Just about everyone does their Specialists at the end however this group is too solid this year to not give them the credit they deserve early on. Each position enters 2023 with experience so the expectations are there for these guys to help shift the third phase of the game even more in the Spiders’ direction.

Player Profiles

Aaron Trusler – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/aaron-trusler/5759

Andrew Lopez – https://richmondspiders.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5738

Will McManus – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/will-mcmanus/5791

Jayden Alsheskie – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/jayden-alsheskie/5702

Brian Catanzarite – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/brian-catanzarite/5712

Weston Sharpe – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/weston-sharpe/5793

Kicking/Kickoffs

Hard to top the 2022 season that Andrew Lopez had. Came in against Villanova and iced the game on his first two collegiate attempts, hit two big field goals at Delaware, and ended the season 13/14 on field goals and 26/27 on PATs. It’s a little much to ask for 90%+ on FGs again this season but the experience he gained last year will no doubt be valuable heading into 2023.

For now Andrew Lopez remains the #1 kicker. Both he and Will McManus (transfer from Illinois) have had their ups and downs during camp so I’m guessing Lopez remains the #1 guy until further notice. Early on in camp it’s felt like it’s his job to lose so barring a late change I think he gets the first FG attempts. I mentioned it early but so much of field goal success is about 40 yards and in. Don’t need a guy to go 7/9 from 45+ yards, but do need someone who can hit 75-80% from 40 and in. I do think it’s likely that we have a similar situation to last season, with Lopez taking field goals 40 yards and in with McManus taking the longer attempts. We all remember that Delaware game where Lopez went 2/2 and Larson 3/3, so I have to imagine Huesman is fine having a short-FG kicker and long-FG kicker once again.

We’ve seen both Lopez and McManus kickoff during fall camp, but hard to imagine this doesn’t end up with McManus. He has the stronger leg of the two and seems like he can consistently carry the ball near or inside the 5 yard-line, so hoping this helps out this unit. Going back to the summer discussion regarding recent trends, kickoff will be a big area of interest when it comes to tracking improvement. Huesman looks to be playing a fair number of starters on the unit again this year (something he’s done during his time at UR and something we also did when he was here from ’04 – ’08) so we really need to see kick coverage (KOC) improve. Hoping McManus is the final piece to that puzzle. Our best year was when we had a fully healthy Jake Larson so a full strength, strong legged kickoff man may be exactly what we need.

Returners

Also in the kickoff analysis (above) was kickoff return (KOR), which wasn’t doing much better than KOC. This was likely a role Jasiah Williams would step into but right now it looks like running backs Savon Smith and Milan Howard will be the two back deep. I’ve also seen Quanye Veney there as well however Savon looks like he’ll be the top running back, punt returner, and kickoff returner in 2023. Doesn’t matter who’s back there, we’ve got to be miles ahead of where we were last year (12th out of 13) and the staff seems to have made that a priority. Definitely more focus and time assigned to this area of special teams so I’m confident we’ll see this unit take a step in the right direction this season.

Punting

I’m not even sure anyone else on the roster has hit a punt during practice besides Aaron Trusler, and with good reason. A Punter of the Year preseason candidate, after finishing 2022 as an FCS Punter of the Year semifinalist. All Trusler has done since he joined the Spiders is increase our total punting yardage, while also decreasing return yards. Coach Huesman has preached about net punting yardage since he got here and the last two seasons show why. Opposing teams only returned eight punts last season for a total of 22 yards. Averaging nearly 40 net yards per punt, with practically no threat of a return, is a huge weapon for a team and really sets the defense (and subsequently the offense) up for success. The bar is set very high for Trusler entering his senior season and I don’t think it’s realistic for him to end at (or above) 41 net yards per punt – a mark that would put him near the top-10 of FCS punters from 2022.

Snapping

There was some talk of a sharing of the snapping duties, but Huesman basically shut that down in his first fall camp interview when he said he planned on redshirting Weston Sharpe. He’ll still get to play in a few games but both short and long-snapping duties will stay with Brian Catanzarite. The best snappers are the ones you don’t hear about he deserves his credit. The snaps are quick, accurate, and he covers well on punts – not much else to say when he’s got those covered. With Catanzarite as a R-So. and Sharpe as a true freshmen I can confidently say this position group is in a great spot for years to come.

One goal for 2023

Technically this is more about a unit, not a particular specialist. I’m still very fixated on our kickoff woes so I’m inclined to pick something there, and really this just comes down to improvement. Would love Trusler to up his game even more but KOR/KOC has to take a big step in 2023. You don’t need a returner or kick coverage team to be excellent in order to succeed, however you typically can’t make it too far if one of those groups is a liability. For as much as I love to blame the rain and a few bad breaks in the Sacramento St game, not allowing a kickoff TD to start the 2nd half drastically alters that game.

In his final seasons at Chattanooga the Mocs didn’t have a great return game under Huesman either, yet in 2018 and 2019 the Spiders were excellent, finishing top-2 in the CAA both seasons. I think it’s a big ask to get back to that mark for 2023, but finishing in the top half of the conference in kickoff return average would be a good shift for this group. The same goes for the KOC unit, which has only finished top-half of the CAA once since 2018. With the amount of starters participating in that unit and McManus’ ability to drive the ball downfield I’m optimistic that the Spiders’ coverage unit can start to turn the corner in 2023.

Next Post

2023 Position Group Overview – Quarterbacks