Hornets are hungry for success

Kaden Richardson listens as his father Kris strategizes with offensive linemen.

Kris Richardson has a good idea of how a college football player can eat. He raised two and coaches the offensive line at Sacramento State, which will face Richmond at 2 p.m. Saturday in the second round of the FCS playoffs. The big boys transform into magicians when it comes to food. They make it disappear without as much as a burp.

Richardson’s sons and several of those linemen devoured a Thanksgiving feast at the Folsom home of Richardson and his wife Kelly. And calling it a feast is putting it mildly. Seven tri tips, a turkey and a ham stood no chance against such hearty appetites. Richardson was spared from stuffing his refrigerator like a turkey with leftovers.

“A lot of meat got eaten and the damage to the pies was pretty considerable too,” Richardson said. Football talk was kept to a minimum because “when the guys come over, it’s a social setting. I let the guys be guys. The reality is they’re a bunch of big kids when you put them all in a room together. They start chuckling and laughing. When I peeked in the room, it was real quiet. They were probably making fun of me.”

All those years of feeding their sons, Kooper and Kaden, was like a walk in the park compared with the kitchen marathon last Thursday. Kooper and Kaden played for their father at Folsom High. Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor and Richardson coached together at Folsom, so a sideline reunion was by no means a surprise after Taylor was hired in 2019.

Kooper Richardson

Kaden immediately transferred to Sacramento State from UC Davis to play again for his father. Kooper followed in 2021 as a graduate transfer from UC Davis after being a three-year starter at right tackle for the Aggies. They did not switch sides in the rivalry to spite the Aggies, but it would be safe to say there were no parting gifts.

Kooper started at right tackle for the Hornets last season and now plays in the Canadian Football League with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Kaden is a redshirt sophomore who is paying his dues this season as a backup center.

Sacramento State has a young offensive line with right guard Brandon Weldon being the only senior starter. Center Nathan Mejia is a redshirt freshman, right tackle Ivan Garza is a redshirt sophomore, left guard Jackson Slater is a true sophomore and left tackle Troy Stiefel is a junior who was injured most of last season. Garza started 10 games in his place.

Kaden and Kooper share an apartment in Sacramento, so they can drive home whenever they want to mooch a meal or talk their mother into doing their laundry. Some of Kaden’s teammates are not as fortunate, and Thanksgiving might be just the first holiday they will not spend with their families. The season could stretch into the new year if the Hornets can make it to the FCS championship game on Jan. 8 in Frisco, Texas.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. A victory Saturday will the first for the Hornets in three playoff games since Taylor’s arrival. Sacramento State is 23-1 in the Big Sky Conference since 2019, but all those victories have not translated into success in the playoffs. The 11-0 Hornets are the No. 2 seed and earned a first-round bye for the third time in as many playoff appearances – not that the first two did them much good

Richardson could have remained at Folsom if success was all that mattered. He led the Bulldogs to state Division I-AA championships in 2017 and 2018. In fact, the Bulldogs were on their way to Norwalk for the 2018 title game when Richardson received a call from Taylor. The opportunity to coach at Sacramento State was too good to refuse.

“It was pretty simple,” Richardson said. “We always talked about Sac State being the perfect place. We always felt it was a diamond in the rough. We felt we could turn this place around and win a lot of football games. And I get to coach with one of my best friends.”

Hornets, Aggies earn honors

UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins had much more on his mind Tuesday than trying to find out how many of his Aggies were selected to the All-Big Sky Conference team. The Aggies are taking a crash course on South Dakota State in preparation for facing the Jackrabbits in the first round of the FCS playoffs on Saturday in Brookings, S.D. Even after Hawkins learned 12 players were honored, he did not jump out of his seat at his weekly press conference and celebrate.

“For every head coach who goes through the all-conference selection committee, it’s unbelievable,” Hawkins said. “There’s a lot of bartering that goes on and a lot of arguing. Life’s not fair, football’s not fair and in many cases all-conference teams are not fair. I’ve been doing this a long time and all-conference teams are always a head-scratcher. And they’ll probably continue to be.”

Josiah Erickson (44)

Three UC Davis players were named to the first team – guard Jake Parks, cornerback Brandon Perryman and running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. Big Sky champion Sacramento State had six first-team selections – wide receiver Pierre Williams, tight end Marshel Martin, center Thomas Parker, defensive end Josiah Erickson, kicker Kyle Sentkowski and all-purpose player Asher O’Hara.

