No Kyle Wickersham, no Nick DeGennaro. Richmond will be down two key offensive players but remain heavy favorites in the final non-conference game before a big road trip down to Elon.

Delaware State Hornets

2023 was tough for Hornets fans. Delaware State went 1-10 in 2023, with zero Division 1 wins, however they already notched a W this year with a 17-15 road victory at Sacred Heart. They’re still struggling to score on offense and are projected to be double digit underdogs in each of their nine remaining games. We didn’t schedule this to be a quality win – this is a classic tune-up game that hopefully allows us to play a bunch of younger guys, keep guys healthy, and ideally work on a few things.

Betting

Slightly better than 4-TD favorites for the Spiders. Total of roughly 45 points for a projected score of 37-8. That’s about how the 2023 game went, with Richmond winning 38-6. A lack of offense from the Hornets will keep this total low, and if we continue to control games on the ground this one should follow the projections fairly close.

Spiders on Offense

This is why you don’t start writing a game preview until Wednesday. Everything from earlier in the week was scrapped once Coach Huesman officially announced Wickersham wouldn’t play. Richmond will roll with Cam Coleman, and although the offensive dynamic shouldn’t change too much, things could look different. Delaware State won’t provide much resistance across the board, so this should be a game the Spiders can dictate however they choose.

What I’m watching for

How different will this offense look? – The biggest talking point throughout the spring and fall was that both guys would be evaluated on the same offense, and we would operate that offense in a similar fashion no matter who won the job. It would never be the exact same offense due to different skill sets, but roughly the same model and approach. That isn’t what we saw as these two were interchanging last season, so this is the first game where we’ll get a big enough sample with Coleman at QB to see if that holds up.

Cam Coleman does not run like Kyle Wickersham runs. We aren’t going to see QB power in the redzone, or continued draws inside that have our QB running over defenders. That part will change, but Richmond will still run the ball plenty against the Hornets. They are allowing 177 YPG so far in 2024, which is actually a huge improvement their 2023 average of 245 YPG (3rd worst in FCS). The Spiders enter averaging 183 YPG rushing, so I’m expecting us to continually lean on the ground attack with not much trouble.

What could change is our approach on 1st down, as well as our passing distribution. In the games that Coleman was the primary QB last season, 1st down passing was up, as were downfield targets. We desperately need the offense to open things up, however if we see a completely different style on early downs, and/or how often we stretch the field, with #14 in the game it will definitely leave some questions about what our plans are with these two QBs. Easily my biggest thing to watch tomorrow.

Who takes advantage of their opportunity? – “Opportunity” isn’t the best word here because I don’t want to view any player injuries in that light, but you know what I mean. With DeGennaro out (concussion, per John O’Connor) some other receivers should get more targets. Aside from DeGennaro, no one has more than five receptions through three games.

Need to see this group more involved as that’s too much talent with too few receptions.

Jamaal Brown is presumably out again, which means true freshman Andrew King could get more carries. King impressed in his first game as a Spider, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him grab a few more touches. He’s still listed on the two-deep, with Foster-Powell removed, so we’ll see if the youngest UR back gets a chance to put another good game together.

Offensive line rotations – Still seeing the Spiders rotate in a good number of guys, with this being a great game to continue to spread out snap counts. 10 offensive linemen played snaps against Charleston Southern, and the fact the Spiders are running the ball well, and protecting the QB, while consistently rotating in 7-8 linemen is very promising.

The best news was seeing Cade Salyers play 61 snaps against Charleston Southern, his most since returning from injury. Glad to see he’s worked his way back, as the best version of this UR O-line involves a healthy Cade Salyers.

Spiders on Defense

The Hornets enter averaging less than 13 PPG and not much of a passing game. They throw it for just over 150 YPG and lack the ability to generate explosive plays. Like the Spiders, they only have one passing TD on the season, so I’m not expecting any issues from our secondary. If our front-7 can control the game the same way they did in last year’s matchup, we should see plenty of 3-and-outs.

What I’m watching for

3rd down – Richmond has been stellar on 3rd down this season – Delaware State, not so much. The Spiders are top 20 in the FCS in 3rd down defense, allowing conversions on less than 30% of attempts. The Hornets are in the bottom 20, converting 27% of 3rd downs. Easiest way to stay off the field is 3rd down defense, and Richmond has a chance to string two straight stress-free games together before conference play. Would enjoy seeing the Spiders keep the snap count low and keep our starters fresh for another week.

Defensive line- Camden Byrd played the second most snaps of anyone last game, just behind Wayne Galloway. We didn’t see as much of Zion Bryson (14 snaps) and Thaos Figaro (7 snaps) as I would’ve thought, so I’m curious if this game has us spread out the snaps more. Byrd played well, but for a team that’s consistently stuck with a three DE rotation the past few seasons it’s worth noting how Hoilette’s injury affects those plans.

The Hornets have allowed 11 sacks through three games so far, so expect UR to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Last year Zander Barnett had 2.5 sacks from his DE spot, and we had great interior pressure (both Stocklinski and Fitz recorded at least 1/2 sack), so I’m planning on seeing plenty of Spiders in the backfield throughout the game.

Red Zone scoring – Richmond has allowed scores on 8/9 redzone drives this season, with TDs on 5/9. Delaware State has struggled in this area, scoring on only 4/8 possessions, with three TDs. Ideally they don’t make it to the redzone, but if they do, we should see our redzone numbers improve and hopefully have that TD % drop below 50%.

Carter Glassmyer – Per PFF, Glassmyer had the highest rated single game for a UR defender since they started tracking all FCS games.

I looked at Tristan Wheeler, Kobie Turner, Aidan Murray, etc. but couldn’t find a defensive grade as high as his. It isn’t often you see someone crack the 90s for overall rating, and while we do have to keep the opponent in mind it’s still a fantastic game early in his UR career. Hoping last week really jump starts his play moving forward.

For those curious, Kobie Turner had plenty of 90+ games as well, with Tyler Dressler having one of the best three game stretches I could find (November 2021 weeks 9-11).

Special Teams

Special Teams is one of Delaware State’s better areas. Solid punting average and decent kick coverage make for a good unit. Nathan Wilson handles both duties for them, however his kickoffs only travel to the 13-yard line on average. Assuming we don’t elect to fair catch, Garcia Jr. will have a couple chances to put a few more big returns on the board.

The thing to watch will be Richmond’s punt returning. With DeGennaro out, this falls on Quanye Veney. He didn’t field a punt against Charleston Southern, and with this being DeGennaro’s final year it’s a good glimpse of who could be our returner moving forward. Haven’t seen much of him in camp/practice leading up to this so this game will be meaningful experience for #3.

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Week 4 – 2024: Delaware State recap – Monday, September 23rd