Anthony Richardson delivers historic performance on Rocky Top

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In his first career road start, Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson rewrote the school record books Saturday on Rocky Top.

After just 112 passing yards in his last game, he quadrupled that amount against Tennessee and its passing defense, which ranked 100th nationally.

Richardson threw for a whopping 453 yards and two touchdowns on 24 of 44 passing, while rushing for 62 yards and two more scores on 17 carries.

With that stat line, Richardson produced the most total yards (515) by a Florida quarterback in an SEC game in program history.

“He flipped the switch, and he competed in the game,” Napier said of Richardson afterward. “I know how hard the young man works, I watch him every day and he showed who he is today.”

Richardson broke the school record in SEC play set by Kyle Trask, who totaled 469 yards of offense against Georgia in 2020 (474 passing). The only UF quarterbacks with more total yards in a game were Emory Jones against Samford in 2021 (550) and Tim Tebow vs. Cincinnati in 2009 (533).

Richardson’s 453 yards passing ranks ninth in a single game in program history. He eclipsed the 200-yard, 300-yard and 400-yard passing thresholds for the first time in his career.

More than anything, Richardson had fun again on the football field after losing some confidence in the past two games.

“It feels good just to have fun out there and play football,” Richardson said. “It’s a blessing, and I just gotta take advantage of every opportunity I get. We tried to do that tonight.”

Richardson improving in the pocket

It wasn’t a perfect game from Richardson, who had a costly fumble in the red zone that led to a Tennessee touchdown. His Hail Mary attempt was also picked off on the last play. Outside of those turnovers, he was remarkable at Neyland Stadium.

Richardson made some impressive plays with his pocket mobility, including finding Keon Zipperer for a 44-yard touchdown pass. It’s an area of his game that he’s tried to improve with UF offensive analyst Ryan O’Hara and personal trainer Denny Thompson.

“I’ve definitely been working on that for a while now, especially in the offseason. I’m a quarterback, so I gotta be able to move in the pocket and deliver in the pocket,” Richardson said. “Just working on that with Coach Denny and Coach O’Hara, and just grinding on that. And just trusting the system, trusting the offensive routes, trusting my receivers to get open for me and just delivering the ball.”

Richardson converted four of Florida’s five fourth-down conversions, including an absolute dime to Justin Shorter on fourth-and-2 from the UF 27. That was one of two 39-yard passes to Shorter, who had a team-high 155 yards receiving.

4th and 2 from your own 27? Why not dial up a deep shot. pic.twitter.com/jRZq0kNsfo

— SEC on CBS 🏈 (@SEConCBS) September 24, 2022

Richardson also completed a 38-yard strike to Ricky Pearsall on the second touchdown drive and hit Xzavier Henderson for a 16-yard gain on third-and-14 in the fourth quarter.

He became the first-ever Florida quarterback to pass for 450-plus yards and two passing touchdowns while rushing for 50-plus yards and two rushing touchdowns in a single game.

“I think Anthony Richardson is a phenomenal young man. He takes so much pride in his role on the team, alright? He works, he’s humble, he cares, and he competed today,” Napier said. “I think when you go through a couple rough outings and then you go play on the road against a really good team, he responded physically but more importantly, he responded as a teammate. He responded with character. He stayed focused on improvement, and I think that showed up.”