Cleveland Browns: Trent Richardson

Trent Richardson says he'll make good on his promise to be ready for the start of training camp next week.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Trent Richardson has been sprinting pain-free, is 100 percent healthy and expects to be ready for the start of Browns training camp next week.

"I have no pain at all in the leg,'' he said by phone before a Tuesday pool workout in Pensacola, Fla. "I'll be ready for camp and I'll be ready to go for the season."

Richardson, who sat out the mandatory June minicamp and the final week of organized team activities with a muscle strain in his right shin, said he won't miss a beat when training camp opens July 25 with a 4 p.m. practice.

"I'll be full-go right from the get-go and y'all out there will see me flying around," he said. "I can't wait to get out there and I can't wait for the first game. I've been waiting forever for this season and I know it's going to be a good one for us.''

Richardson began his running program June 24 in Pensacola, running two days in the water to every one on land. But recently, he's kicked it up to two days on land, two days in the water.

"I've been doing sprints, a lot of plyometrics (jump-training) and a lot of quick-twitch work," he said. "It's a lot of muscle-memory stuff designed to get the explosion back."

Richardson is particularly excited about his first healthy NFL preseason. A year ago, his arthroscopically-repaired knee was hurting right from the start, and had to have it cleaned again Aug. 9, which kept him out of all four preseason games.

"I'm going to be out there in camp having fun this time," he said. "My knee's not hurting. Last year, I was pretty banged up coming into the camp and I didn't even know it. When I was walking, my leg, sometimes it just wouldn't catch and so it kind of gave out on me. This will be the first time I'm going into an NFL with no surgeries or anything like that.''

Richardson said sitting out last month was precautionary.

"Coach (Rob Chudzinski) is smart and he's going to make the best decision," said Richardson. "If he tells me to sit down and rest up, I'm going to sit down. It was the off-season, and there was no reason to take it that far and hurt yourself real bad.''

Richardson rushed for 950 yards and 11 TDs last season, despite sitting out the final game and playing most of the season with broken ribs. He said he learned the hard way not to push it.

"Everybody knows me," he said. "I played the whole season with broken ribs and nobody even knew it. I ran for the first time on the Thursday before the season started and I played on Sunday without making any cuts or anything. So that tells you a lot about my character, as far as me being strong-minded and willing to play hurt.''

Richardson will report at his prescribed weight of 225, down about seven pounds from last season.

"I really couldn't run that much last year to keep the weight down,'' he said. "Your ribs are connected to everything, so I really couldn't run full speed. But now I can, and the system that we're running with coach Chudzinski and coach (Norv) Turner makes you believe in yourself, too.''

Richardson said he was "average" in his rookie season, which resulted in a 3.6-yard rushing average.

"When you look at first downs and (11) touchdowns and things like that, you can't compare me to what a lot of other guys did last year," he said.

On Tuesday, Richardson conducted a free football camp for 350 kids at his alma mater, Escambia High. He's also spent a lot of time with another Escambia alum, Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, who won the rushing title three times under Turner in Dallas.

"Just being able to learn from him is more than than I can ask for,'' said Richardson. "He's still the NFL's all-time leading rusher right now until somebody goes and gets him. One day, hopefully I'll be the one to go get him.''

Sprinting pain-free is a good place to start.