Between a young transfer portal addition and no seniors on the roster, the Spiders’ tight ends have a lot to prove in 2025 but also a chance to stabilize the room for the foreseeable future.

Roster

Additions

Aidan Steinfeldt – Steinfeldt was the most intriguing transfer portal addition in my eyes. Tight end was on our radar early on given the departure of Matt Robbert, but this is the first time we’ve taken a multi-year transfer in a while. Steinfeldt joins the Spiders with four years of eligibility, coming over from Marshall. A 3-star prospect in 2023, Steinfeldt put up great receivers number in high school while having great size for the position (6’2″ – 245 lbs.) Aidan will compete for significant playing time during fall camp and should see plenty of snaps this season.

Carson Derey – Derey was another spring addition for the Spiders, committing to Richmond in February. A 2nd team All-Virginia selection in 2024, Derey drew plenty of local interest before joining the Spiders. He’ll surely redshirt in 2025 and should continue to help this younger TE room down the road.

Sean Clarke

The only tight end on the roster with any collegiate playing experience is Sean Clarke. He’s contributed for the Spiders multiple years and now has his chance to make a bigger impact on this offense. We saw #87 haul in some few key catches in 2024, however he still only has six career receptions. Despite that, the Patriot League coaches/administrators named him a 1st team All-Patriot preseason selection, showing that his value goes far beyond the box score. Most of his contributions came in run blocking, and I think learning behind Matt Robbert will help Clarke build on that this season. Robbert was an underrated piece in the UR rushing attack, with four 70+ run-block grades from PFF last year. If Clarke can build on his blocking performances from 2024 and pair that with his ability to haul in key 3rd down receptions, the unproven tight end room may see their most experienced player quickly rise to the top.

Ryan Campbell

So often the focus is on returning names and transfer additions, however there’s always someone coming off a redshirt that makes the most of his opportunity. Campbell saw plenty of action this spring, something I hope continues into the fall.

Campbell redshirted last season after choosing Richmond over a plethora of East Coast competitors. He held offers from Temple, Lehigh, Lafayette, Harvard, Penn, Bryant, Maine – basically most of the Ivy/Patriot/CAA. Given the likelihood that we’ll continue to see multiple tight ends sets in 2025 (more on that below), I really think Campbell could work his way into the rotation and become a consistent piece of the lineup.

Stats/usage

Targets and receptions are rising since Billy Cosh left after 2022. It’s the first time tight ends combined for over 300 yards since 2018, which is nice to see but nothing too impressive.

The biggest change we saw was in snap count. Nearly 30% of snaps involved two tight ends last year, up from 15% in 2023. Between DeGennaro missing games and the Spiders being run-happy behind ZPS, there were a lot more 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TEs) packages. There’s plenty to debate about how much that helped/hurt our offense, but what’s clear is that the Spiders built a foundation to operate with multiple tight ends again in 2025.

2025 expectations

This is easily the hardest position to get a gauge on entering week 1. Tight ends haven’t played a major role in a UR offense since John Fitzgerald’s 1st Team All-CAA selection, but that was the 4-game COVID year. With newer personnel and a brand new offense I have basically no data to go on, so I got creative.

One thing we can consider is how tight ends were used in Mike Cummings/Jacob Huesman offenses of past. The latest data we have for either play caller is Mike Cummings’ time at UConn from 2014-2016, since Huesman is in his first season as an OC. Now look, this is a stretch. I’m admittedly reaching here by going back 10+ years, but I did find some interesting numbers.

From 2011-2021, UConn only made one bowl game. That came in 2015, with Cummings in his second season calling plays. The Huskies used 2+ tight ends on 37% of snaps that year, which led to a steady ground game and two TEs recording 200+ receiving yards. If we look at Jacob Huesman’s years at Chattanooga, he leaned on his star TE a lot. Faysal Shafaat was a two-time All-American and three-time All-SoCon tight end with Huesman at QB, recording 18 TDs and 1,200 receiving yards for his career.

Are there any conclusions to draw from what the UConn Huskies ran a decade ago, or who Jacob Huesman threw the ball to in college? Of course not. I’m not telling you that the UConn/Chattanooga offenses of the 2010s are a blueprint for what we’ll see in 2025 – please don’t think that. What I am saying is that our Co-OCs won’t shy away from using tight ends if they earn it.

Not every offense, or offensive coordinator, is able to capitalize on strong TE play. While old Cummings/Huesman offenses don’t guarantee they suddenly become a featured part of our offense, it does show we are ready and able to exploit matchups using this group. Maybe it’s all season, maybe it’s just a few games – at some point we’re going to tap into the full potential of this position.

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2025 Position Group Preview – Defensive Backs – Monday, August 4th