University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Move Up To No. 5/7 In National Rankings
11/02/2015 | Football
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Following a 38-31 victory over UAlbany on Saturday, the University of Richmond football team moves into the top five for the first time this season as the No. 5 team in the STATS FCS poll and No. 7 in the FCS Coaches poll. Both polls were released Monday afternoon.
The Spiders move up one spot in each poll achieving their highest ranking so far this season. The recognition marks the 22nd consecutive week dating back to last season that the Spiders have been ranked nationally. Richmond was included in at least one of the major polls each week during the 2014 campaign, reaching as high as No. 8.
Rival William & Mary rises to the No. 12 spot in both polls after knocking off JMU with the highly anticipated 125th meeting for the Capital Cup coming up on Nov. 21 to conclude the regular season.
It was a Homecoming to remember for DB David Jones who guided Richmond (7-1, 5-0 CAA) to a 38-31 victory over UAlbany (2-6, 1-3 CAA) with a Richmond and CAA record four interceptions and a fumble recovery.
The redshirt-junior came into the game with three picks so far this season that were already tied for the CAA lead. He added five tackles to cap off his historic effort. He is the first player in Richmond football history to collect four picks in a game and just the fourth player in CAA history to do so. The last CAA player to collect four picks in a game was Rhode Island's Kevin Smith who did so in October of 1988.
For his efforts the St. Petersburg, Fla. native has earned National Player of the Week honors from the NCAA and CAA Defensive Player of the Week recognition. With 10 interceptions now in his career, Jones moves into a tie for eighth all-time in the Richmond record books with Patrick Weldon, Bob Leprete and Ray Easterling. Jeff Nixon is the all-time Richmond leader with 23 followed by Scott Burton (16) and three others all tied at 12.
Not to be overshadowed was RB Jacobi Green who had another monster game on the heels of his sterling effort opposite JMU that earned him CAA Offensive Player of the Week honors. He galloped for 186 yards on the ground to with a pair of scores on 34 attempts. The senior now has 779 rushing yards this season, which are a career-best mark with at least three games left to play in 2015.
Junior WR Brian Brown continued his career-year, adding 178 yards through the air to his season total, giving him 876 for the season in just seven games. He also added a touchdown, which ties his career-high for a single season with four. Reggie Diggs continued to compliment Brown in a big way, gaining 71 yards through the air on seven catches with a touchdown mixed in. QB Kyle Lauletta threw for 293 yards on 20-33 passing with a pair of touchdowns and three picks.
After a brief visit home Richmond will head back out of the road for a pair of crucial road games opposite New Hampshire (4-4, 2-3 CAA) and Villanova (4-4, 3-2 CAA), two squads picked ahead of the Spiders in the preseason, respectively. In fact, all three of the Spiders remaining regular season contests are against programs picked ahead of them in the preseason pecking order. The game at New Hampshire is scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. on the NBC Sports Network.
