Two graduations and two transfers out hit this group hard in the offseason. The Spiders thankfully have two senior captains to lead the charge in 2025, with a focus on maintaining our rushing success.

Roster

Additions

Brady McIntyre – McIntyre adds to our growing list of local Spiders, playing his high school ball at Mechanicsville (Lee-Davis). Brady drew a lot of interest from northern schools, receiving offers from UMass, Buffalo, UNH, and Maine. I love that #75 is working at tackle throughout camp, as that’s a spot we really need to build depth.

Jason Smith – Transferring from North Carolina, Smith was recruited by the Spiders in 2023, receiving an offer alongside other FCS foes like Elon and Mercer. He walked on at UNC in 2024 and arrives on campus in 2025 with four years of eligibility. Smith has been working with the 2s at guard in camp.

JT Sowell – Our second transfer comes from App St, with JT Sowell joining the Spiders with four years of eligibility. A three-star prospect out of high school, Sowell played all five positions up front. He’s working at center behind Capristo so far. The two portal additions have really beefed up the interior of our O-line.

Harrison Williams – Williams held a couple FCS offers before deciding on Richmond this past spring, one of our eight spring signees. #79 played both OL and DL in high school and has been working at guard this camp, where he earned All-District honors.

Gabe Heard–Hernandez – Heard-Hernandez held offers from Temple, Maine, and Campbell before choosing Richmond in January. Coach Huesman said we needed numbers up front and we made OL a priority this winter/spring. #64 has been working at guard throughout camp.

Senior captains

Our two senior captains had very different paths to their final season.

Gabe Carbajal joined us in 2021, redshirting his first year and playing just 54 snaps the following two seasons. 2024 saw him step into a big role, starting all 13 games and providing a boost by securing a premier tackle position. The same will be asked of Carbajal in 2025. Although I’ve seen him flip between LT and RT this camp his impact will be significant at either spot. With not as much depth or experience among the other tackles, Coach Cummings will surely lean on Carbajal for steady play and as an example of what is needed from the younger Spiders.

Scott Hummel had a different path, starting his career at JMU before transferring to Richmond in 2023. He made an immediate impact, playing 299 snaps given our O-line injuries, then basically starting all of last year due to Gouveia going down. Things could’ve gotten off track quickly without the support Hummel offered, and it showed why depth is so value. Hummel will start at left guard in 2025 and I’m sure we’ll be keen to run behind #71 early and often.

Kade Capristo

From one Pittsburgh native to another – Tom Elia’s departure hands the reins over to Kade Capristo, set to start at center as a redshirt sophomore.

The run of elite centers at Richmond continued with Elia. Since 2012, no starting center has earned worse than a 2nd team All-CAA honor at some point in their career. Elia joined Austin Gund and Clayton McConnell as 1st team recipients, with the expectation that Capristo will soon join them.

• 2012 – 2014 | Austin Gund – 1st team All-CAA [twice]
• 2015 – 2016 | Nick Vergos – 2nd team All-CAA
• 2017 – 2018 | John Yarbrough – 2nd team All-CAA
• 2018 – 2021 | Clayton McConnell – 1st team All-CAA [twice]
• 2022 – 2024 | Tom Elia – 1st team All-CAA

Capristo split time with Luke Surrett at center this spring however this always felt like #77’s job. Recruited by FBS schools Toledo and Navy coming out of high school, Capristo looks ready to fill the big shoes left by those before him.

What to watch for

How many different Spiders see time in August/September? – One new Spider we’ll see against Lehigh is Kelsey Hundley. Hundley redshirted in 2024 and is set to make his collegiate debut against Lehigh. He worked with the 1s at right guard throughout camp ahead of UNC transfer Jason Smith. Personally I would love for Kelsey to lock this spot down – competition is great but I’ll never argue with a freshman winning a starting job, especially another offensive lineman from the Pittsburgh area.

Aside from Hundley there’s plenty of other younger/newer Spiders we need to see early on. The non-conference stretch in September sets up perfectly for us to get another inexperienced group lots of game action.

Only 37 career snaps for the rest of the offensive linemen. Getting a handful of these guys on the field during non-conference play is a must. Right now I’m not sure if there’s a clear “first guy off the bench” at each spot so ensuring this group as many drives as possible should be a priority this September.

Multiple All-Patriot League honors – If we continue to run the ball (195 YPG, 18th in FCS) like we have, Richmond should have multiple linemen make the All-Patriot teams. Carbajal and Hummel earning preseason 1st team set this standard and I think a couple other Spiders could be in the mix. I already mentioned how Kade Capristo is poised to have a solid year at center however Trey Gray III continues to fly under the radar. Our other starting tackle, Gray III had the second highest pass-block rating from PFF. He’s been a tackle since day 1 and looked comfortable splitting his time at both spots last season. His 338 snaps were less than a full load but still enough to suggest that he could be ready for a breakout 2025.

We’ve seen two duos earn All-conference honors since 2021: Tim Coleman and Clayton McConnell in 2021 (both spring & fall) and Ryan Coll and Joe More in 2022. Hopefully 2025 adds another duo to this list.

Next Post

That does it for the 2025 Position Group Previews – hopefully that helped everyone get acclimated with the newcomers while also getting an overview of what to expect from each group.

One final practice update over the weekend to wrap up camp, then it’s time for Lehigh.

2025 Fall Camp – Final Update – Sunday, August 24th