Five Sacramento State players were second-team selections – offensive tackle Kooper Richardson, guard Brandon Weldon, outside linebacker Marte Mapu, inside linebacker Marcus Hawkins and cornerback Munchie Filer III. Richardson played three seasons at UC Davis and came to Sacramento State as a graduate transfer to play for his father Kris and with his brother Kaden.

UC Davis swept the second-team selections picks for special teams with punter Dan Whelan, kicker Isaiah Gomez, kick returner Lan Larison, punt returner Isaiah Thomas and all-purpose player Trent Tompkins,. Other second-team picks for the Aggies were tight end McCallan Castles, center Connor Pettek, defensive tackle Bryce Rodgers and safety Jaylin White. Sacramento State had five third-team selections – quarterback Jake Dunniway, running back Cameron Skattebo, cornerback Malik Jeter and punter Sam Clark. Defensive tackle Jett Stanley was honorable mention.

The Hornets are the No. 4 seed in the FCS playoffs and await the winner of the UC Davis-South Dakota State game in the second round on Dec. 4 at Hornet Stadium. UC Davis would welcome another shot at Sacramento State after the Hornets rolled to a 27-7 rout in the 67th annual Causeway Classic. Sacramento State has won the past two Causeway clashes and would likely be riding a three-game winning streak against UC Davis had the Hornets played last spring.

Better blockers than barbers

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Kooper Richardson, left, and Jake Parks wet their whistles in a recent practice.

Colton Lamson cannot wait to have his hair styled into a mullet, but the UC Davis offensive tackle claims a visit to a salon or barber shop is beyond his budget. Who knew the crafting of a short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back mullet would require professional services instead of clippers and a bathroom mirror?

The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Lamson can open holes for running backs and protect quarterback Jake Maier, but cutting his own hair might be a bit much to ask of a sociology major with an emphasis in law and society. The junior needs a mullet if for no other reason than to honor his deal with Kooper Richardson.

Lamson and Richardson must have had too much free time on their hands in May 2018 when they made a pledge to “just be fun with our hair,” the 6-6, 298-pound Richardson recalled. “I was a little skeptical at first, but then we committed to it. My girlfriend hates it, but I love it. That’s all that matters.”

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Will Martin

Their objective was not shock value or to just make their teammates laugh. There was actually a method to the mullet madness. “We thought what would be better to exemplify offensive line play and tackles,” Lamson explained. “It’s a mullet. What’s more dirty and nastier than that? That’s how we want to play.”

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Colton Lamson

No one can argue with the results. The two tackles combined with senior Ramsey Hufford, redshirt freshman Connor Pettek and true freshman Jake Parks in 2018 to pave the way for the Aggies to capture a share of the Big Sky Conference championship and advance to the FCS playoffs for the first time.

UC Davis shared the title with Eastern Washington and Weber State. Eastern Washington had all five of its offensive linemen honored in the all-conference voting with three on the second team and two on the third. Weber State had two on the first team and one earn honorable mention. UC Davis had none.

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Connor Pettek

The only recognition that Richardson, Lamson, Pettek, Smith and Parks usually receive is when a student runs into one of them on campus and asks if he plays football – not that the person doing the recognizing knows his name or his position. “No one comes to a game,” Pettek offered, “to see the offensive line play.”

Parks started all 13 games last season. Pettek became a starter in Week 2 after senior Will Martin was injured in the season-opening victory at San Jose State. Martin has returned this season after receiving a medical hardship waiver. “It’s kind of like coming back home,” Martin said. “It’s family. It’s comfortable.”

Martin and Parks have resisted the temptation to join the mullet movement. Pettek tried to join, but he has been left looking like Brian Setzer of rockabilly fame if Setzer joined the cast of “Duck Dynasty.” UC Davis does not have a hair policy for athletes, Pettek said, so “it’s kind of like go for it. If you think it’s either funny or looks good, go for it. I was trying to get a little mullet going, but they messed it up.”

The linemen might have been pulling their hair out this week had the Aggies not rallied for a 38-35 victory at San Diego last Saturday. UC Davis bolted to a 14-0 lead, but San Diego fought back and took its first lead at 35-31 with 8:47 to play. The Aggies responded with an 81-yard drive in 14 plays to win it. Gilliam rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.4 yards per carry to the delight of the offensive line. Senior quarterback Jake Maier was sacked just once in passing for 359 yards and two scores.

 “When we get clicking in a game and moving as a unit, it’s a force,” Lamson said. “We want to let Jake do his thing and we know he’s going to shred people if we give him time, but we want to run the rock.”

The Aggies hope to rock in their home opener against Lehigh at 7 p.m. Saturday.