Jay Richardson is an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 defensive end

Defensive end

Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...

 who is currently a free agent. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of The Ohio State University, named after the state tree, the Buckeye. The Buckeyes participate in the NCAA's Division I in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports...

, where he majored in African Studies. He has also been a member of the Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...

.

Early years

He played high school football for Scioto High School in Dublin, Ohio

Dublin, Ohio

Dublin is a city in Franklin, Delaware, and Union counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 41,751 at the 2010 census. Dublin is a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Approximately 57,000 people live within the Dublin school district....

.

Jay was greatly inspired by music, and began playing the saxophone at the age of 7. He later joined his high school marching band at Scioto High School and was nominated for the Daniel E Mays Music Department Award (recognizing exceptional scholarship in music by high school student athletes).

Jay excelled at US History and was one of only three students nationwide to be nominated for the Daniel E Shays National History Scholarship (recognizing exceptional scholarship in history by high school student athletes).

Professional Career

Richardson finished the 2004 regular season with 51 total tackles (37 solo and 14 assisted) and 3.0 sacks. As of January 2009, Richardson has 84 total tackles and 4.0 sacks for his career.

Richardson was placed on Injured Reserve

Injured reserve

The injured reserve list is a list of reserved players who are injured and unable to play for a period of time, used most prominently in the National Hockey League and National Football League . It is used because these leagues have a maximum number of players on the team roster, so placing a...

before the start of the 2010 NFL season, but may be waived later with an Injury Settlement.

During the offseason, Jay frequently visits Beverly, MA where he runs his own saxophone lessons and donates a large percentage of the earnings to Beverly High School's football funds.