11 of the 15 Spiders are in their redshirt freshman or true freshman season. A ridiculously young position group facing plenty of changes due to the portal. We’ll need a few newer Spiders to step up to maintain the progress from 2024.

Roster

Additions

Tayshaun Burney – The final transfer addition was a big one, adding Burney from Wake Forest. Burney originally chose the Demon Deacons over South Carolina, Pitt, and FAU. He redshirted last season and has four years of eligibility left.

Elijah Lee – Lee opted for the Spiders over a group of East Coast FCS schools, and has been working with the cornerbacks. Another DB with lots of slot experience, as the Spiders have emphasized versatility in our latest classes.

Jeremiah Washington – Washington was recruited by most of the Patriot League, turning down offers from Georgetown and Bucknell, along with Army, Navy, and Cornell, before deciding on Richmond. Like Lee, Washington is working with the corners, and should redshirt in 2025.

Coleman Calmus– A later addition to our 2025 class, Calmus signed with the Spiders in April. A downhill safety that tackles well, Calmus could also contribute on special teams.

Tramayne Bullock – Bullock held offers from Boston College, Air Force, and Temple, plus FCS schools like New Hampshire. At 6′ 2″ Bullock brings great size to the corner spot, a huge plus for the boundary corner position he plays. I love the variety Coach Wood can call games with when he has an elite boundary corner.

Devin Geronomi – A 2 for 1 with Geronomi, with younger brother Caleb committing last month (class of 2026). Geronomi chose the Spiders over Army, Navy, and plenty of FCS schools. Geronomi’s size and range separate him as a freshman.

Addison Gosline – Another late addition to the class, Gosline is a local product from St. Christopher’s High School. He played a handful of positions in high school, but is working with the safeties so far.

Personnel changes

Richmond lined up with Chance Graves, Matthew Traynor, Jabril Hayes, and Trae Tomlinson in the secondary against Lehigh in November 2024 – none of those players will suit up for the Spiders against Lehigh in a few weeks.

The somewhat good news is a few injuries allowed more playing time for a couple returning Spiders, meaning we aren’t as inexperienced as you may think.

• D’Angelo Stocker | 10 career starts at corner, 777 career snaps
• Jordan Allen | 3 starts (two at strong safety), 265 career snaps
• CJ Fraser | 4 starts at corner, 272 career snaps [earned Defensive Player of the Week once]

I won’t act like turning over your entire secondary is a small thing, especially when that grouped combined to make 39 starts in 2024. Yet given such drastic turnover, you wouldn’t normally have three guys returning with a decent number of career starts/snaps. This is still a group that needs to take huge steps but they may not be as far behind as it seems.

D’Angelo Stocker

Our most experienced secondary player is cornerback D’Angelo Stocker. Stocker has been a favorite of Coach Huesman since he first arrived on campus, always being complemented for his hard work and strong play as early as his freshman season. Stocker’s 2024 was cut short by injury, however his play in 2023 has me confident he can be the leader our cornerbacks need. Stocker mostly played the boundary corner spot that season, earning the highest PFF grade of UR corners in both run support and coverage. I’ve seen him at both field and boundary corner this camp, but no matter where he lands I think he’s shown he can play a big role for our secondary.

Jordan Allen

The rise of Jordan Allen was my favorite defensive storyline last season. Allen barely played the first four weeks until he was called upon after Quantraill Morris-Walker’s injury. He played great in the Will linebacker spot for two weeks until another injury forced us to move him to safety. From there he arguably played even better, showing his versatility and earning his starting spot on this defense. Allen is tasked with replacing Defensive Rookie of the Year Matthew Traynor, who’s off to bigger things at Wisconsin. A huge perk of Allen being Traynor’s replacement is how similar their styles are. Traynor was a hard hitter who loved playing in the box, while still having the speed to play safety. Allen proved to be a sure-tackling linebacker that played on the wide side of the field, so the permanent transition to this safety spot won’t be difficult (plus he played safety in high school). Strong safety is sure to be a strength for our defense again in 2025.

Position Battles

No matter who the week 1 staters are we’ll see all the below names throughout September. This staff consistently plays a lot of guys in the secondary throughout the first 3-4 weeks, effectively extending position battles beyond camp. All are worth monitoring during practices/scrimmages, but I doubt we get final answers until September.

Free Safety – Redshirt freshmen Lee Bruner IV and Amir Haskett both continue to work at free safety. This will be one of our most inexperienced spots as the two combined for just 25 snaps last year. Bruner IV is taking reps with the 1s with Haskett mostly with the 2s. Both seem extremely comfortable and are playing at a high level early on. I try not to draw too many conclusions from camp but I feel really good about our safety play right now.

Cornerbacks – We’ve got three cornerbacks (D’Angelo Stocker, Kyree Richardson, CJ Fraser) essentially playing for two spots. I’m not including Tayshaun Burney in this as he’s been working in a unique role thus far (more on that Wednesday). Stocker has the leg up given his experience but all three are sharing equal reps right now. Fraser has looked good at the boundary corner spot, which fits him well due to his size and physicality.

Next Post

2025 Fall Camp – Update #1 – Wednesday, August 6th