Who is LSU breakout cornerback Colby Richardson?

quote:

---

Grad transfer Colby Richardson followed Frank Wilson to LSU from McNeese State earlier this summer and has exploded onto the scene in practice this week.

The 24-year-old New Orleans native played high school football at Eleanor McMain, where he more than proved his athleticism. He was on the track and field team and played cornerback, wide receiver, and quarterback during his time on the football team. He even returned a kick off for a touchdown at one point. Though he showed off his talent in high school, it wasn’t enough to earn him a star rating.

---

quote:

---

His time in Lake Charles was a bumpy ride to say the least. He had redshirt freshman season in 2017. The 2018 season saw Richardson play in seven games before an injury ended his season early. His 2019 season saw him meet the same fate, but this time he only was able to find action in three games played.

Then of course the infamous 2020 season that had to get pushed to spring 2021 where he only played in seven games. He was finally able to make it ten games played in the regular 2021 football season. He entered the transfer portal back in January where he was committed to Colorado State before Frank Wilson convinced him to flip that decision in LSU’s favor.

---

quote:

---

Once the time came to actually play on Thursday, and the media got to see their first glimpse of real action, pretty much everyone in attendance was collectively surprised to see him playing with the first team during scrimmage.

Maybe even more surprising was to watch him consistently hold his own and even break up passes when covering LSU’s star receivers such as Kayshon Boutte. He truly looked the part of an SEC corner during his time in the scrimmage drills.

Kelly backed up his play in the press conference after practice.

“[Colby Richardson] coming in and really showing himself from McNeese State as somebody that can compete for us right away,” Kelly said.

He also then gave him credit again saying that he was one of the players that was a pleasant surprise. With just under three weeks until the first game of the season kicks off against Florida State, there is still a long way to go for Richardson to find himself as a starting cornerback for the Tigers. For now, though, he has made a strong early case for significant playing time for the Tigers.

Richardson's emergence has been one of the most important to this point of camp, as cornerback was a huge question mark in terms of both top-level talent and depth. Having another surefire name in the group will go a long way once this team gets into the meat of its schedule.

---