Oxnard — Perpetual motion - that defines Cowboys secondary coach Kris Richard during practice. Seemingly always moving, yelling, clapping, and most importantly teaching and coaching.
"You can feel it in the meetings. You can feel it at practice,” said cornerback Byron Jones. "You can tell he’s passionate about the game. He loves being around us and we feed off that.”
Earlier in training camp, Richard joined me for a feature called the one-minute drill and something stuck out. When I asked his childhood nickname, he said, “Hurricane."
When he said it there was this sheepish grin that gave me a clue - I needed more intel.
It actually goes back to his Pop Warner days in California when he was between 10 and 12 years old. His best friend, to this day, by the way, Alfred Howard, gave him the moniker. Apparently, no matter who was on the other team Richard was intent to wreak havoc and “blow through” his opponents.
And after watching just one Cowboys practice, it makes sense.
"It was just kind of a certain intensity that I’ve always kinda brought,” said Richard.
Meanwhile, I shared the intel with some of his charges, like cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, who couldn’t help but laugh when I shared the nickname,
"Hurricane definitely fits coach Richard. He’s all over the place. He’s really full of energy.”
And he has Cowboys defensive backs giving quarterback Dak Prescott and company fits. Richard teaches an aggressive bump-and-run style, with an emphasis on the bump. But he also stresses how to avoid getting beat deep. One of the architects of Seattle’s vaunted 'Legion of Boom' bringing his brand of swagger to the Cowboys.
"I think he’s brought that same mentality here of a brotherhood, being a tribe, each one teach one, and it’s been great,” said Awuzie.
"It's worth it to give them the absolute most of us each and every single day,” said Richard. And that’s all we try to do.”
And this Hurricane, unlike others, blowing in with him welcome winds of change.
