TUSCALOOSA - A cold October morning five years ago only enhanced the trembling fear through the young body of

Trent Richardson

.

He was 16, pivoting along on crutches into a hospital. The high school sophomore's right ankle had yet to heal from recent surgery, and there was true concern that the football star

from Pensacola would never be able to play sports again.

Despite the brisk air snapping at his skin, Richardson was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. Still, when he got to the room, he was sweating and shaking.

Up until this particular morning, Richardson was like most kids: he believed the universe wrapped around him.

That changed at 5:05 a.m., on Oct. 16, 2006, with the birth of his first child, a baby girl named Taliyah.

What frightened him is what frightens most first-time parents, except for one thing.

"I was a child having a child," Richardson said. "It was crazy for me. My first child was gonna be here. I didn't know how stuff was gonna turn out with me and my girlfriend at the time, or how my kid was gonna turn out looking, or how good a father I was gonna be. I wanted to make sure my mindset was to make no mistakes, and make sure I raised this child right, and make sure I did everything that God had shown me, and put in my life spiritual-wise."

Looking back on that day, Richardson now smiles.

The birth of another daughter (3-year-old Elevara) and thousands of rushing yards later, Alabama's junior running back is a Heisman Trophy finalist. He is the second Crimson Tide player in three years to be invited to New York City, where Saturday's 77th presentation of college football's most prestigious individual accolade will occur.

Along the way, Richardson has learned to juggle fatherhood, a college workload and a stellar football career poised to possibly make him a first-round draft pick in next year's NFL draft. That's if he chooses to make a bigger leap than he's already made.

"It's a crazy time," Richardson said. "Coming from a town like Pensacola, and now standing where I am, for me to make it to age 18 and graduate (high school) was just something - to not be dead, to not be shot, to not be in the drug game or not to be in jail was a big accomplishment for me. It made my momma so proud."

True grit

Richardson came from a place where it was a struggle to succeed.

His brother, Terrell Richardson, was the first of his family to make it out on a football scholarship as a defensive end to Louisiana-Lafayette.

"That's my best friend in the whole world," Terrell said. "Where we're from it's hard to get out. Most of the people we know are in jail, or dead. Two to three of our homeboys are dead every year."

Those dangers were one reason the Richardson family was heavily involved in sports. Trent played four sports, and his weight room ethic became legendary at an early age.

"When we were young, there was no offseason," Terrell said. "We constantly stayed busy."

Trent developed leg strength and stamina running up the sand-soaked bluffs of his hometown. When he was in elementary school, he played tackle football with high school players during the offseason.

Trent developed physically, mentally and earned a reputation as one of the toughest athletes in Florida's Panhandle.

The family still has DVD's of Trent during his youth football days making runs reminiscent of those that have made him a star at Alabama.

"People would look at him,"his brother said, "and say, 'Damn, this little dude right here won't stop.'"

Father figure

The drive inside Trent is one part DNA, one part defiance, but mostly an unstoppable understanding that food, shelter and clothes for his daughters are dependent on his success.

"One man not bringing him down, and him carrying six people, that tells you something about the life that he's had to endure," former high school coach, mentor and father figure Derrick Boyd said.

Trent said he had a tremendous support system, having been raised by his mother and a house full of brothers - two by birth, and others she adopted.

Trent never truly knew his father, who was an aspiring boxer bound for a shot at the Olympics before he was shot and later died from lung cancer.

Trent visited him as he was dying in a hospital despite virtually no relationship.

"He's still my dad," Richardson said. "I don't hold hattred for nobody. I knew him, but I didn't know him. I knew, who he was. I still owe a lot to him because if it wasn't for him, I couldn't be here today."

Any resentment Trent harbored due to his father's absence was channeled in other ways, including his desire to be a better father himself.

In high school, Trent picked up a part-time job while he worked on resuming his football career and focusing on academics. The mother of his children took time off from school to help support the kids. Their mothers, grandmothers and her father helped raise the girls.

"He had to come straight home from practice," his mother, Katrina Richardson said. "It was kind of hard for him. He'd come home. He knew how to feed them. He knew how to change them. He's real good with kids."

To this day, Boyd remains a calming influence in Trent's life. Before games, Boyd sends Trent inspirational text messages such as, "Play one play at a time. Have fun. Make your girls

proud of you."

"From a financial standpoint they might not have had a lot, but from an emotional standpoint they're millionaires," Boyd said. "You can see how they are at the football games. You can see how they support Trent. I'll bet a lot of people that have a lot of money would trade it for that support and admiration they share for one another."

The family support system remains in full force locally. Terrell lives with Trent in Tuscaloosa, and helps his younger brother stick to the scheduling demands at Alabama. Katrina moved to Birmingham with Trent's daughters, who receive frequent visits from their mother, Trent said.

That close proximity makes it easier for Trent to balance family, football and school.

"It just made me want to be more to my kids, more and more every day," Trent said. "I didn't have a father to pick me up when I would fall and scrape my knee. My brothers did that. For a father, I may have missed out on some, but my brothers were there taking care of me every step. My momma was there. I didn't feel like I really needed him, but I'm pretty sure I did to show me some stuff that a mother can't show you that a man's supposed to."

Never say no

One moment that resonates with Trent to this day was an encounter he had with a teacher in seventh grade.

Trent said it spawned from his failure to turn in a homework assignment. The teacher dug in, offering a challenge that continues to eat at him.

"She was telling me, 'You're not gonna be nothing,' and stuff like that," Trent said. "She actually taught two of my little cousins after that. One is in college now. And I think she had said something to him about it. ...She said, 'I told your cousin he wasn't gonna be nothing. He sure made a liar out of me, didn't he?'"

Trent has turned other challenges into positives. Boyd said he's seen it over and over from Trent's recovery from injuries, to landing a scholarship, to the pursuit of records at Alabama and the chase for his undergraduate degree (he said he is 23 hours shy of graduating).

"The last thing you want to tell him is he can't do something," Boyd said. "He appreciates the comparisons to Shaun Alexander and Mark Ingram, but this man believes he's one of a kind, and not in an arrogant way. He feels like, 'What I do nobody else does,' and he has to be successful."

One of Trent's brothers challenged him as he entered his senior year of high school. He put pictures of famous running backs on a wall, guys such as Ricky Williams, Earl Campbell and Reggie Bush. He asked Trent, "Do you want to be one of these guys, or someone that's never mentioned?"

"I made my mind up that day," Trent said. "In my mind I would be a Heisman candidate, or a Doak Walker Award winner, or a Maxwell winner, or have my name remembered for the rest of college history. To have my name remembered has always been big on me. Many years from now, I want my name to be mentioned with those running backs."

That's reflected in the potential accolades lining up for Trent the next few days.

Tonight, he's up for the Maxwell Award and the Doak Walker Award, which will be presented on the Home Depot College Football Awards show on ESPN. Then it's off to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

Terrell traveled to Orlando on Wednesday to meet up with Trent. From there, the two will travel to New York on Friday.

Terrell joked he hope his mother simply catches her flight, because during her trip to California for the 2009 BCS Championship Game, she missed "all of her flights."

Together, the family will celebrate another unlikely step from a life similar to those spectacular runs breaking through tacklers, and whatever else life throws at him.

To Trent, it's about legacy.

"I want my girls to know I would not take no for an answer," Trent said. "I want my little girls to be the happiest kids in the world, where they can come back to Alabama any day and say, 'Yeah, my daddy did that.'

"Hopefully, that's a thought for any dad."

*

Izzy Gould covers Alabama football for the Mobile Press-Register, The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and al.com.

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