Coming off an All-Patriot League season, Aziz Foster-Powell returns to lead the UR running backs. With Andrew King transferring out, we’re bound to see at least one other Spider make an impact in 2026.

Roster

#3 | Aziz Foster-Powell | Senior

#7 | Jamaal Brown | Senior

#9 | Michael Creamer | Sophomore

#26 | Ronald Johnson | Freshman

#30 | Andrew McKenzie | Junior

#34 | Garrett Nowlan | Freshman

#36 | Warrick “Butter” Stephenson | Sophomore

#38 | Peter Cwietniewicz | Sophomore

Additions

Ronald Johnson – A spring addition to this year’s class, Johnson played his high school ball in Maryland and chose the Spiders over a handful of FCS schools, most notably Lehigh. He’s coming off an excellent senior season, running for over 1,700 yards and 22 TDs. Carries will be hard for a freshman to come by this season however Johnson looks to be a great spring addition to the RB room.

Peter Cwietniewicz – I still don’t see much on Cwietniewicz online but I’m pretty sure he was a lacrosse player that began practicing with the running backs this past spring. The bigger the roster, the better.

Garrett Nowlan – Just added to the roster over the summer, Nowlan is a newcomer that has seen time during a few of the freshman periods.

Aziz Foster-Powell

There were big shoes to fill after losing 2nd team All-CAA running back Zach Palmer-Smith to the transfer portal after the 2024 season. Foster-Powell did just that in his first year as our RB1, matching all-conference honors on the 2nd-team All Patriot team and leading the Spiders in both yards (568) and carries (125). The local product from Highland Springs continues to be a great story that should continue into 2026. A late offer from the Spiders flipped him from Virginia State to Richmond and it’s been one our best recruiting decisions in recent seasons.

Foster-Powell established himself as the RB1 midway through the year. In the first five weeks, #3 never eclipsed 40 yards in a game and found the endzone just once. In our final seven contests, he surpassed 60 yards five times to go along with three TDs. He talked about playing at a smaller size compared to 2023/2024 and I think that endurance really showed down the stretch.

Jamaal Brown & Michael Creamer

Jamaal Brown is the only other experienced running back behind Foster-Powell, with 100 career carriers for 373 yards. A couple of fumbles and a couple of drops didn’t help his early season snap counts, and he didn’t play nearly as much once Foster-Powell took over. I’d like to see his consistency increase to where he can be a reliable option.

Michael Creamer is an interesting guy to watch this fall camp. He played early last season despite multiple established options ahead of him, which makes me think we would’ve seen a lot more of him had it not been for a season ending injury. I think the staff has clearly prioritized bigger backs and Creamer fits that mold – 6′ 215 lbs. and also has experience at fullback. That’s two big options the Spiders can give the ball to and it looks to follow our mold of trying to win inside.

What 2026 looks like

Running back battles and how carries will be split up are tougher to determine while watching camp, so I want to highlight three things I’m looking for as the season unfolds.

Pass Protection

No returning RB has an above average PFF grade in pass-pro. This is something I look at more after watching Zach Palmer-Smith in 2024 (he was excellent in pass-pro), and while it didn’t bite us too much last season we do lose three senior starters on the offensive line. Given our offensive scheme, teams weren’t afraid to blitz us. Seeing at least one guy take a big step forward in this area would be a welcomed sign.

Receiving

Passes to running backs saw a big spike last season.

There were times we were able to ignite our passing game by involving guys out of the backfield and I hope that’s something we can continue. The since departed Andrew King was a big piece of this, accounting for 175 yards and three TDs, so how we fill that will be worth noting. Foster-Powell has great hands for a RB but is the complete opposite from the speedy King. Ideally, we do such a good job of getting our WR corps and Sean Clarke involved that we don’t need the same level of production. Either way, Huesman has shown he can utilize RBs in the passing game so we’ll see what 2026 has in store.

Negative plays/short gains

This is less about the individual players and more a product of our scheme, but we must to cut down on the negative/short rushing plays. Foster-Powell’s numbers from last season highlight this well.

Of his 125 carries, nearly 20% of them went for zero or negative yardage. If we expand that a bit further, 46% of his carries went for 2 yards or less. Nearly half of his touches resulting in a minimal gain (at best) is an easy way to get behind the sticks and it’s a good statistic to highlight our weaknesses. Obviously there are goal line and short yardage situations that will naturally lead to shorter gains but that’s far too many snaps that aren’t significantly advancing the ball. It ultimately showed in his season yards/carry, which ended at 4.5. That’s not bad overall however it’s too low for your RB1 in a system that prioritized running the ball.

Given our size at running back, we’re not going to hit as many home runs as you might with a speed back and that’s fine. Foster-Powell’s longest rush last year was 27 yards. This is more about raising the floor of our rushing attack, not finding an even higher ceiling. Big plays are great but if we can limit the negative/short plays and keep the offense on schedule, you’re going to see a much more efficient UR attack.

Next Post

Fall Camp Update #1 – Monday, August 10th