Rookie In-season Profiles:Trent Richardson and Daryl Richardson

I have decided to make this season's first installment of Rookie In-season Profiles about two players rather than one.  Both rookies are running backs with bright futures in the NFL.  Both came from Florida.  Both have a head full of dreadlocks.  Both are named Richardson.  But that's about where the similarities end between Browns star running back Trent Richardson and Rams back-up running back Daryl Richardson.

Trent Richardson is the anchor of a new-look Cleveland

Browns offense.

Trent Richardson

Trent Richardson seems destined to succeed in the NFL.  He played high school football at Escambia HS in Pensacola, Florida, the same town and school at which NFL great Emmitt Smith attended.  He tore through SEC defenses as a star running back of the Alabama Crimson Tide, arguably the best football factory in NCAA history, and helped the already storied school win two BCS National Championships in 2010 and 2012.  Drafted third overall in the 2012 NFL Draft, he has already been stamped as the first step in leading the Cleveland Browns out of their decades long misery--  and as becoming the franchise's best running back since Jim Brown.

Trent didn't make it to the NFL purely on his connections and his past.  He excels at the bump-and-run style of play, which requires a combination of strength and quickness, dodging one defender and running over the next.  Over the weekend in Cincinnati,  he had 19 carries for 109 yards and a rushing touchdown, and caught four passes for 36 yards, including a 23 yard catch and run for a touchdown that could be used as a video definition for his rare technique.  At 5'9" and 230 lbs.(a vast majority of it muscle), Trent is in perfect condition to be a true feature power back in the NFL.

Daryl Richardson could be the St. Louis Rams next
feature running back.

Daryl Richardson

As the 7th round, 252nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Daryl Richardson wasn't necessarily expected to make the St. Louis Rams 53-man roster.  Fortunately, he made plenty of plays in the preseason and survived the cuts.  The Rams are glad he did.  This previous weekend versus the Washington Redskins, filling in for a temporarily injured Steven Jackson, a man 4 inches taller than him and nearly 50 lbs. heavier, Daryl ran 15 times for 83 yards and had two receptions for 19 yards.  He used speed rather than power to make cuts and long bursts like this 53 yard scamper.  Steven Jackson seems to be fine and is back as the primary runner for now, but in his 9th season in the NFL, it must be a big plus for the Rams to know they already have found his predecessor.

Daryl also grew up in Florida, but instead of going to a big name college for football, he enrolled at a small Division II Lone Star Conference school called Abilene Christian University.  Brother of Cincinnati Bengals running back Bernard Scott who also attended ACU, Daryl was honorable mention All-LSC his junior and final year as a Wildcat before entering the NFL Draft.  If he keeps up his production, he will most definitely be the future of the St. Louis Rams running attack.

While the passing game is becoming an ever more central part of NFL offenses, the running game slowly dwindles.  However, as long as players get faster and stronger, the running back position will remain a solid, time-honored centerpiece to many teams.  These two stars of the backfield are only going to help it shine brighter in the ever-changing National Football League.