighting Irish. "It was great," he said of his talk with Brown. "Coach Brown was going over the guys he's coached and developed, and that's my main thing — being de- veloped. He was showing me guys that he developed who weren't receivers and were playing out of position [to start their careers]. That was amazing. He can develop people who don't already play the position." And hearing that was encouraging to Richardson, considering that would be the exact transition he'd have to go through. Irish head coach Marcus Free- man was also another key figure during Richardson's visit. "He's something different," Richard- son said. "He's very hyped, has a nice personality and can be really funny in his moments. I communicated with him a lot during the visit. "I was even telling him things going on with our team, and he gave me ad- vice on things to fix. I've got love for that man." RICHARDSON'S RECRUITMENT On paper, Richardson is committed to South Florida — a pledge he gave in June after previously being a verbal to Geor- gia State — but it seems pretty unlikely that he'll remain with his Bulls' pledge. He visited Alabama the weekend of Sept. 28 and plans to take an official visit there as well this fall, but it has yet to be scheduled. Richardson is locked in to get to North Carolina Nov. 16. Those two programs — plus Notre Dame — are the schools with the best shot to land him. "Coach Freeman asked me out of every school I'm considering, which school would I choose? I told him their school, which I wasn't lying about," Richardson noted. "The battle is prob- ably going to come down to them and Alabama. He said he's glad to hear that. "He said that them being the top school on my list is a good thing. Right now, they're No. 1 on my list." With Alabama potentially getting two more visits on top of already having him on campus earlier this season, the Crimson Tide could be tough to beat. But Notre Dame is going to push hard for the coveted target. ✦ Notre Dame Battling Alabama For Peach State Standout Greenville (Ga.) High's Antavious Richardson — who officially visited Notre Dame the weekend of Sept. 21 — is committed to South Florida, but the Irish and Crimson Tide are vying to pull him away from the Bulls. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER F O O T B A L L RECRUITING