For Georgia Southern’s option ground attack, passing attempts are few and far between. While often overlooking talented pass catchers, at tight end the Eagles have a good one. Redshirt-senior tight end Ellis Richardson has had an up and down year for the Eagles.

He had two touchdowns on Senior Day against Troy, but the game resulted in a loss.

“It’s always good to score a couple touchdowns, but in the end it wasn’t enough to win us the game,” Richardson said. “I wish it was better timing. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

But for Richardson, catching touchdowns as a tight end is a rather new profession. The redshirt-senior from Atlanta transferred to GS from Alabama State, where he was the man under center for the Hornets.

Richardson played quarterback for ASU in 2015, and played well, throwing over 700 yards and six touchdowns while running for another 550 yards and eight touchdowns.

Before coming to Statesboro, being a quarterback was all Richardson knew, playing the position since a young age, talking about his experience.

“I’ve been playing quarterback since probably about sixth grade and haven’t played anything else,” Richardson said. “My coaches in high school wouldn’t let me play anything else because I was the quarterback and they didn’t want me getting hurt. So I had to transition when I got here and I guess you can say its been working out for me so far.”

The decision for Richardson to go from ASU to GS and switch positions might have been a head scratcher for some at the time, but the tight end talked about why he decided to alter his career path the way he did.

“Initially I wanted to just get to a bigger university and play Division-1 football,” Richardson said. “I just stopped by here on my way to visit another school and the tradition just pretty much stuck with me and I felt like this was a good place.”

Richardson has been a leader for the GS offense in 2018, and is part of the senior class that defied all expectations for one of the best seasons the Eagles have had in recent school history.

The redshirt-senior tight end has nine catches in just nine games played, but has recorded two receiving touchdowns, which is tied with receiver Colby Ransom for second most touchdown receptions on the season.

{{tncms-inline account=”Ryan Kostensky” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shai Werts rolls out right to hit Ellis Richardson, GS takes the lead 7-3 over Troy. <a href="https://t.co/623Ie2sI3V">pic.twitter.com/623Ie2sI3V</a></p>— Ryan Kostensky (@RyanKostensky) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanKostensky/status/1061324439437107200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2018</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/RyanKostensky/status/1061324439437107200″ type=”twitter”}}

Richardson and the Eagles are headed to Montgomery, Alabama, where they will play in a matchup against Eastern Michigan at the Historic Cramton Bowl. Kickoff from Alabama on ESPN is set for 5:30 p.m. Eastern.

The energy is always different [in Paulson],” Richardson said. “Of course we wanted to win the conference, but knowing we can finish with a good bowl game and win that is a good feeling.”

McClain Baxley contributed to this article

Ryan Kostensky, The George-Anne Sports Reporter, gasports@georgiasouthern.edu