Most of the way through May and the Spiders have added wide receiver Isaiah Wilson from ETSU and offensive lineman Scott Hummel from JMU. The staff has at least two offers still out there so I’d imagine we aren’t done yet, with the focus now shifting to safety.

Targets

My last post (spring game wrap-up) I had the three main position groups for transfer targets being the following: wide receiver, offensive line, and safety.

Wide Receiver – Isaiah Wilson | ETSU | 6′ 1″

Coach October wasted no time going out and finding an addition to his WR room. Once Jasiah Williams went down it was apparent we’d need to add at least one WR, however this feels more like LeRoy Henley’s replacement than Jasiah’s. I hinted at this in the spring game recap (below) and it seems that’s exactly what he was ultimately targeting.

[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.

No need to get into the comparison game too early on, however Wilson much more resembles Henley than he does Williams. In 15 games at ETSU he recorded 29 receptions for 352 yards and two TDs. The >12 yards per reception immediately catches my eye as another big body target that can create chunk plays is exactly what we need opposite DeGennaro. I think Nick will draw most of the attention this year so having a big-play threat to lineup on the other side should help #11 as well.

His bio on the ETSU website also mentions he returned a few kickoffs in college and in high school. No idea if UR will use him there as well but with Aaron Dykes gone and Jasiah Williams no longer available this is one of the more wide open roles entering fall camp. Just something to keep in mind.

Check out Isaiah’s ETSU bio page here

Offensive Line – Scott Hummel | JMU | 6′ 4″ 305 lbs.

Despite the starting 5 essentially being set for 2023 this was a top priority for the staff this spring/summer for two reasons. First the Spiders didn’t have a full second-string offensive line that didn’t include at least one true freshman (based purely on numbers). It’s a great group we’ve got coming in but having multiple true freshmen on the 2-deep isn’t necessarily the ideal setup. Now the Spiders can add Hummel into the mix with guys like Gray, Mitchell, and Carbajal to compete for ‘first guy off the bench’ and give the Spiders a lot more security than just the starting 5.

Second is something I saw on Hummel’s HUDL page. Most of his highlights and playing time have come at guard however his profile page also lists center.

If you saw any practices this spring you likely noticed that no one besides Tom Elia or Cade Salyers was able to hit the side of a barn with a shotgun snap. That obviously could improve, and I suspect it will, but adding a player who could potentially start at center in the near future is a solid pickup. We won’t know where things fully stand until we get to see the true freshmen this August, but for now it seems the Spiders have taken a huge step forward with the O-line for 2023.

If you want to see Scott’s profile from the JMU website you’ll have to go there yourself – you won’t see me linking any Madison webpage on this site….

Safety – Two offers we know of still out there:

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

Just about everyone I talk to says we’re getting Jarmo however until I see it on Twitter (the Internet is never wrong) I’m not counting him for now. I’d imagine we have room for both since both Banks & Jarmo wouldn’t be illegible past 2023, so while adding two might feel like we’re crowding the safety room it would set us up very well for the next two seasons.

Roster Update

Here’s the full roster breakdown as of today – a few assumptions in this:

• No seniors take their fifth/sixth year – two of the 12 are graduates (Banks & Black) so they’re done after 2023. Between some bigger opportunities (NFL/FBS) and the administrations lack of care regarding football, it’s hard for these guys to go another year into graduate school. With the COVID year soon to expire this won’t hurt us for too much longer but the inability of Richmond to adjust graduate school standards for guys who want to stay a fifth or sixth year is extremely disappointing (but very on brand for UR). If we are fortunate enough to have any of these guys come back for 2024 that only makes our situation even better.
• All true freshmen redshirt – no areas where we really need to play a true freshman, so likely no one in this group will exhaust a year in 2023 and will start with four years in 2024.

Overall we’re fairly balanced. Post 2024 will see a large amount of turnover however I’m sure the staff is already positioning themselves for that in current high school recruiting and expected portal entries. If we can add two more transfers this offseason we’ll hit a total of 80, which is on the smaller side compared to other CAA teams but is within the typical size for Richmond teams.

Next Post

Potentially a second transfer update, but I’ll also start looking at trends between the early Russ years and last season. Hoping to fill the summer months with some deeper dives into season wide trends, as the Spiders improved at a few key areas while still having a few we lack in.