It’s been six years since Aaron Dykes or Savon Smith weren’t the primary ball carriers for the Spiders. 2024 will feature plenty of new faces and the chance for some younger Spiders to impress early on.

Player Profiles

Jamaal Brown – Jamaal Brown – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Zach Palmer-Smith – Zachary Palmer-Smith – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Aziz Foster-Powell – Aziz Foster-Powell – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Andrew King – Andrew King – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

What 2023 looked like

The top three running backs last season (Savon Smith, Milan Howard, Fonnae Webb) averaged roughly 90 yards/game on 4.5 yards/carry. Savon got a majority of the touches, and the group fought back from a very slow start to finish with respectable numbers. What was supposed to be a more ground focused team had their plans derailed, with some early O-line injuries and overall offensive struggles. In the first six games, Smith eclipsed the 70-yard mark only once. In the following six games, he did it five times with three multi-TD performances. Below are the numbers (for RBs only) before and after the midpoint of the season.

The musical chairs at QB early in the year didn’t help anything, however even a team who wants to throw for 250+ yards can only go so far as their run game. The second half of the season included some starts for Wickersham and some for Coleman, both with big passing numbers, yet the running back success stayed a constant. In 2024, Richmond won’t need a 100 YPG rusher, but we’ll need two solid options to compliment whichever QB gets the nod.

Young Spiders

One Spider in the mix for RB1 is redshirt freshman Jamaal Brown, from Pittsburgh, PA. The Spiders have a nice Pittsburgh pipeline going right now, including linemen Tom Elia, Kade Capristo, and Kelsey Hundley on the offensive line, and Daniel Sellers at defensive end. Brown played in four games last year to maintain his redshirt, however we did get to see him carry the ball 12 times. He was both a linebacker and running back in high school, which speaks to his hardnose running style and ability to run inside the tackles. With the strength of the UR O-line in the interior once again in 2024, expect Brown to have a chance to excel early in his career.

Aziz Foster-Powell is the other freshman RB who redshirted last season. A local product from Highland Springs High School, who won 5 VA titles in an 8-year span, Foster-Powell is a bowling bowl running the football, listed at 5′ 9″, 215 lbs. Right now, I don’t expect him to be in the two-man rotation it seems we’re leaning towards, but with his size I’d love to see what damage a Wickersham/Foster-Powell package could do.

Zach Palmer-Smith

The other Spider we’ll see plenty of in 2024 is Zach Palmer-Smith, a transfer from Wagner with two years of eligibility remaining. He ran for over 5 YPC with the Seahawks and had above average PFF rankings among FCS running backs. This wasn’t the splashiest transfer portal addition but it’s the one that made a ton of sense based on fit. Wagner’s top 2 running backs split nearly all the carries in 2023, something I think we’ll see this year.

Palmer-Smith also adds experience to a RB room that looks much different than we’ve been used to. With Dykes/Smith being focal points of the UR rushing attack since before COVID, this is the first season in a while where we don’t have a defined starter or someone UR fans will recognize carrying the ball. Without Palmer-Smith, we’re left with two redshirt freshmen and one true freshman. You can be as high as you want on those guys, but a group with that much inexperience needed an established option. I’m hoping Zach will bring that to this offense this season and find his role early with this team.

What to expect in 2024

Carries

Despite contrasting QB styles, I think the running back situation plays out similarly no matter who gets the snaps under center.

In games where Coleman was throwing it around the yard (Maine, URI), Spider RBs got roughly 20 carries/game. When Wickersham was (literally) running the offense against Elon, W&M, and NC Central, Spider RBs were still getting about 20 carries/game. With that, it’s clear that no matter which direction we go at QB, a sustained running game remains a necessity. What likely changes though is how we run the ball.

I came across this over the summer and think it really applies to 2024. Below are the 152 carries of Savon Smith last season, charted by the gap of his rush.

What it shows is that Smith only had about 40% of his carries in the A & B gaps. Playing wider fit his style much better, so it makes plenty of sense, however we should see runs between the tackles rise in 2024. Both Brown and ZPS excel inside, and the strength of our O-line is at center/guard. We’ll obviously need to maintain balance in how we run it, but I’m expecting a downhill approach from our backs this season.

Blocking/Receiving

With younger guys set to start at offensive tackle, I think there could be a premium on protection. Jamaal Brown didn’t have enough snaps to qualify for any rankings, however ZPS had a near 90th percentile PFF grade in 2023 in pass protection. That’s a huge asset in a running back’s arsenal and I’m sure that stood out when the staff was evaluating Palmer-Smith. A clear factor when deciding who gets the most snaps this season, especially on 3rd down.

Receiving out of the backfield will play a role as well – Richmond RBs averaged over 4 catches/game in 2023, with Savon having the second most catches on the team. ZPS only caught two passes the entire year for Wagner – that doesn’t mean he can’t, but the role definitely looks different for #9. We don’t know much about either guy so it will be interesting to see if they develop in this area, or if we see those targets go to our receivers/tight ends.

Next Post

2024 Fall Camp: 2nd update – tomorrow, August 13th