Street & Smith's has tabbed Appalachian State University running back Kevin Richardson (Elizabethtown, N.C./East Bladen) as the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS - formerly Division I-AA) Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in its College Football 2007 Yearbook, which hits newsstands on Tuesday, June 26.
Richardson enters his senior season as the holder of six school records, including single-season rushing yards (1,676) and rushing touchdowns (30), both set a season ago as Appalachian cruised to its second-straight NCAA Division I national championship. His 30 rushing touchdowns and 186 points in '06 also set NCAA Division I FCS national records. Already ASU's all-time
leader in career rushing touchdowns with 50, Richardson needs just 954 yards on the ground to break John Settle's school record of 4,409 career rushing yards.
Richardson is a two-time all-American and the reigning Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He was a finalist for the 2006 Walter Payton Award, presented to the FCS's top player.
In addition to Richardson, offensive guard Kerry Brown (Marietta, Ga./Lassiter) and defensive back Corey Lynch (Cape Coral, Fla./Evangelical Christian) were named to Street & Smith's preseason all-America team. The two-time-defending national champs are No. 1 in the S&S preseason FCS poll.
The Mountaineers open the 2007 campaign on Sept. 1 versus Michigan. The Apps' first visit to U-M's famed "Big House" is set for noon (EDT) and will be televised nationally on the Big Ten Network.