Florida head coach Dan Mullen provides halftime update on Anthony Richardson

Coming into Saturday’s game with Alabama, Florida head coach Dan Mullen faced a barrage of questions concerning how much quarterback Anthony Richardson would play. 

Mullen addressed Richardson’s lack of playing time after the conclusion of the first half.

“Yeah you know Anthony with his injury we have to be really cautious with him,” Mullen told CBS Sports sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl. “I thought Emory’s playing pretty good. making some good decisions. [He’s] getting us into the right plays, managing the game, made some good throws. We just have to execute cleaner. We gotta give him more time. There’s some opportunities that guys are open. We gotta be a little more efficient offensively. We made some early mistakes defensively, giving up some first downs on penalties. We settled down.”

Erdahl added Richardson is not walking along the sideline looking like he is ready to play or preparing to enter the game.

Richardson suffered a minor hamstring injury in last weekend’s game against USF. Richardson, who is averaging 25 yards per run after 11 carries for 275 yards, leads the team’s rushing attack. Alabama has had issues with rushing quarterbacks in the past.

Quarterback Emory Jones is 9-for-16 with 98 yards and an interception by Alabama’s Jayln Armour-Davis. They have run a balanced offensive attack so far with 102 rushing yards to add to Jones’ 98. 

The Gators trailed No. 1 Alabama 21-9 at half time. The Crimson Tide came out on fire with three straight touchdowns, but they punted on three straight drives to end the first half.

Florida has been aided by Alabama penalties. The Crimson Tide have been penalized 10 times for 76 yards as of the middle of the fourth quarter.

Local product Richardson was a high school sensation

Richardson attended Eastside High School less than five miles from Florida’s campus. He was a four-star recruit rated the No. 9 dual-threat quarterback in the 2020 class and the No. 30 player in the state of Florida by 247Sports. Richardson was the first quarterback from within city limits to sign with Florida since Chris Stephens did it in 1999. 

In this video from his freshman year of high school, 6-foot-4 Richardson, who played receiver before switching to quarterback following an injury to the starter, made a one-handed, Odell Beckham Jr.-like catch on a high pass.

Florida QB Anthony Richardson in High School😳

There’s nothing this man can’t do

pic.twitter.com/PXUtDpLLw2

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 17, 2021

After committing to Florida early in 2019, Richardson decommitted from the Gators and was heavily considering Penn State, among other big FBS programs. Obviously, he ultimately flipped back to Florida head coach Dan Mullen.