Richmond wrapped up the 2023 spring on Saturday with a not so overly-exciting spring game. The 6-3 final isn’t a great indication of the offense, as it was a running clock for the full 40 minutes, however the defense took control early and ultimately made this a field goal competition.

The good

Defense – Not much negative you can find from Saturday’s defensive effort. The defensive line established itself early on, and while they weren’t going up against a full force O-line it was a good taste of what’s to come this fall. You won’t find a better DE combo than Marlem & Jeremiah, and it really feels like the back end is continuing to improve. If we were labeled as an offensive team last year, we will very much be labeled as a defensive team this year. Very few depth problems at any spot means the bar will be extremely high when we take a deep dive into each position group during the summer.

Kicking game – 3/3 on field goals and Trussler got a hold of a few punts. Very optimistic that our kicking game can be a strong point again in 2024 and thought it was huge that Jayden Alsheskie converted his only field goal attempt of the day. Lopez will be the guy in 2024 but don’t be shocked to see Alsheskie on kickoffs. They didn’t cover that too much during the spring but it feels like a very real possibility to me.

Receiver depth – If there was any doubt that UR didn’t have a true WR1 (there really shouldn’t have been), Nick DeGennaro erased that during the spring. Great route runner, solid hands, and tremendous awareness in space to either get up field or stick his foot in the ground and cut it back. Behind him is a very good group that all showed flashes of taking on a starting role. We didn’t see much besides screens and underneath throws on Saturday, however Ja’Vion Griffin, Quintarius Jefferies, Quanye Veney, and Jerry Garcia all have the ability to make contributions each week. The absence of Jasiah Williams (discussed below) leaves a somewhat dark cloud over this room entering the summer, however we’re still in pretty good shape.

The bad

Tempo – The real spring game wasn’t the offense vs the defense, it was the offense vs the play clock. Flashbacks to the Jeff Durden era were not what I was hoping for but they weren’t totally unexpected. I talked about this beforehand and expected it to some degree but it still wasn’t easy to watch at points. I get it – new coordinators trying to use Cosh’s terminology and playbook, all while rotating four QBs into the game, isn’t a recipe for a crisp four quarters. I’d imagine the summer will be just as important for October/Ross as they continue to get more comfortable with the language so this only becomes a concern if we’re seeing this during the 2nd or 3rd week of camp. For now we can appreciate just how far Billy Cosh took us in one year.

O-line shuffle – Another instance where there just isn’t much this staff can do. Eight total linemen on the spring roster, with an inactive Parker Mitchell and Gavin Lamp bringing that total down to six for the game. Ethan Calveric moved from D-line to O-line to help with personnel however I’m unsure if that is a permanent move. Either way it was an established, top-tier D-line facing a pieced together O-line for much of the day. Difficult to evaluate the QBs because of that and we only saw two deep shots all day due to the pocket collapsing. Not a huge concern going forward as the starting five upfront will hopefully be full go come August, although it did show just how young we are behind those five guys.

Jasiah Williams – The nightmare scenario from this past Thursday was all but confirmed on Saturday. The large brace on Williams’ leg essentially signals he is out for the 2023 season with (presumably) an ACL injury. The Spiders’ now have Jasiah’s 82 receptions to replace from 2022, on top of replacing the production lost with Herres and Henley graduating. Garcia and Veney are the likely candidates to replace #5, however his experience and veteran leadership will be sorely missed on the field.

Summer activity

After adding only one transfer during the winter/spring period, Richmond will no doubt be “buyers” during the summer. I think we’re two or three guys away from being in a dream spot entering the fall.

Quarterback – Back in March John O’Connor (RTD) wrote this “Russ Huesman left open the possibility of bringing in a transfer quarterback, depending on how in-house candidates perform through spring ball.“

Well, I don’t know what Russ was looking for, or what he needed to see, but we shouldn’t be in the QB market. Quite frankly I haven’t seen anyone enter that we’d really want, nonetheless need based on what Wickersham (& Coleman) did this spring. There are surprises every year but adding someone here would truly shock me. #16 feels ready to take the reins.

Safety – Two offers still outstanding as of today:

• Quantraill Morris – Idaho State – 2 years of eligibility
• Michael Jarmolowich – Colgate – 1 year of eligibility

Hard to imagine we don’t land one of these guys, which would really open up the 4-2-5 possibilities alongside Banks & Parker. Parker started as a corner, so playing him at the dime feels like a very natural fit and would add another level to this defense. Not a “gotta have it” position like it’s been in the past, but one addition would be a solid pickup.

Wide Receiver – Plenty of talent but plenty of unknowns now. Williams going down probably makes us heavy buyers for this group, although I don’t think we only target slot receivers in this case. It’d be great to have an experienced receiver come in and fill Jasiah’s role but we are going to miss LeRoy Henley’s presence outside way more than people realize. We’re deep enough at receiver to where I don’t think we try and bring two guys in, but one solid transfer here would bring some peace of mind.

Offensive Line – Going to go ahead and put this in the “gotta have it” category. By the time August rolls around we’ll have anywhere from 12-13 offensive linemen on the roster, however aside from the starting-5 the other guys will have a total of six collegiate games played. Not starts, total games played (Gray 3, Mitchell 2, Carbajal 1). That’s a slippery slope, especially with Lamp returning from an injury, so if I had to guess this will be the top position group this staff looks to add someone at. Tackle, guard, center – doesn’t matter. Finding a sixth man with experience up front is much needed this summer.

Next Post

The unfortunate lull of no Spider Football for roughly 14 weeks is upon us. I’d imagine the transfer situation plays itself out by mid-late May so I’ll do an update in about a month once we get some more clarity. As always, it was great seeing everyone out at Robins Stadium and I look forward to connecting with even more fans this upcoming fall. Go Spiders!