Before he arrives on The Farm, Richard turned a middling Seahawks defense into a perennial powerhouse — here's how he did it
Editor's Note: This is the first part in a two-part series. This piece explains Richard's Legion of Boom defense in Seattle and how they were successful. Part two tomorrow will cover the players on the Stanford roster that can bring the Boom to The Farm.
This season will look a lot different on the gridiron for Stanford football. Not only will the Cardinal be led by a new head coach in Tavita Pritchard as well as a staff filled with coaches that possess extensive NFL experience, but a new-look roster will force the team to figure out a new identity.
But a new identity is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you look at the defensive side of the ball, where they will be led by former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard.
Richard comes to The Farm hoping to instill new life into a defense that has struggled to really cement itself as a threat in today's era of college football. Richard was the mastermind behind the Seattle Seahawks' legendary Legion of Boom defense and is no stranger to building a defense from the ground up.
Before Richard arrived in Seattle in 2010, the Seahawks were already a solid franchise that often found themselves in the playoffs, but they weren't seen as true Super Bowl contenders, often seeing their season end in either the first or second round.
Once Richard got there, he started to build the Seahawks' defense in a way that would turn them into perennial Super Bowl contenders year in and year out.
But how did he do it?
By drafting guys like Richard Sherman — a Stanford legend — Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor as core pieces, Richard developed underrated players into All-Pro caliber ones, mainly through an aggressive and physical scheme, allowing his players to get involved in any play, no matter the situation.
For example, Sherman was a fifth-round pick in 2011 and was not highly regarded coming out of Stanford. He quickly developed into a multi-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro and cemented himself as one of the league's best cornerbacks.
One thing about Sherman, and the other defensive backs that Richard used, was that they all possessed size and length that allowed them to disrupt wide receivers' routes immediately from the line of scrimmage, making it hard for opposing offenses to really open up their playbooks.
A defensive back during his own playing days, Richard demanded a lot out of his defensive backs, needing each one of them to be physical, highly competitive and possess a very high football IQ.
While Richard's defensive linemen and linebackers played a pivotal role as well, most notably players like Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and Cliff Avril turning into stars in Seattle, the bread and butter of the Legion of Boom was the defensive back room.
During the Seahawks' first Super Bowl-winning season in 2013, the play that got them to the big game occurred during the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, where Sherman's physicality against 49ers' wide receiver Michael Crabtree forced the game-winning interception.
Richard will surely want to instill a similar style of play at Stanford. While he still needs to identify which players have what it takes to play that way, the program is confident that the defense can return to its glory days under his watch.
