Plenty of new faces will take the field at corner this season, however from day 1 of fall camp it was clear the level of competition was near the highest it’s been since Huesman arrived. One face that will be familiar to Spiders fans is Angelo Rankin Jr., who enters his junior season set to lead these Spiders corners.

Player Profiles

Angelo Rankin Jr. – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/angelo-rankin-jr-/5750

Stefan Black II – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/stefan-black-ii/5767

Trae Tomlinson – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/trae-tomlinson/5758

D’Angelo Stocker – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/d-angelo-stocker/5756

Chance Graves – https://richmondspiders.com/sports/football/roster/chance-graves/5727

Angelo Rankin Jr.

He didn’t begin 2022 as a full-time starter in this Spiders’ secondary, however it didn’t take long for #23 to permanently work himself into the UR lineup. Rankin Jr. finished the season with eight pass break ups and ultimately found himself as the Spiders’ boundary corner. He’ll take the role into 2023 and it’s hard to overstate how important it will be for him to have worked in that spot for an entire season. On one hand, his versatility arguably was the biggest factor in UR’s victory over Delaware, as his ability to play the slot in the nickel package greatly slowed down a strong UD passing attack. He picked up three deflections in that game and helped the Spiders pass their toughest test as a secondary in a huge November showdown. On the other hand, you’d like him to get comfortable in one role and have more reps at one position.

The boundary corner position is a premium spot in this UR defense, as there’s a lot of press coverage, a lot of man-to-man, and a lot of duties in run support. From the press alignment you’ll see a fair amount of corner blitzes and cloud coverages, as Justin Wood isn’t afraid to use the nearside corner to help the edge in run support and in pressuring the QB. Rankin Jr. has done a great job of being physical in camp and really looks comfortable being in tight coverage. The first step for this secondary towards an excellent season is having high quality play from the boundary corner spot, and I’m excited to see how Angelo will do being “the guy” in 2023.

Position battles

A somewhat uneventful spring/fall camp this year in terms of true battles, as with roughly 15 starters returning there were very few unknowns across the board. The second corner spot was the exception to that, as with zero seniors in the cornerback room and the loss of Tyrek Funderburk it was pretty wide open who would be stepping into that role.

Truthfully I don’t think the field corner spot has been decided yet. The two main players are Trae Tomlinson vs D’Angelo Stocker, with Coach Huesman speaking very highly of both this past season. Tomlinson was a safety in 2022, playing a back-up role and ended up getting a good amount of snaps once Gio Siegler went out. The staff switched him to corner early in the spring, and the transition could not have gone better. #20 (new number) looks solid working in the open side of the field and it really feels like he learned a lot in his freshman season.

The other field corner is D’Angelo Stocker, who played sparingly in 2022 but is a player that Huesman has spoken highly of since day 1. He looks to have really good instincts and a quick break on the ball. He spent most of the last year learning behind Funderburk, so watching a four INT, 14 pass-breakup season has to help when you’re trying to learn as a freshman. Both guys have had runs with the 1s & 2s so at this point this position is yet to be decided.

There’s also seemingly a battle for the backup boundary corner role, as what I thought was clearly going to be where Stefan Black II played now may be Chance Graves’ position. Graves has good size and played a good amount early in 2022 before an injury, so while Rankin Jr. is the clear starter his backup seems to be in flux for now.

What I’m watching for

It’s no coincidence that I saved the corner overview for last, as the #1 thing we’ll all be watching for is how this final battle shakes itself out. Like many positions the non-conference will be important, however in this case it really could be 50/50 in terms of who wins this. The 180 minutes of football before CAA play starts will likely decide who takes the reigns but we’ll definitely continue to see both guys throughout the year.

The other thing I’m watching for is where Stefan Black II settles in. He transferred in from Northern Iowa during the offseason but hasn’t been set on one position just yet. He initially was working with the boundary corners behind Rankin Jr., however in the second scrimmage he was playing field corner (albeit behind both Tomlinson & Stocker). There’s no rule that says you have to have all the answers before Labor Day, so I’m hoping Black II finds the spot that works best for him in the near future.

One goal for 2023

Cut down on penalties – The corners had six pass-interference & holding penalties in the three non-conference games last year, and finished just under 1.5 PIs/Holdings per game for the season. Not alarmingly high but definitely room to improve. This defense doesn’t shy away from man coverage, and penalties are bound to happen from time to time, however we had too many games in 2022 with two or three costly penalties from the secondary. Rankin Jr. was splitting time between boundary and field corner, so the fact that he’s worked all spring, summer, and fall for the boundary spot should really give him a junior year boost. Overall the Spiders were a top-25 team in terms of penalties-per-game percentage but I do think there’s some room for improvement in the secondary.

Next Post

That’s it for the position overviews. Between those and the fall camp updates it was 13 posts in 16 days so hope everyone enjoyed the August coverage. Next up – Morgan St preview on Friday.