Published: August 12, 2009 02:16 am      

Richardson back with FSU after injury

FAIRMONT — One of the best sights during the first few days of Fairmont State’s preseason football camp was seeing Henry Richardson back on the field.

Richardson, FSU’s 6-foot, 210-pound senior outside linebacker, suffered a fracture in his femur where it joins the knee last season in the Falcons’ wild 46-42 come-from-behind victory over Shepherd University in week four. He was lost for the remainder of the year and missed all of spring drills.

The speedy, athletic Richardson, who had 19 tackles, including three for losses and a pair of sacks prior to getting injured last fall, has been cleared to play, but Falcon coach Mike Lopez still wants to remain cautious with him.

“We’re going to let Henry dictate to us how much he can go,” said Lopez. “That was a major injury and a very big blow to our defense last year. When he went down our defense just wasn’t the same because he was one of our key leaders.

“We’re thrilled to have him back because he’s the type of kid who goes out there and makes plays all over the field. At the same time, though, we want him for an entire season so we don’t want to rush him back into action. He’s a tough young man, though, and come Aug. 27 he’s going to be ready for us.”



o o o o o o



FSU sophomore nose guard Devin Johnson may likely be lost for the 2009 season. Johnson, who played in all 11 games last fall and was credited with 10 starts, is battling mononucleosis and is not permitted to do any on-field work for a minimum of six weeks.

The 6-foot, 280-pounder from Gaithersburg, Md., had 43 tackles last season, including three for losses and one sack. He also recovered one fumble.

In his place the Falcons are looking for a combination of redshirt freshman Travis Bunner (6-2, 310) of Parkersburg and true freshmen Jack Charles (6-1, 325) and Nick Schrader (6-2, 280) to split time filling the void.

Both Charles and Schrader have been impressive early on in camp. Charles is from Gateway High School in Pittsburgh where he helped lead the Gators to a pair of WPIAL title game appearances, while Schrader comes to Fairmont from Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City, Ohio where he played for former Falcon great Barry Blackstone and helped lead the Pioneers to the playoffs three straight times.



o o o o o o



Fairmont State’s offensive line has been bolstered by the addition of Marshall University transfer Josh Evans. The 6-4, 320-pound junior offensive guard started all 12 games for the Thundering Herd as a redshirt freshman in 2007 and earned Conference USA All-Freshman honors from league coaches and media members.

In 2008 Evans started the first six games of the season for Marshall at left guard, but lost his first-string position to Chad Schofield in the final six games.

The former Class A All-State selection from Fayetteville High School considered transferring to Football Championship Subdivision powers James Madison and Appalachian State, but academics played a major role in his decision to transfer to FSU. Had he decided to transfer to an out-of-state school, Evans stood to lose 21 to 25 credit hours toward his degree in sports management and marketing.

Right now Evans, who has two years of football eligibility remaining, is on track to complete work on his bachelor’s degree in May. By staying in West Virginia all of his hours will transfer.

He plans to begin work toward his master’s degree in the fall of 2010.

Evans has been slowed early on in his first FSU camp by a strained quadriceps muscle, but should be ready to go for the Falcons’ opener Aug. 27 at Duvall-Rosier Field against Clarion (Pa.) University.