A cousin and two close friends were sitting in the living room watching a movie in late February as Trent Richardson walked around with his head nodding and a big smile on his face.

They knew Richardson had been on the phone, but didn't know whom he was talking with.

They eventually asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Still smiling, Richardson shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and said, "Nothing."

More curious at that point, the next question was, "Who were you on the phone with?"

After Richardson disclosed that it was Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, one of the friends -- former Alabama teammate Blake Sims -- asked excitedly, "You're going to be a Raven?"

Richardson looked at them, smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm going to be a Raven."

A celebration followed with excited yells and hugs inside the living room.

"It was just one of those moments," Richardson said. "Everyone jumped up, and it felt like I won another national championship."

This is an opportunity Richardson wasn't sure he would get after being cut by the Oakland Raiders last August, likely a final chance for the former Alabama star running back and top-five draft pick to prove he can be an asset to an NFL organization.

Richardson hasn't signed with the Ravens yet and wasn't immediately signed following a visit and workout with Baltimore earlier this month. However, Harbaugh acknowledged on Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings that the Ravens have had an "unofficial agreement" in place with Richardson, who is still only 25 years old, and will sign Richardson once he reaches a "physical benchmark."

"It's in Trent's court," Harbaugh told reporters. "(Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome) and Trent have talked a lot. I text with Trent all the time. He's keeping me posted on his training. I'm planning on Trent being a Raven right now. I'm kind of excited about it.

"Talking to him on the phone, I really like him. I'm excited. Here's a high-caliber, high draft pick guy that seems like he's really motivated and wants to do well. So Trent, keep working, man. Keep working hard. See you in a couple of weeks."

The road back

It's been a process reaching this point.

Three years after the Cleveland Browns selected him with the third overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, Richardson was out of football last season and unsure when, or if, he would get another NFL opportunity.

Richardson ran for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns while also catching 51 passes during a promising rookie season with the Browns despite playing much of the year with broken ribs.

But Richardson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a first round pick in September 2013 and then cut by the Colts last March following two disappointing years before being released by the Raiders prior to the start of last season.

That was a low point.

"I didn't hit rock bottom, but I was right there to where it's like, OK, I get it," Richardson said. "To look my kids in the face after getting cut by Oakland and tell them I didn't have a job and to not know what was going to be my next turn, that really bit me in the butt."

To get here -- on the verge of signing with the Ravens and confident heading into this opportunity -- has required reflection, identifying and eliminating issues that contributed to him being unhappy and out of football and dedicating himself to proving that he can be a top running back in the NFL.

But it didn't happen overnight.

Richardson was back in Tuscaloosa around a month after being cut by the Raiders, moving into close friend Agnew Hall's house not far from the University of Alabama campus.

He was depressed, wasn't working out and was barely paying attention to football aside from watching Alabama.

Hall would walk into Richardson's room and ask, "Are you going to lay there and quit or are you going to regroup?" But there were many days during that first month back filled with a combination of simply crying, eating, a lot of sleeping and wondering how he had gotten himself into that position.

"My main thing was to protect him and make sure he was OK," Hall said. "It was 'To hell with football right now.' This is a lot more serious than football. He's broken. And then the second thing after that was, OK, now it's time to get off your ass and go and prove everybody wrong. That was the second push from me."

It was a progression from there.

Richardson began doing light workouts at Alabama and with Hall before getting more serious with his training in recent months under the direction of former Tide teammate Mike McCoy, who is the co-owner of a facility in Birmingham.

"I was in my feelings for a minute," said Richardson, who wasn't signed following workouts with the Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos during the season. "I was mad. I was hurt. But when I finally got to watching football, I was like, 'Man, this is crazy. I'm not on the field. I am not on the field on a Sunday right now, and I'm not done with football. I'm not ready to be done with football.' So it came to, 'What are you going to do about it?'"

Why is this time going to be different?

There is a popular belief as to why Richardson has a career average of just 3.3 yards per carry.

Analysts say Richardson lacks vision, a trait important for running backs to identify openings in opposing defenses.

Even Joe Banner, an executive with the Browns when they traded Richardson, has said they made that trade because he and others in the Cleveland organization "didn't think (Richardson) had great vision."

"I think if you look at the really good running backs, they have a really good feel, a really good vision, whatever word you want to use for it," Banner said during an appearance on ESPN Radio. "And at least at the time he was there, we didn't think he had that to be a really elite running back."

Richardson doesn't agree. He will give you a look like you just said something stupid if you ask for his opinion of those assessments of his vision.

A primary issue, Richardson said, was losing the structure he had thrived under at Alabama.

Considered one of the hardest workers on the team throughout his time with the Tide, Richardson struggled without that structure and admittedly didn't work as hard after reaching the NFL.

