2026 Edna Karr DT Richard Anderson determined to keep developing increasingly elite status

Richard Anderson still feels overlooked and underrated — even in the wake of an outright dominant finish to his junior season.

The 6-foot-4, 325-pound defensive tackle, an all-state performer on Edna Karr’s state championship run, is already considered among the nation’s top 2026 prospects.

But he enters his final high school offseason determined to reach even further heights — closing this chapter of his career, preparing himself for success at the next level and commanding all-around respect — all while navigating a newly reopened recruiting process.

“My goal is to try to be the No. 1 D-Tackle in the nation in my class,” Anderson said. “I’m really striving for that, really trying to get my fifth star too. Some days, I’m really just trying to be better than the last Richard, you know? I got better than freshman Richard, got better than sophomore Richard, and now I’ve gotta be better than junior Richard. You know, I look back at old film, and I’ve gotta be better than that.”

Continued improvement from Anderson’s last outing is a scary prospect for opposing offenses.

His 44 tackles, including 15 for loss and 10 sacks, plus 18 quarterback hurries and two interceptions as a junior earned a consensus all-state first-team selection.

And Anderson loomed particularly large during his Cougars’ playoff run to their first state championship since 2019 and first since moving up to Class 5A and Division I, Louisiana’s highest levels.

He was a force up front in the biggest games and on the biggest stages, including six tackles for loss, a sack and a safety in Karr’s 53-8 title-game rout of previously undefeated Alexandria in the Caesars Superdome.

“Everybody was asking did I save my best for last,” Anderson said. “But, you know, I just had to ball out for my seniors. Those guys have been through a lot. They’ve been there for four years, or some for three years, and still hadn’t gotten to win (a championship) yet. So I just had to play my role and do what I had to do to get the win.”

Anderson credits his coaches and older teammates, from former Cougars to this year’s 2025 senior class, for an eventful three years in his own development.

For all his impressive combination of strength, explosiveness and quickness at his size, Anderson points to his strides in maturity and mentality as his biggest and most critical.

“Coming into Karr, it really wasn’t pretty smooth,” he said. “I came in there my ninth-grade year, and I was like, ‘Man, I can’t do this, bruh.’ Summer workouts were hard. I was missing practice, having excuses. And I had that sit-down with coach Brice (Brown). At that time, that Richard, he was being a more selfish type dude. And when he said he believed in me and that I could do it, that’s really what really brought me in and gave me the chance to kind of give in on myself.

“I fought through it. I put my pride to the side. Played a few games, got a Florida State offer and then came back sophomore year, and I was ready. I was starting and said, ‘I’ve gotta put on my big-boy pants,’ matured more, and that’s when I just started to visualize out my life like, ‘This is who I am, I’ve got a name for myself and this is what I’ve gotta do. I’ve gotta start looking at the future instead of looking in the past.'”

Brown began praising Anderson among the program’s hardest-working and most quickly improving players that spring of his freshman year.

This fall, Anderson took as much pride in his roles as a captain and member of the Cougars’ leadership council as he did in his on-field performance and accolades.

He said while he’s still a laid-back, joking personality outside of football, “but it’s that switch, that switch flips, knowing that my team needs me” when it’s time to work.

And all the team and individual success has only made him hungrier for more.

“Once you do stuff, you start getting the hang of it, but you want to get better at it,” he said. “Like, I fell in love with the sport and got offers, but I wasn’t satisfied with my work ethics, so I was just grinding and grinding and grinding and grinding, and I’m still not done grinding. You just can’t get complacent.”

Anderson said he and the Cougars’ strong 2026 core were talking about repeating as state champions next December before even leaving the Superdome earlier this month.

For his part, the big defensive lineman hopes to trim down closer to 300 pounds and be more consistently dominant game in and game out, play in and play out.

He will also be diving back into the recruiting process after recently taking a step back from his summer commitment to home-state LSU, saying he’s “wide-open right now” to his college options.

The relationship with the Tigers and defensive line coach Bo Davis remain strong, Anderson said, but Texas, Florida, Florida State and Miami have been among other programs ramping up their pursuit.

Texas and LSU were two campuses he specifically mentioned planning to visit this offseason, and he said relationships and standards similar to those that have developed him so well in high school.

“I want it to be similar to Karr, you know,” he said. “It’s not only about football. It’s mostly about family. And I want a coach that’s gonna be on me, be on my tail to push me.”