In his sights, Sheldon Richardson saw an open field as vast as the possibilities he envisions for his future.

“My eyes got big,” the junior defensive tackle said, discussing his 60-yard first quarter fumble return in Missouri’s 33-10 win against Kentucky last Saturday.

On that highlight-reel first quarter play, Richardson split a double team, stripped the ball carrier, scooped up his forced fumble and nearly scored, being brought down 60 yards later by the Kentucky quarterback.

Defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski said the play was a microcosm of Richardson’s season.

“Being a guy that big that can run that fast and change directions like he can … he’s special,” Kuligowski said.

The star defensive tackle was chosen as the Southeastern Conference’s defensive lineman of the week Monday for his performance against the Wildcats, a game in which he racked up five tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Richardson said he thought it was his second-worst game of the season.

“It’s pretty good to get noticed,” Richardson said. “I thought I had a bad game though, to be honest. Just didn’t make a lot of plays. I mean, I couldn’t make a lot of plays. They kind of isolated me from the gameplan … (they) ran away from me a lot.”

It’s easy to see why.

Richardson has been a force in America’s premier college football conference; leading the Tigers with 57 tackles, which is tops among all SEC interior linemen.

Those statistics come as no surprise to coach Gary Pinkel.

“He plays hard, and with a great athlete, that’s what happens,” Pinkel said.

Supremely athletic for someone weighing just a tad less than 300 pounds, Richardson runs a 4.7 40-yard dash. That speed and agility, combined with taking effective pursuit angles, has allowed him to track down opposing ball carriers 20 yards down the field as well as from sideline-to-sideline. Kuligowski said Richardson could play linebacker if needed.

“That’s always been me, nobody had to coach me on that; hustle plays is what I do,” Richardson said. “That’s one of my standouts. I never give up on a play.”

Interior linemen making plays outside of the trenches is something Richardson has seen more of this season.

“You’d be surprised by how my play is affecting the league,” Richardson said. “I see more film on guys, and I see more defensive tackles running down field chasing balls, and it’s a good feeling. I don’t think I did it; I just think something clicked in their head to make more plays.”

A former blue-chip recruit, the St. Louis native enrolled at Missouri two years later than initially anticipated after the NCAA Clearinghouse finally deemed him eligible. After having a quiet first season as a Tiger, Richardson is finally living up to the immense hype that surrounded him upon committing to be a Tiger three years ago.

What changed from last year to this year?

“Well, this year I’m clearly starting,” Richardson said. “I had a few plays last year, people don’t know I only played like 14 plays a game last season. They say I had splash plays, but I thought I did pretty decent last year. People say I had a down season. Oh well, I’m having a good one this year.”

Kuligowski offered a different synopsis.

“I think he’s more comfortable in what we’re doing, and so that allows you to play even faster because he’s not thinking,” he said. “He’s reacting to everything, and that’s really what he’s done a great job of this year: playing full speed all the time and knowing what’s going on.”

No matter the reasoning, the numbers don’t lie. Richardson has become one of the nation’s most productive defenders in the trenches. And by doing so he has become the latest in a recent line of standout defensive linemen at Missouri, following in the footsteps of current NFLers Ziggy Hood, C.J. Mosley and Aldon Smith.

Hood and Smith were each selected in the first round. ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper sees a similar fate for Richardson, whom he currently ranks as the 16th best prospect for next year’s NFL Draft.

From Kiper’s “Big Board” on ESPN.com: “You could draft Richardson and put him in any system. He’s quick, but uses his hands and battles, rather than just swimming and running around blocks; he’s a penetrator who plays physical, and piles up tackles. Locates both the ball and the passer well.”

So, has Richardson pondered when to begin his NFL career?

“Not yet. I’ve got a season to play first,” Richardson said. “I’m going to get through that and then after that we’ll see where I stand.”

However, never one to shy away from thoughts of greatness, Missouri’s star made clear his distaste for comparisons to grown-man football players when asked a question by a reporter.

“I want to be a Sheldon Richardson-type guy,” Richardson said. “I want guys to be compared to me more so than me compared to other guys. Don’t compare me to Ndamukong Suh because I play nothing like him. I might be as dominant as him, but I play nothing like him.”

Richardson said this while standing against a wall in the lobby of the Mizzou Athletic Training Complex. Directly above his head was a mural depicting six recent Tiger standouts: Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, Hood, Jeremy Maclin, Smith and Sean Weatherspoon.

Richardson would like to one day be the seventh member of Tiger football’s Mount Rushmore.

“I want my name right up there,” Richardson said, pointing to the mural, smiling, confident as always.