
ALAMEDA -- Rightly, or wrongly, Rolando McClain has become a target of Raiders fan angst and anger in this, his third season at middle linebacker after being the No. 8 overall pick of the 2010 NFL draft.But McClain has a fan in a former college teammate and upcoming opponent in Cleveland rookie running back Trent Richardson, who played one year with him at Alabama.
"I think a lot of people sleep on Rolando, because I don't think they give him as much media (attention) as Oakland should," Richardson told apparently asleep-at-the-wheel Bay Area reporters on a conference call Wednesday."At Alabama, he got a lot of media and stuff. He has had a good impact. Will it be more? Yes it will be because that's Rolando. I know how Rolando trains and how Rolando prepares for the games. But how I see it, it's not all about Rolando. He has to get a lot more help. He has to get a lot more help from the defensive (standpoint) for him to be a good, successful player, and for the whole team to stand up."So there you go."He was one of my idols I looked up to as a leader on the team," Richardson said of McClain.Then there was Richardson's supposed rift over the summer with Browns legendary running back Jim Brown, who called the rookie "ordinary" after Cleveland used the No. 3 overall pick on him in April."Well, we never was on bad terms," said Richardson, who is averaging 101.8 yards rushing per game. "People took his comment the wrong way. How I took ithe was just telling me, 'Hey, youre a rookie, but from your point and standing youre not a rookie. You got to make a name for yourself. It aint college football no more. What you did and the platform you had back there, thats where you got to leave it at. You got to make a little platform for yourself here, you got to make a name for yourself and you got to win games.'"So, thats basically what he was saying and thats basically what Ive been trying to do the whole time. Ive been trying to prove to him that Im not just an ordinary running back or just a person that is not going to give his all."
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