St. Vincent all-stater Richardet eager to play at Missouri State

~ The 2004 Southeast Missourian Player of the Year became the school's first Division I-AA player since kicker Derek Kutz.

Enthusiasm and eagerness had nothing to do with Waylon Richardet's decision to complete his letter of intent when the college football signing period opened at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Practicality did.

"That's when it starts, and that's what worked best for my parents before they went to work," Richardet said.

Typical Richardet.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pound defensive lineman and fullback was synonymous with work in his high school career at St. Vincent. He worked relentlessly in the weight room, and he was the workhorse for the Indians' run to the Class 1 state championship in 2004.

He led the team in rushing the past two seasons, racking up 925 yards during the 13-1 state title season and carrying for 793 yards as a senior.

And Richardet maintained the Indians' typical team-first attitude.

When talking about the role coach Keith Winkler and his staff played in Richardet's development, he said, "The coaches did a great job putting me in position to help the team out and putting me in position to get me to the next level. But it was about helping the team first.

"I was satisfied with my high school career," Richardet said. "The biggest thing was the state title, of course. I wish we could have done better my senior year, but I really can't complain. We won a state title, and a lot of kids don't get to experience something like that."

Richardet was the Southeast Missourian's Player of the Year for his performance in 2004, which was taken to a new level in the playoffs. He was the leading rusher in all four playoff games for St. Vincent, racking up 400 yards on 56 carries with seven touchdowns. He went over 100 in the last two games, including 114 yards and two TDs in the 21-0 state championship win against East Buchanan at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

He was the leading tackler in that game with seven, including four for losses. He finished the year with 67 tackles, 59 assists, seven sacks, three fumble recoveries and an interception.

After scoring 14 touchdowns as a junior, Richardet had 16 touchdowns in his senior season. He rushed for 793 yards and had 231 yards receiving.

Defensively, he finished with 81 tackles, six sacks, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions to earn first-team all-state honors from both the sports writers and the coaches association for the second straight year.

Richardet expects to play linebacker in college. He is one 18 who signed to be a part of new coach Terry Allen's recruiting class, which includes 10 from Missouri.

"They want us to be prepared like we're going to play as freshman," Richardet said, "but they said two-thirds of the freshmen will be redshirted."

Richardet became St. Vincent's first recruit to commit with a Division I-AA program since kicker Derek Kutz joined Southeast Missouri State in 2001.

With Southeast Missouri State and Missouri State both changing coaching staffs after the 2005 season, both schools came in late on Richardet's recruiting process.

"At first, I was really settled on Central Missouri State," Richardet said.

He took visits to Southeast, Missouri State, CMSU and Missouri Western.

"I liked the coaching staff, I liked the campus and felt good about what I was going to be studying," said Richardet, who plans to study business. "I was really impressed with the way they approached me. They seem eager and hungry to win."