Weston Richburg

Weston Blaine Richburg (born July 9, 1991) is an American football center for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Colorado State.

High school career

A native of Bushland, Texas, Richburg attended Bushland High School, where he was a two-sport star in football and track. In football, he was a two-way lineman and team captain. As a senior, he recorded two sacks as a defensive lineman, but earned first-team all-district honors on the offensive line. The Bushland Falcons went undefeated (10–0) through the regular season, but lost in the first round of the UIL 2A Division I playoffs to eventual state champ Muleshoe.

Richburg also competed in track & field at Bushland as a thrower. He captured the state title in the shot put event at the 2009 UIL T&F Championships, with a PR throw of 18.34 meters (60 ft 1 in), setting a school record, that ranks as the fourth-best throw by a Texas prep athlete in any classification and worthy of the Texas Class 2A gold medal.^[1] In the discus, he got a top-throw of 53.31 meters (172 ft 2 in) at the 2009 Texas Tech Regional Qualifiers, where he took bronze. He also competed as a hurdler earlier in high school.

Recruiting

Regarded as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com, Richburg was not ranked among the best offensive lineman of the class of 2009, which also included D. J. Fluker and Taylor Lewan.^[2] He chose Colorado State over Texas Christian, the only other scholarship offer he received. ^[3]

College career

In the beginning of his senior season, Richburg was graded at greater than 90 percent in all five games.^[4]

Professional career

2014 NFL Draft

Richburg was considered one of the best center prospects for the 2014 NFL Draft.^[5] He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, becoming the most recent Colorado State offensive lineman to be selected in an NFL Draft, following Shelley Smith in 2010.^[6]

2014-2015

Due to numerous injuries to offensive lineman in his rookie season, most notably to guards Chris Snee and Geoff Schwartz, Richburg, despite initially intended as the backup center in his rookie season, was forced to play out of position at guard. Because of his limited experience and relatively small size for the position, he struggled. In 2015, Weston Richburg was returned to his natural position of center, and with a year of NFL experience under his belt, he soon showed himself to be among the league's best centers; Pro Football Focus ranked him as the NFL's #1 center for the 2015 season.

References

External links

• Weston Richburg on Twitter
• Colorado State Rams bio