Alabama Football: Trent Richardson Is Two Men and Opponents Don't Like the Other

I've interviewed Trent Richardson many times, and each time the man I'm talking to is different than the one I see in photographs on the field.

When I interview him in street clothes, I see a very pleasant young man who almost always has a smile on his face, and he appears to be a normally built, soft spoken and seemingly very gentle, humble and more than generous with his time.

But the photos I see on the field are of a totally different man.

Arm muscles are tensed and pumped, locking a football in them in a manner that would dare the jaws of life to pull out. His eyes are focused in a way that makes him look like a cyborg not looking, but analyzing the environment. He looks for a way to run away from defenders, and if that avenue is taken away, he looks to run over or through the person in the way.

He shows no emotion, he shows no mercy in the blows he'll deliver and he could care less what's going on behind him and is already looking for the next opening as he runs over the person he's engaged with at the moment.

When I talk to him, he gives you his undivided attention, even in a room full of reporters and never looks away to the next reporter.

It's like a switch he can throw, and the only analogy I can think of is a junk yard dog that well let you pet him during the daytime when you're standing next to the owner, but rip you to shreds if you come back alone after closing just a few hours later.

Mark Ingram told me that he would take Trent with him to buy clothes and shop. Somehow it's hard for me to imagine Trent Richardson giving fashion advice and telling Ingram that that shirt would look great on him.

Especially after knowing what I do about how he is at game time, during practice and even during weight training.

It's been said that nobody really loves weight training, but the best players really do. Richardson is one of them.  Trent is only 5'11" and only 220 pounds, can power clean over 365 pounds, do a 600-pound squat and a bench press of 475 pounds. He can pick up the 365 lb clean and jerk like it was a toothpick according to his coaches, however, his coaches will not let him go heavier than that for fear of injury,

In truth, nobody will ever know just what his limits really are, not even Richardson, but that's OK with him. Yet watching him in the weight room is like watching a man among many others that is truly in his own world. Everything else is zoned out.

He pushes himself harder than the coaches really want and he's one player that they have to tell to stop. He wants to push the limits but he respects the coaches decision to keep him at 100 percent and not risk injury. He may never know his limits.

At least in the weight room.

But in real life, Richardson has limits. Like his comfort limit with flying yet he can deal with those too.

Last season I asked which players you didn't want to sit next to on a long away game, and I was told by all that Trent was a no-fun traveling companion on a plane.

He's scared to fly.

And when I asked him about it, I got the true Trent Richardson, and he freely admitted that he sure does hate to fly. And he did it with a big toothy smile and a laugh.

And he is also not afraid to show other emotion as well, like the reality of life without Ingram. "We are like brothers." Trent said of Ingram. "We made each other better and I'm going to miss him this year, but like brothers, we'll never let each other get too far away. I am going to miss seeing him every day, bad."

Such are the traits of a person who can be two very different men in two very different circumstances, and it makes me glad that I get to only deal with nice one.