Boston College linebacker Max Richardson had apparently been giving serious thought to testing the waters or even leaving outright for the NFL Draft.

But according to a tweet from the official BC football Twitter account, Richardson plans to return for a fifth year with the Eagles, and one year with new head coach Jeff Hafley.

Richardson's return is a welcome development for a Boston College defense that had major and uncharacteristic struggles on the field in the 2019 season, as it attempted to break in a lot of new players around him.

Richardson was far and away BC's leading tackler during the 2019 season. He had 108 stops (72 solo) compared to 77 for John Lamot and 76 for Mike Palmer, who finished second and third on the team in the category.

He was BC's third-leading tackler on a much more veteran unit in 2018.

Richardson has 217 tackles over his four years of action for the Eagles to date.

He also chipped in with 14.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks during BC's '19 campaign.

According to Eagle Action's partners at PFF, Richardson saw a whopping 955 snaps for BC in 2019, including roughly 125 on special teams. The great majority came as a linebacker in the box but Richardson was moved around quite a bit in different alignments.

Richardson graded out as one of BC's top players with a 73.5 mark on the year according to PFF. He was credited with 11 hurries in addition to his sacks.