In this second installment of SBReport’s exclusive interview with Oakland Raiders defensive end Jay Richardson, the 26-year old talks about his head coach coming back for one more campaign, the off-season and the Silver & Black’s fan-base among many other topics.
SBREPORT: You’ve been around a lot of solid veteran defensive linemen since you arrived: Warren Sapp, Derrick Burges, Greg Spires, Kalimba Edwards, Greg Ellis…what have you learned from those guys?
JAY RICHARDSON: “That’s a good point you make, I’ve had the privilege to be around a lot of good defensive ends, just good leaders, good players and all very different. All guys you can learn from. When it comes to leadership, Greg Ellis was just one of those guys that is going to take charge, he’s just a perfect model for what a pro is supposed to be. But when I first go there, Derrick Burgess was here, and he was kind of like the man at the time, and who you wanted to look at, to see how to do things and the way he rushed the quarterback…he was just a real special athlete. I had the privilege of watching him rush every day, just trying to take what I could, such a tough player, just started to rub off on me. Obviously, we have [Richard] Seymour now, and he’s like a champion. A guy who has three rings, he’s been to the big show and I think it just helps a lot. It valuable to have someone like that on your team.”
SBREPORT: Not to many people know about your defensive coordinator. What’s John Marshall like during game days, the week leading to the game and now, in the off-season during camp and OTAs?
RICHARDSON: “It’s fun. He plays an attacking style defense. John Marshall is a fundamentally sound coordinator. He wants everything done right all the time and he has a lot of personality. He does the best he can to try to get us going throughout the week, even though it gets tough sometimes, he sticks with it and he’s just one of those guys that is relentless. He has fun with it. We have a good time with coach Marshall.”
After a six-year stint with the New York Giants, Oakland brought back defensive line coach Mike Waufle this off-season. He was on staff when the Raiders and Giants were in the Super Bowl and has been credited for helping the careers of many successful defensive linemen. Tom Cable also has a connection with the tough coach, spending six years with Waufle at the University of California. Richardson talked about Waufle and answered a question regarding Cable’s return after speculation of his demise after the 2009 season.
SBREPORT: Mike Waufle is your new position coach. He was with the New York Giants when they won the Super Bowl recently and worked with many good linemen. Have you talked to him during the off-season and what do you expect out of Waufle?
RICHARDSON: “’Waf’ is real military man. He’s a serious guy, but he knows his stuff. He’s one of those guys that knows how to play defense. He’s been doing it for so long, he’s so technical about it and he has the formula down for everything. He knows exactly how he wants things done. It’s good to play for a coach like that because; you know when you are making a mistake, you know there is no gray area. As long as you do things the right way, you’ll be fine. He’s a very smart coach.”
SBREPORT: How does it feel knowing that Tom Cable will be back another season?
RICHARDSON: “Its good for us. You want some consistency. There can’t be a new coach every year; it makes it hard on a team trying to hold on to its identity. Under Cable, we’ve kind of grown as a team and we are still trying to polish it up. But he’s helped a lot in trying to get this team to, rallying the troops if you will and getting us all on the same page. Getting us all to understand what it’s going to take for us to win in this league and be successful as a team and not a group of individuals. So I think he’s very important to our team success.”
SBREPORT: When Jay Richardson is not playing football or training, what’s your day like during the off-season?
RICHARDSON: “Not nearly as exciting as you think. I do some grocery shopping, I play some video games. I relax, I try to do as little as possible. I’m out there paying bills, making sure my family is ok and just do the day-to-day normal stuff.”
SBREPORT: How do you approach the off-season; in terms of balancing your time off and recovering from the season, and working-out and trying to get better as a player?
RICHARDSON: “It’s been fun. I took it a little different this particular year. I took it a little bit more serious. Obviously a contract year and all of that. I just, I felt like this year, I had to be in the best shape of my life and you know, I didn’t do as much hanging out as I probably have done in the past years because this is a big year, not just for myself, but for this team, this organization and I think this is going to be a pivotal year in Oakland Raiders history. This is going to be a big one for us. So I just wanted to be ready for it. As far as my preparation goes, its at an all-time high when it comes to focus and trying to make it happen this year.”
During the draft weekend, Oakland parted ways with veteran linebacker Kirk Morrison. A teammate of Richardson since 2007, the defensive end gave his thoughts on his former teammate and what he meant to the squad.
