THE COLLEGES : Richards’ Risk Pays Off in Pac-10 Career

James Richards gambled on himself and won. He believed he was good enough to play major-college football and risked a scholarship to prove it.

Today Richards, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound senior, will line up on the Cal offensive line when the Golden Bears place their Rose Bowl hopes on the line against seventh-ranked Washington.

Only three years ago Richards was a freshman reserve at Cal State Northridge. A very frustrated freshman reserve.

As a standout at Antelope Valley High, Richards had ambitions of playing Division I football. Shortcomings in the classroom held him back.

He recalls Brent Newcomb, his high school coach, telling him, “Arizona was here today. Then they went to the registrar’s office and I didn’t hear from them again. . . .”

“That hurt,” Richards said, “because I knew I was wasting a great opportunity.”

When Northridge, a Division II program, came calling, Richards signed. For the Matadors, he was a top prospect and he soon earned playing time.

But halfway through the season, he became convinced that his first year at CSUN also would be his last. Visions of major-college football still were dancing in his head.

The scholarship money CSUN was offering was not enough for him. He also could not understand the apathy on campus toward the football team.

“It was frustrating,” Richards said. “I’d look in the paper and see UCLA and USC and know that I could play there.”

So he left to prove it.

Richards was told by a Northridge coach who had been around major-college talent that he would never make it. “He said he didn’t think I was Division I material,” Richards said. “All that did was make me want it more, just push me to do even better.”

In one season at Antelope Valley College, Richards attracted plenty of attention. Scholarship offers came in from Purdue, Georgia, San Jose State and Cal.

He chose Cal for three reasons: It was close enough to home; he liked Coach Bruce Snyder; and--surprise--because of Cal’s standing in academics.

“A degree from Cal is worth its weight,” a now more studious Richards said.

Richards, a sociology major, will end his career at Cal as a two-year starter and a professional football prospect.

Given a second opportunity, he has made the most of it.

“I don’t want to say anything bad about Northridge. I understand from friends back home that they’re having a great season,” Richards said. “I’m just happy with the decision I made. I needed to do it for me, I did, and everything worked out like I always hoped that it would.”

Trophy dash: He has rushed for more than 100 yards in three consecutive games and has scored six touchdowns in his past two, but Northridge’s Albert Fann has the same chance of winning the Harlon Hill Trophy--awarded annually to the best football player in Division II--as I do.

Being on the West Coast, which has little voting clout, all but eliminated him from serious contention right from the start.

Fann would have needed to average more than 150 yards a game. That’s a tough order behind an inexperienced offensive line, especially since Northridge has a poor passing attack.

Briefly: Does anybody remember who predicted Cal’s Russell White wouldn’t rush for 100 yards this season? In single games, White has gained 125 yards and 162 yards. . . .

Who can remember the last time a Northridge punter so much as attempted to kick the ball out of bounds inside the 20? Darren McMahon, CSUN’s punter the past two seasons, kicks straight down the center of the field. So did Trent Morgan, the player who preceded him. . . .

Northridge basketball coaches should have been spying on their players in class last season--before 6-7 Percy Fisher, the Matadors’ top front-court threat, became academically ineligible. . . .

Coach Newton Chelette of Antelope Valley says major college basketball recruiters are aware “that if everything is OK in Vegas” J.R. Rider, the Marauders’ star swingman, is going there. So Newton, where’s he really going? . . .

I still believe its loss at Bakersfield will be the only regular-season blemish on the record of the Moorpark football team. But watch out for Glendale College and tailback Bobby Webster. Moorpark and Glendale will face each other Nov. 10. . . .

Wonder if any longtime fans of Cal Lutheran athletics ever expected that they would be looking forward to basketball season.