New Greenville High School head football coach George Richardson is just as enthusiastic and optimistic as he was when he took the job two months ago. After meeting all his players and watching them practice for a few weeks, Richardson believes his Hornets have all the potential in the world.
“The athletes are here. They are not the excuse,” Coach Richardson said. “I was just talking with one of my assistants and after looking at my defense and I am feeling like a kid in a candy store because of the size and the youth. The majority of our starters are all going to be 10th graders and juniors. There is also so much potential in the ninth grade class,” he said.
Coach Richardson and his staff have already planned out their entire summer. On Monday afternoon, the Hornets finished a three hour practice. Along with workouts this summer, the Hornets also have a host a college football camps scheduled. including trips to Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Alabama.
“I have. everything planned out,” the coach said. “If you don’t plan, you are going to fail. I believe in myself and know that I am going to put in the work, the time and the effort. This is what I have done my whole career. I have been at a place where we are everybody’s homecoming.”
Coach Richardson added that he has been pleased with the number of players who have showed up everyday with the team averaging between 50 and 60 players a day. He also wants to make sure none of his players transfer away from Greenville High School like they have done in the last several years.
“I am going to take a page from Howard Schnellenberg back in the early 1980s in Miami when he said, ‘We are putting a gate around South Florida.’
That is what I plan to do at Greenville High. We are recruiting our kids. We need to assure them and their parents that this is the plan, this is what we are going to do and this is how we are going to do it. Once their is stability in place, kids and parents are usually not looking to see if the grass is greener on the other side.”
While Coach Richarson is still evaluating his players, he said he has been impressed by many of them especially senior running back Mike Hodges and junior middle linebacker Tashad Thompson.
“Those two players have really stood out and each has the ability to be a special player for us.”
Richarson is the son of a military family. His father was in the Navy and both of his grandfathers served in the Army. In high school, he played defensive back at St. Bernards in Los Angeles and was a four-sport letter winner. After walking on at the Fresno State football team, Richardson transferred to Alabama A&M and joined the Alabama A&M football squad in 1998.
Richardson’s first coaching job was as an assistant at powerhouse Crenshaw High in Los Angeles under Hall of Fame coach Robert Garrett. He then relocated to Alabama where he began his journey as a defensive coordinator.
In 2009, Hall of Fame coach M.C. Miller brought Richardson to Noxubee County. In six seasons at Noxubee, Richardson produced some of the top defenses in the state of Mississippi. He also helped lead Noxubee to three state titles.
