Clint Lamb
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Gus Malzahn hasn’t been the head coach at UCF long, but he’s already starting to make an impact. First, he added former Auburn assistants such as Travis Williams to his staff. Now, Malzahn is bringing at least one SEC player with him as well.
On Tuesday evening, former Tigers running back Mark Antony-Richards announced via social media that he was taking his talents to Orlando. He had been in the transfer portal since Dec. of 2020.
Now Let’s Ball. #UCFast ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/7PYxmSjgig
— MAR (@Mark21Richards) February 23, 2021
Antony-Richards is a nice get for the Knights.
According to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, he was a four-star prospect in the 2019 class. Antony-Richards was also rated the No. 90 overall player, No. 4 athlete and No. 12 player from the state of Florida.
Of course, that’s another positive for him. He is from Florida and played his high school football at Wellington in West Palm Beach. Now, he’ll be returning to his home state with the hope of making a bigger impact at UCF than he did at Auburn.
There were high hopes for him coming into this past season, but after the emergence of true freshman Tank Bigsby, Antony-Richards was given limited opportunities. In four games, he got only 20 carries, which he turned into 76 yards.
At 6-foot-1, 208 pounds, he possesses a lean build for a runner, but he still finds ways to be effective on all three downs — when given the opportunity.
He should have that opportunity this season. The top two running backs for UCF, Greg McCrae and Otis Anderson, were both seniors. Antony-Richards will only be a redshirt sophomore this upcoming season, giving him at least three more seasons of eligibility.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
Got beat out by a freshman and now he is some hidden gem. Pick up your paycheck from Mike Bianchi
At 6-foot-1, 208 pounds, he possesses a lean build for a runner, but he still finds ways to be effective on all three downs — when given the opportunity..
All 20 times
Here’s where Gus went wrong at Auburn. He got away from the offensive style they ran the best. His best team was the 2013 team, who clearly should have beaten one of the best FSU teams ever assembled if not for inexplicable kick return defense.
Nick Marshall ran that spread option perfectly, because he was a big time run threat. That no huddle run offense was a nightmare no one could stop for long. It was exciting and would completely gas defenses. Then…Gus, mysteriously decided he would abandon that great offense to start throwing it more for some reason. Why…on…earth…would you go away from such a dynamic offense? SEC teams breathed a sigh of relief when he did. He stopped signing speedy option QBs in favor of mediocre passers who were mediocre runners…and they never returned to the 2013 form. If Gus has learned anything I would hope he goes back to that offense and ditches the predictable junk they ran the last few years. To this day that 2013 Auburn offense was one of my favorites to watch in college football, but it was a unicorn.