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f o o t b a l l f e a t u r e : t a y l o r r i c h a r d s like Father, like son Groomed as a DB, Richards leads Purdue's defense BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com Z achary Richards recognized it early: His youngest son, Taylor, had it. Zachary knew talent. He had it, starting for three seasons as a defensive back at Florida A&M in the early 1980s. He'd seen what it wasn't in a youngster, joking his first son, Zachary Jr., had "no athletic ability whatsoever." So when Taylor was born two years later and Zachary Sr. saw that Taylor not only wanted to play football but Tom Campbell seemed to have a gift Taylor Richards' football development is a credit to his dad, Zachary, who played college footfor it, that was all it took. ball and coached him as a kid. Zachary Richards went all in on sharing his knowledge and grooming "Everything he says, I just take it like he's another someone to carry on a legacy. coach out there." Taylor embraced that approach from a young age and RAISED TO PREPARE used all he'd been taught to secure a scholarship from Taylor Richards struggles to remember a time when Purdue. He hasn't stopped learning, listening to Dad's detailed football wasn't a major part of his life. He calls it, simply, a "love." tips since he's been with the Boilermakers, and that's Instead of a stuffed animal or a blanket to carry around helped him surge not only into a starting role but to be considered one of the team's most reliable players as a junior. for security as a kid, he latched onto a football. He even "He was always on my back constantly over the little slept with one until he was about 11 years old. Some of that passion came from where he grew up. In things, and that played a good part in me playing today Florida, "Playing football is just something we do. It's like because I tried to look into those little things, take a lot of detail into what I do," Taylor Richards said. "He just sticks a routine," as Richards puts it. But it also was fostered. in my head every time I play. I listen to him, just like I lis"I just knew he wanted to be a football player. I tried ten to my coaches. I feel like his viewpoints on everything baseball, basketball, (but) football was his thing," Zachare valuable. I'm playing for him. 104 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 2 f