"It's very easy to get lazy in the NFL -- not having everything scheduled and not having everything like at Alabama where it was so structured," Richardson said. "We had study hall or we had to get a workout in in between classes and had five classes a day. It was just so structured. In the NFL, everything's on your own."

There were also the family members and friends constantly asking for money to the point, Richardson said, that it became mentally exhausting and took away from his focus on football.

There were countless texts and calls each day. Richardson bought cars for people, somehow got stuck with paying for five funerals that were each at least $12,000 and treated people to unnecessary things like week-long trips to places like Disney World.

"And people still had the nerve to complain about the trip," Richardson said.

With Hall's help, Richardson has cut out many, if not all, of the family members and friends that so consistently asked for money and caused so much stress.

In late February, even before beginning to talk to the Ravens, Richardson was talking optimistically and passionately about life and football while seated at a booth inside a restaurant Hall owns.

A longtime friend was seated nearby.

Asked whether Richardson sounded like that a year ago, the friend shook his head aggressively and said, "He's back to the old Trent."

"Hands down, this is the happiest I've been since I was at Alabama," Richardson said. "What's different now is that I got rid of all the people that were around me, got rid of all the issues and worrying and the people keeping my mindset off the right thing to where I'm just back grinding and just trying to work every day to get better."

Getting another opportunity

Richardson's first contact with the Ravens was days after that night at the restaurant, a phone call with Harbaugh on a Sunday night that turned into a multi-hour conversation about life and football.

It ended with Harbaugh telling Richardson that he was going to talk to Newsome the next day and that he would be back in contact during the week.

Days later, Harbaugh called back with the news that led to the celebration inside Hall's living room, though Richardson's visit to Baltimore the following week didn't go as expected as he left without signing.

Richardson had trimmed down from around 235 pounds to 228 despite only limited work with McCoy to that point, but the 5-foot-9 Richardson weighed in at 238 in Baltimore after settling for fried chicken at Popeyes the night before and then eating a heavy breakfast that consisted of pancakes, grits and a breakfast wrap.

"I didn't think I was working out," Richardson said. "They were like, 'You ready to go work out?' I'm like, 'Work out?' That was right before the workout and I got weighed right before that. I was like, 'Oh my God.' And I jumped on the scale and I was like, 'Oh my God. I've been doing so good...'"

Still, Richardson said he got positive feedback following the workout, which included position drills and Richardson running the 40-yard dash.

Afterward, Newsome told Richardson to get his weight down, to come back at 225 pounds and, among other things, that "we really want you here."

Through continued work with McCoy and by following a diet plan constructed by McCoy, Richardson was down to 226 pounds early last week and weighed in at 218 pounds Thursday, three weeks after visiting Baltimore.

This is the lightest Richardson has been since high school.

"I feel good. I feel like the old high school Trent," said Richardson, who ran a 4.48 40-yard dash at 228 pounds at his Pro Day in 2012.

Richardson has gotten to a point that -- after finishing a workout with McCoy on Monday -- Richardson joked with McCoy, "That's all you got?"

"He's back," said McCoy, who was a senior at Alabama in 2009 when Richardson was a freshman. "With his focus the way it is, he looks like that freshman at Bama."

A final chance

During one of Richardson's conversations with Harbaugh, the coach offered advice.

"Coach was like, 'You've got to seize this moment because you might not have another chance.'" Richardson said. "But I was thinking, 'I'm not going to need another chance.' I feel like this is going to be the place for me."

Richardson expects to sign with the Ravens before the team's voluntary conditioning program begins April 18.

But to even be back in this position, Richardson said, is still surreal after being unsure about his football future as recently as late February.

After that initial long conversation with Harbaugh, Richardson -- in a room by himself -- screamed "Thank you, God" before calling his mom and uncle.

Later in the week, after being told earlier that morning that the Ravens would like to get him signed, Richardson had moments during his workout with McCoy where he would stop, reflect and just randomly smile.

Walking off to get water after finishing a portion of the workout, someone at the gym asked a smiling Richardson, "Are you excited?"

Still smiling, Richardson shook his head like he was still in disbelief before saying simply, "Thank you, God."

"This motivates me even more, motivates me to not let coach Harbaugh down for taking this chance," Richardson said. "I had to readjust and come back and write my playbook over. If I didn't, what was I going to get back? The same results? Nah. Just came back, doing what I did to get here and get past here and to get to a Pro Bowl, and I want to be that yellow jacket (a Hall of Famer). I know I've got that talent. I know I've got that pedigree. And I'm going to be that. That's what I need. That's what I'm going to be.

"And whether they want to hear it or not, I'm going to show it. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to prove it. And like I keep saying, it's going to be fun looking people in the eye and hearing what they have to say after this year."