Colorado's Paul Richardson earns Pac-12 Football Player of the Week honors

The Pac-12 today announced its Player of the Week awards in football for the 2013 season's opening week, as Colorado wideout Paul Richardson, Arizona safety Tra’Mayne Bondurant, and California kicker Vincenzo D’Amato all were honored for their impressive performances.

Richardson, a junior from Los Angeles, enjoyed a breakthrough game after catching 10 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns in the Buff’s 41-27 season-opening win over Colorado State on Sunday.  Two of his receptions went for 75 yards or more, including an 82-yard touchdown reception from Connor Wood to open the game.

It was Richardson’s first game back after missing all of the 2012 season rehabbing a knee injury, and at the very least, he demonstrated that he still has good speed and explosion.  The over-200 yard performance was the only one in the nation over the weekend and just the fourth in Colorado history. Richardson now owns two of those four efforts, with his first coming against Cal in 2011 (he set the school mark of 284 receiving yards in that game).

Bondurant, a junior from Vallejo, California, led the Wildcat defense in a 35-0 shutout against Northern Arizona on Friday night. The Arizona safety collected a game-high seven tackles, including one for loss, and picked off two passes, one of which he returned 23 yards for a touchdown.

D’Amato, a senior from Lake Forest, California, tallied a career-high 18 points in the Bears’ 44-30 loss to Northwestern on Saturday night.

D'Amato's most impressive highlight was his 10-yard touchdown pass to holder Jackson Bouza on a fake field goal attempt on Cal’s first drive. The senior also converted three field goals in his first three attempts to tie a career-high, and made all three of his extra-point attempts.

Some of the other nominees included quarterback Brett Hundley of UCLA; running backs Tre Madden of USC and Bishop Sankey of Washington; linebackers Addison Gillam of Colorado and Eric Kendricks of UCLA; and defensive end Nate Orchard of Utah.

By Staff of The Daily Sports Herald and news services