An all around solid special teams season by the Spiders in 2023 leads to another positive outlook in 2024. A solid mix of veteran players, transfers, and potentially a freshman that could play a role for Richmond this year.

Player Profiles

Aaron Trusler – Aaron Trusler – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Brian Catanzarite – Brian Catanzarite – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Will McManus – Will McManus – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Brandon Peskin – Brandon Peskin – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Jayden Alsheskie – Jayden Alsheskie – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Weston Sharpe – Weston Sharpe – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Sean O’Haire – Sean O’Haire – Football – University of Richmond Athletics (richmondspiders.com)

Punting

1st team All-CAA, 3rd team AP All-American, FCS Punter of the Year semifinalist, and plenty of other honors summed up Aaron Trusler’s amazing 2023. The impact he provided punting wasn’t something we had seen at Richmond, and he’s back for more in 2024. Trusler has averaged over 41 yards/punt the past two seasons, leading Richmond to be top 2 in the CAA in net punting yardage. Opponents are averaging less than a yard per return, and our ability to flip field position has been very impactful in some big moments.

Not much to improve here – if Trusler has another 41+ yard/punt season, with essentially zero return yards, the Spiders will have a weapon in the field position game. Excited to see how Trusler follows up his All-CAA season in 2024.

Snapping

I use the same line every year – if you don’t know the name of our short/long snapper, that’s probably a good thing. The notion is that you only hear about snappers when something goes wrong, however for how solid he’s been it’s worth knowing the name Brian Catanzarite. Catanzarite is back in 2024, having recently been named 3rd team preseason All-CAA by Phil Steele. He’s been incredibly reliable in both short and long snapping duties, playing in all 13 games the past two seasons.

The Spiders also have Wes Sharpe, who has looked good in both roles during camp, however Catanzarite will handle everything again in 2024. That said, it’s never a bad thing to have depth.

Kicking

Kickoffs

Looks like Will McManus will handle the kickoff duties again in 2024, however I’ve also seen true freshman Sean O’Haire in this role. Unclear how they want to manage his potential redshirt, but I’m expecting this to be McManus’ job with O’Haire maybe getting a few game reps in early on.

Richmond finished in the top half of the CAA in both kickoff yards and net return yards allowed last season. Nothing special, but completely ok. We’ve had our struggles in this area before so maintaining a slightly above average unit is very manageable. Based on the first couple weeks of camp I do think we could see a few more touchbacks this season.

In terms of personnel, expect about 1/2 of the coverage team to be starters. Coach Huesman has never been shy about playing starters on special teams, something I really like. It was similar during his first run with UR in the late 2000s, as plenty of his stellar defense unit started on multiple special teams’ units.

Field Goal kicking

Fordham transfer Brandon Peskin and Sean O’Haire are taking a majority of the field goal attempts. Peskin joins the Spiders coming off a 1st team All-Patriot League kicker, connecting on 14/17 field goals last year. The best part of those number is that he was 5/6 from 40-49 yards, which should stretch the Spiders’ range compared to last season.

Richmond made >70% of field goal attempts each season under Coach Huesman until last year, when we finished at 65%. Lopez got off to a slower start than expected (1/4 the first two games) but finished going 10/13.

This looks to be Peskin’s job until further notice, who comes in with a 76% career FG average. While I’d love to see O’Haire get a FG or two in the non-conference slate, expect Peskin to be the primary guy for UR.

Return units

Kickoff return success was a pleasant surprise in 2023, so I’m hoping that continues into 2024. Expecting running back Jamaal Brown to be the primary return man, with DeGennaro returning punts. We obviously never practice these at full speed, so this is mostly a wait and see situation. Finishing 5th in the CAA in kick return average and 3rd in punt return average was an underappreciated aspect of the 2023 special teams play, and I’m hoping we’ve started a new trend of above average special teams play.

By the end of the season there wasn’t a single unit that was dragging us down, a credit to special teams coordinator Drew Anthony. As the bar keeps getting raised with every playoff appearance and conference title, it tends to be a culmination of areas that keep that standard high. Seeing our special teams excellent progress contribute to that success has me hopeful that this new standard will be maintained throughout 2024.

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2024 Position Group Preview: Linebackers – Friday, August 23rd