The worst-kept secret in college football is out now, and as attractive as it sounds, there are perilous problems but a play away.

Get ready for Anthony Richardson in the Florida run game.

“The guy is a phenomenal athlete,” Florida coach Bill Napier says of Richardson, his sophomore dual-threat quarterback. “We’re going to play to his strengths.”

This, of course, could lead to one big weakness: There’s no one behind Richardson in the Gators’ quarterback room.

And “no one” doesn’t adequately explain the difficult position Florida will be staring at should Richardson — a hyped talent who has a history of injuries over his brief time at Florida — sustain an injury.

It’s simple math: The more Richardson runs, the more punishment his body absorbs from multiple angles and from all three levels of the defense — and often, at the same time.

The more punishment he takes, the closer Florida is to playing important games — the month of September is loaded — with quarterbacks who have never taken a college snap and were 3-star projects in high school or lower. Jack Miller is a 4-star, but he’s also injured and isn’t expected to be ready until late September.

Now, some good news: After getting a high school knee injury cleaned out this offseason, and a full offseason of rest on a nagging hamstring injury, Richardson says he’s in the best shape of his career. “Never felt healthier,” Richardson told me in July.

He has also never been more prepared. Napier is Florida’s quarterbacks coach and play-caller, and offensive analyst Ryan O’Hara works exclusively with the quarterbacks. Richardson also spent any time away from Gainesville with his personal quarterbacks coach Denny Thompson of 6 Points QB Training.

“I’ve been with Anthony since high school,” Thompson said, “and I feel like he’s never been in a better position to succeed.”

It’s those high school days, and a handful of big plays in college, that have fueled the hype of the best athlete Florida has ever had at the position. Including a guy named Tebow.

Richardson is 6-4, 232 pounds, and runs a 4.4 40. He’s strong and dynamic, and can land a perfect backflip from a standing start point.

He has been compared to Cam Newton and Vince Young, and the absurdity of those comparisons isn’t lost on Richardson.

“It’s humbling, but I haven’t done anything,” Richardson said. “Those guys, they did it all.”

Like it or not, that has been the expectation for Richardson since he stepped on campus in 2020. Outside of a 22-game run with Kyle Trask in 2019-20 (and 6 games with Will Grier in 2015), Florida has been a quarterback wasteland since Tebow.

Year after year, player after player, and never enough from the most important position on the field. Richardson arrived as the first true elite high school dual-threat at the position since Tebow.

He sat behind Trask and Emory Jones in 2020 and redshirted. Then last year arrived, and before you could say generational, Richardson made his mark.

He had a 73-yard touchdown run against FAU in the season-opener, and an 80-yard touchdown run against USF (and a perfectly thrown 75-yard deep ball touchdown) in Week 2, the 80-yard touchdown run ending with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss multiple games during the season.

He was thrown into a start against Georgia that he wasn’t ready for, and nearly led a big comeback against LSU — before coming off the bench to salt away a win over rival Florida State in his last game of the season.

In all of those big plays and highlights — and the hint of what could be — Richardson had just 66 career pass attempts and 58 rushes. He’s still the great unknown, a player with untapped talent who hasn’t been able to stay on the field.

Knowing all of that, now consider Napier’s decision to lean on Richardson in the run game through a different lens. Florida’s offensive line is its greatest strength, and Richardson is its best player.

The Gators aren’t beating Utah in the opener without Richardson’s ability to stress the defense with his legs. They’re not beating Kentucky in the SEC opener in Week 2 without Richardson’s dual-threat ability — or for that matter, most every other SEC game.

So the idea of exposing Richardson to potentially more hits in the run game comes down to a simple win-loss decision. You’re not winning games without Richardson running the ball, and if he gets hurt running the ball, you’re not winning games, anyway.

“It’s got to be a huge part of who we are and what we do,” Napier said.

Richardson will be used in QB-specific runs, as well as off schedule runs while breaking containment when pass plays or protection breaks down. Zone read, QB power, QB draw; it’s all available.

A year ago, Levi Lewis ran 100 times as Napier’s quarterback at Louisiana. Richardson may have 100 carries by midseason.

Doesn’t matter that Miller, the top backup, injured his thumb in fall camp and likely won’t be available until late September. Or that Florida will begin the season with redshirt freshman Jalen Kitna or walk-on Kyle Engel as Richardson’s backup.

Get ready for Richardson in the run game. Over and over.