The #1 strength of this year’s Richmond team in my opinion is the D-line, who return six players with multiple career starts, including three All-CAA selections. It’s been a long time since UR had this much established talent and depth up front so it’s easy to start viewing this group against some of the best UR D-lines in recent memory.

Player Profiles

Marlem Louis – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/marlem-louis/5739

Aidan Murray – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/aidan-murray/5747

Jeremiah Grant – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/jeremiah-grant/5726

Carsen Stocklinski – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/carsen-stocklinski/5757

Zander Barnett – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/zander-barnett/5704

Matei Fitz – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/matei-fitz/5722

Edge rushers

Entering last season Richmond’s top three pass rushers (Marlem Louis, Jeremiah Grant, Zander Barnett) had a combined one career sack. There were real questions about who would establish themselves on the edge, and just how far along this group could come. Fast forward a year and the Spiders bring all three back, this time with two All-CAA performers and 15 combined sacks in 2022 alone. All three had tremendous campaigns in 2022 and really helped the UR defense take another step forward.

Marlem Louis will get most of the press, which is warranted after an 8.5 sack, 14 TFL season last year. He’s preseason first team All-CAA and if he’s able to reach the 8.5 sack mark again in 2023 he’ll put himself in elite company (more on that below). I have to imagine opponents will try and key on him more than they did in 2022 however when your counterpart on the other side has just as much talent it makes things difficult on opposing O-lines.

Louis filled up the stat sheet in 2022 however Jeremiah Grant had arguably as much impact throughout the year in a lot of really key moments. Grant, still only a junior, had three sacks along with 12 TFLs during 2022. His versatility was arguable his biggest strength, especially with the inexperience we had at DT early in the year. The Spiders really brought out his full skillset by sliding him inside on 3rd downs, which allowed the defense three pass-rushers on the field while not sacrificing any size inside. He essentially singlehandedly stopped the Delaware 4th & 1 to give UR the ball back and secure Richmond’s 8th and playoff clinching win, and had countless other moments throughout a memorable 2022.

Return of Aidan Murray

2022 was supposed to be the season Aidan Murray followed right behind Kobie Turner to work himself into the NFL draft conversation. He had a few interviews with the NFL draft diamonds website and plenty of scouting profiles online, unfortunately an Achilles injury quickly derailed those plans. He’s now set to pickup right where he left off, as 2021 had Murray grabbing five sacks and 7.5 TFLs, with his five sacks being the most out of UR defensive tackles (ahead of now 3rd round draft pick Turner). Had Turner and Darius Reynolds not both made All-CAA teams that season, Murray likely would have found himself some conference recognition for his efforts. As we enter 2023 there’s no doubt he wants to return to his all-conference caliber form and continue the strong D-line play that he helped return to Richmond.

We won’t get a great idea of how much the staff plans on playing him during fall camp, but my guess is the first three games will be very telling for how his workload will go. No reason to push too hard in the non-conference slate, however there’s a big difference between having two and having three experienced defensive tackles. With no proven options besides the three of Murray, Stocklinski, and Fitz, Aidan’s health will be paramount to the interior of UR’s defensive line.

Other contributors

Just about every CAA team has one or two strong players upfront, but it’s rare when you can go six deep with true starter level talent. The Spiders find themselves in this advantageous position once again in 2023, with some of the “other contributors” looking to make more of a name for themselves during this campaign.

What Carsen Stocklinski and Matei Fitz did for this UR interior in 2022 really propelled this defense to compete with the best upfront, and with a full year under their belts we can only expect further growth from these two sophomores. Stocklinski moved over from O-line in response to the Murray injury, only to find himself an every week starter and key contributor from the jump. Fitz was yet to play in a collegiate game and yet found himself contributing in all 13 games last season. Neither had numbers that jumped off the page but we all know so much of interior D-line play isn’t flashy. The Spiders wouldn’t be able to hold opponents to 20 ppg and be the #1 run defense without steady, high-level play from our defensive tackles. Very excited to see how both Stocklinski and Fitz follow up their strong freshmen seasons.

Similar to Stocklinski & Fitz on the interior, whenever the Spiders needed support on the edge Zander Barnett has been there to fill the void. Three sacks, 3.5 TFLs, and three QB hurries in 2022 continued his role as a reliable guy outside. He did a great job in setting the edge in run support and snuffed out multiple reverses with great eye discipline. He is 100% a capable starter in the CAA and the Spiders made sure to not let his talent go to waste. The snap counts last year between Louis/Grant/Barnett were fairly even, proving that Barnett is by no means a “back-up.” Expect more of the same from #90 again this season.

What I’m watching for

First thing to keep an eye on is will Aidan Murray be ready to go come September – if he’s ready to go and is nearly back to 100% by the time Stony Brook roles around then there’s no concerns. If not, the development of a third defensive tackle will need to take place this fall. With Nkosi Budd (Collegiate) no longer on the roster, the Spiders have Elijah McMillan and Norwid Desir to turn to, neither of whom has much experience. McMillan played sparingly in three games last year, while Desir was out with an injury. The only other interior lineman on the roster is true freshman TJ Baldwin and I doubt we burn his redshirt for a reserve role. Even if Murray is able to hit the ground running seeing who steps up in the fourth DT spot will be a smaller yet still very important battle.

Out on the edge the top three are set, yet we’ve heard a lot about Thaos Figaro despite not yet playing a game for UR. I discussed during the spring how he was a heavily recruited prospect and with him finally being healthy it will be interesting to see how he works in. Zion Bryson played four outstanding games for this unit in his true freshman year, so although there isn’t much competition for who’s starting I think we’ll play five guys on edge this season. Even if the fourth and fifth guys don’t get a ton of snaps, giving the starters more rest will be huge later in games and later in the season. This group was a little worn down by the time Delaware and W&M rolled around so sharing some of that snap count throughout the 11 game schedule will be beneficial.

One goal for 2023

For me this is all about sacks. Below are the five highest sack totals for Richmond teams the past 20 years:

Now, team sacks include everyone, so some of these will go towards linebackers and other players – but we all know D-line plays the biggest part. It’s a tall task but getting to that 3.0 sacks per game mark would be great to see from this group. I think I had 35 sacks in mind in the season preview so anywhere at or above 3 per game would cement this group as tops in the CAA. Four of the above five seasons had one player record 9 sacks, so while it’s a team effort it usually takes one standout performance to get to this number.

If Marlem is able to record eight sacks for the second consecutive season it would only be the second time that’s happened for a Spider since 2000. A lot of great names have one year with 8+ sacks (Kobie Turner, Andrew Clyde, Darius Reynolds, Sherman Logan, Lawrence Sidbury Jr.) however Marlem would join Maurice Jackson (10 sacks in 2018, eight in 2019) as the only guys with two consecutive seasons hitting that number. I’m sure opponents will be focused on #5 (new number this year) but the opportunity to join the ranks of the elite, both individually and as a unit, is a challenge he’ll gladly accept.

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Position Group Overview – Offensive Line