Colony senior earns opportunity to play college football

PALMER — Isaac Richardson beat a number of long odds to become a college football player, signing his National Letter of Intent on Tuesday to play defensive end for the Arizona Christian University football team.

Having lived most of his life in Fairbanks, Richardson moved to the Valley and had to acclimate and prove himself to a whole new team. Not only did he earn a starting spot as an edge rusher for the Knights, but he turned some heads while doing it, earning the attention of college coaches. Picking up the moniker ‘Sunshine’ for his long, flowing blonde locks of hair and positive attitude, Richardson worked to become a beast on defense for the Knights in his junior season.

“I kind of just really focused on, I want to be the best person on the field 100 percent of the time regardless of what my physical talent is and that’s what I strived to do,” said Richardson. “Regardless of the program, wherever I go I want to work as hard as possible and be the best of my ability no matter my circumstances.”

Richardson visited different colleges and universities to get a sense of their football programs before last season. As a devout Christian, Richardson wanted to find a football home centered around faith. Richardson’s father Caleb described the moment they left the room where the ACU football coach had told a room full of recruits that football comes after faith, family, and future.

“My son walked out of that meeting and he said that’s what I want,” said Caleb Richardson. “The coaches at ACU saw his junior film and said you know the way our defense is designed, we’re not necessarily looking for real big long lanky, we want fast. We want speed as an edge rusher and that’s exactly what he was.”

Disaster struck Isaac on the football field this fall. In only the third game of the season, Richardson tore his ACL during a game against Palmer, preventing him from playing football for the rest of the year. With an injured knee, Richardson did not know what his future would be in football.

“I was heartbroken. I didn’t know what to think about it. I just thought my football career was over,” said Richardson. “I love this sport and I don’t want to stop playing this sport.”

But a few weeks after his injury, Richardson made a phone call to ACU and the football coaches offered him a scholarship to play for the Phoenix.

“I wasn’t expecting to get any scholarship money at that point which is really a blessing to be in that situation. I called my mom and she started crying,” said Richardson. “It was kind of like a dream to do that since I started playing football.”

Having overcome the hurdle of making a good impression to new teammates and coaches, Richardson has earned the opportunity to continue playing football in college. The most grueling part of Richardson’s rehabilitation of his knee is over and he spends time lifting weights every day. While Richardson joined the shot put and discus throwers in the spring in years prior, this spring he will join the track team to try and improve his speed. Richardson thanked his coaches and teammates for supporting him, including departed Matt Jaronik who now serves as the offensive coordinator at Wasilla.

“Coach Jaronik wa a real impact on me, more than he knows because he was like the very first person who noticed I was working as hard as I could and he put me in a position that I could succeed,” said Richardson.