Interesting to compare Richards to Brinson, having seen both players play live, this is my humble take. Brinson has better hands, but Richards is one of the fastest players to ever play for the Hurricanes. I don’t know what Richards 40 time was, but he was the only Canes WR that I have seen in the last 15 years who completely changed the opponents defense. Richards was a legitimate threat to score any time or anywhere he touched the ball on the fieled.
Brinson definitely has sprinter straight line speed. When Northwestern was 5-5, Brinson often made big plays on offense when his team needed it And they went on a roll to win the state championship. Brinson is a playmaker for sure.
Brinson was definitely a game-changer at Northwestern the last two seasons, playing against future FBS CBs, but Richards consistently did that against ACC CBs, and he was a game changer in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, a much higher level of competition. It actually took Kaaya and CMR at least 4-5 games into the regular season for them to figure out that Richards, not Coley, was the game changer. If Richards had remained healthy, I believe he would have been the highest Canes WR drafted since André Johnson. Brinson has a lot of work to do to reach that level.
at this point, Brinson is making plays off of talent and being better than his competition. Brinson will need to put in the work with Lashlee and Likens, but this spread offense is very similar to what Brinson thrived in in high school. I think Brinson has the potential to be an elite receiver, but right now it’s only unrealized potential