RED TAILS CLASSIC: West Alabama quarterback leads Tigers to win over Tuskegee
Coach Scott Cochran and the Tigers of the University of West Alabama celebrate their win in the Red Tails Classic at Cramton Bowl on Sunday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Maybe Luther Richesson has finally found a home.
The West Alabama quarterback set a Red Tails Classic record for completion percentage (64 percent) and passing touchdowns (three), earning Most Valuable Player honors after leading his Tigers to a 27-17 win over Tuskegee at Cramton Bowl on Sunday night.
The Nashville native led his Lipscomb Academy team to a state championship in 2021, but from there his journey takes more wrong turns than right. He signed with Cincinnati, then entered the portal before the 2022 season started. After sitting out 2022, he played at Golden West College in 2023, went to Middle Tennessee State in 2024 (where he didn’t play) and Central Arkansas in 2025 before finally winding up at West Alabama this fall.
“It’s been a long run, for sure,” he said. “I’ve been just about everywhere. I joke every time when you see those commitment graphics online and see like eight different schools and all the comments, ‘What’s this kid doing? The portal is ruining football,’ I’m one of those kids. In a lot of ways, I’m grateful for it. It’s been a wild ride. A lot of lessons I’ve learned in each spot I’ve been. I just told Coach (Scott) Cochran on the way (to the postgame interview) I’m so thankful and so blessed to be at West Alabama.”
The Tigers piled up 411 yards with a breakout fourth quarter, but much of what they accomplished on Sunday can be directly tied to Richesson. His first touchdown pass of the night was a perfect strike over the middle to Maddix Morris to give West Alabama a 14-7 halftime lead. And when the gaem started unraveling in the third quarter, it was Richesson who put it all together in the fourth quarter to help the Tigers put the game out of reach.
“I thought he played great,” Cochran said. “Everyone, to start, the anxiety was very high. And I’ve got to find a way to settle them down to play a full four quarters. He’s definitely got a long way to go but I see that he has a chance where he is.”
In the first half, he did a lot of damage with his legs, finishing with 93 yards on seven carries, the most ever by a quarterback in a Red Tails Classic.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said. “I’m not the fastest quarterback in the world but I think I can get it done when we need it. That’s just what it took tonight.”
In the second half, there was a missed field goal and a fumble out of the back of the end zone that cost West Alabama points on two occasions, followed by a Richesson interception.
It was actually his second interception of the night. The first was negated by the fact Tuskegee had 12 men on the field.
“He threw an interception and they had the penalty,” Cochran said. “I was like, ‘you’re a lucky dog.’ I’m smiling at him, joking with him, ‘ha, you’re lucky, you finally got one,’ and then he threw the next one. ‘Man, I shouldn’t have thrown it.’ I’m like, no, this is what happened, let’s go to the next play. You’ve got to go sit for the next few minutes, however long it takes the defense to get the ball back. So how you’re going to respond when you come back out is more important than you throwing that pick.”
From that moment, he completed 5 of 5 passes for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns, helping the Tigers build a 27-9 lead to put the game out of reach.
“On offense -- I can only speak from my end -- we saw the defense battling,” he said. “They were really competing. They played a hell of a game. That (Tuskegee) offense made some amazing plays tonight and (the West Alabama defense) held them to few points. I think it just kicked in for us, let’s help our brothers out, let’s go do our part and make sure we can get some points on the board as well.
Richesson completed 16 of 25 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns, setting Red Tails Classic records for completion percentage and touchdown passes (as well as quarterback rushing totals). Most importantly, he led his new team to a win in the 2026 season opener.
“It was a great way to start the year, 1-0. We faced some adversity early on in the game and then some self-inflicted wounds coming out of the half. I was just really proud of the guys. We all had each other’s backs tonight, especially through some adversity, and found a way to get it done.”