“Captain Kirk man, I know…that’s the man. We are all going to miss Kirk. Kirk is just a good stand up guy. A good linebacker. A good player. A good smart guy. Any team that gets him, obviously, it was Jacksonville. They are fortunate to have him. He’s a real good guy in the locker room. Kirk is going to do his job and he’s a real classy guy. So, he’ll definitely be missed out here in the Bay Area.”
SBREPORT: The team is taking on a new look: Jason Campbell was acquired, the new draft picks, and JaMarcus Russell looks to be on the way out. What are your thoughts on that?
RICHARDSON: “Yeah, its crazy man. You just don’t know and as they say: you don’t know what you don’t know. All you can do is just worry about yourself. But at the same time, Jason Campbell, from what I have seen of him the last few years, it’s a pretty solid guy, a solid quarterback who knows what he’s doing. He needed a fresh start it seems, this was the best place for it to try to re-establish his identity at quarterback in this league and jump-start his career. I think there is a lot of potential in him, he’s a smart guy. You know, we have a good stable of quarterbacks. Charlie Frye can play. Bruce Gradkowski, we all saw last year, can go out there and hold his own and win games for us. It’s just going to be an interesting dynamic for us this year, going into camp with a lot of talent out here.”
SBREPORT: You’ve gone through tough seasons, but in all, what are your impressions of the fan-base and your start of your career?
RICHARDSON: “They are unbelievable. I remember when I got drafted, I never knew how many Raiders’ fans are nationwide, globally, they are really. I never watched a tons of Raider football in the Midwest, you just didn’t see too much of those games.”
“For a team that has had the lack of success, I guess I have to say, over the last half decade, no fans cheer harder, no fans travel better than our people out here and that’s a testament to the fans, that they believe in us no matter what’s going on, no matter what the situation is. I think that is just awesome. That kind of stuff gives us the energy, especially on game day, like those tough games, the Philly game. We went out, at home, against a playoff team that we beat, most of that you tribute to the fans just being there for us and giving us energy.”
He continued to talk about the direction of the club, stating, “Things are about to turn around. This team is so close to turning the corner and becoming a potential playoff contender year in and year out. We are a few pieces away, I think we have to gain our identity as a team this year and do it early on in the year and establish ourselves our first eight games and I know for a fact that we can do that. I believe it is going to happen this year. I think it’s going to be a huge year for us.”
SBREPORT: What are the next few weeks looking like in terms of mini camps etc.?
RICHARDSON: “We got mini-camp this weekend, we finally get to have the whole team together. This whole new team we have here. Have good practices: we have two on Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday and kind of see where we are at. Get everyone up to speed and then the next few weeks, we’ll be polishing that up, working out and building some sort of chemistry and get guys going. It should be fun.”
SBREPORT: You are also a spokesperson for “The Right to Read Foundation,” can you talk about your contributions there and your countless hours of work with The United Way and the local Boy Scouts.
RICHARDSON: “For me its fun. This was all stuff I was involved in, in my life growing up, so it only made sense that once I had a chance to help give back, to help kids that may have been in similar situations that I was in growing up – it just made sense. As soon as I got out west, out here, my rookie year, there was an opportunity to, on Saturday mornings, to go to children’s hospitals. It was always voluntary. But I signed up. At least every other week, just because I can relate to a lot of the stuff kids are going through. Plus, it’s always just nice to go in there and cheer the kids up, especially in the hospitals. There are a lot of kids in a lot tougher situations than we are. And I think sometimes, our lives get stressful and we focus so much on ourselves and wondering how we are getting out of the situations we put ourselves into and we never stop to look back at the situations other people are in. Especially kids. Doing stuff like that keeps things in perspective.”
RICHARDSON NOTES:
- Participated in 48-league games; tallying 109 combined tackles and 7.0 sacks.
- While at Ohio State, the collegiate majored in African-American studies.
- Selected in the 5th round (138th overall) in the 2007 draft.
- His mother, Deborah Johnson, attended Ohio State, where she played rugby and graduated in 1979.
Here is a link to Jay’s Official Web Site & info about his foundation:
JayRichardson98.com
Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist
Slowly but surely, a handful of Oakland Raiders are trickling into Alameda, as the full team mini-camp is set to begin on Friday.
