Richardson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played defensive end for coach Galen Hall and coach Steve Spurrier's Gators teams from 1987 to 1990. Richardson was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 1989 and 1990 and a first-team All-American in 1990, and was selected as a senior team captain. At the end of his four years as a Gator, he totaled 26.5 quarterback sacks and 50.5 tackles for a loss, still third and fourth, respectively, on the Gators' all-time record lists. Richardson was honored as an SEC Academic Honor Roll selection all four years, received an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, and graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1990. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2003.
Professional career
Richardson was the first round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1991 NFL Draft. Based on a conversation with the former Steelers director of scouting, Max McCartney, with three picks remaining before the Steelers picked at number 15, they had three players targeted that they would be willing to select: Tennessee Volunteerswide receiverAlvin Harper, Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Mike Pritchard and Arizona State Sun Devilsrunning backLeonard Russell. When those three players were all selected with the three immediately preceding picks, the Pittsburgh draft managers were unprepared and were forced to make a selection before their fifteen-minute time limit expired, and they settled on Richardson. Richardson played only five games with the Steelers in, registering two tackles, plus another on special teams. Part of the problem was that the Steelers played a 3-4 defense, and Richardson didn't have the build to play defensive end in that scheme. The Steelers made him an inside linebacker, and he didn't make the adjustment very well. Following the 1991 season, long-time head coach Chuck Noll retired and was replaced by Bill Cowher, who tried to switch Richardson to outside linebacker. When that didn't work, Cowher asked player development directorTom Donahoe if it was too soon to cut him. When Donahoe said he should keep the top forty-seven players regardless of their draft history, Richardson was traded to the Washington Redskins for a seventh-round draft pick; if a trade had not been possible, Richardson would have simply been waived. After four uneventful games with the Redskins, he was released and signed with the New York Jets. At the end of the season, after seven games with the Jets, Richardson's short NFL career was over.
