Football Spring Practice Update #1 With Coach Huesman

Photo by: Halle Kennon/Richmond Athletics

Football Spring Practice Update #1 With Coach Huesman

03/08/2019 | Football

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond football program has concluded its first week of spring practices, taking part in five sessions this past week, concluding with an early morning practice Friday at Robins Stadium. The Spiders will take a week off from practices for Richmond's spring break before returning to work March 19. Head coach Russ Huesman sat down with www.richmondspiders.com and gave his impressions on the first week of spring practices.

How has practice gone through the first week?
The first week has been limited for what we can do numbers-wise, with so many guys out with injury right now. But our guys have had great energy and spirit. We have had a very good week of productive work and are getting a lot of the young guys great reps. We have to be smart with our practices right now and roll with what we have. We can't do as much depth wise, but we are able to get some guys great reps and work. The guys have responded well and are excited out there. Lots of positives in the first week.

What changes in practices have you made this spring?
We are moving around quicker and doing shorter periods of work. Part of that is due to depth and part of that is a change to get the guys moving and transitioning quicker. We are doing seven-minute periods to keep guys fresher and continue to produce quality reps.

What group has been strong through the first week of spring?
On the defensive line we have some experienced guys there and they obviously look good. That is one position we have some really good depth so we are trying to play a lot of our younger guys more to get those reps and experience. There are times we are lining up four freshmen defensive lineman across the board against our '1's' on offense. They are getting a ton of snaps and really developing nicely.

I have been impressed so far by our quarterbacks. They are really trying to do things we are asking them to do in our offense. They are leading our team and playing with some confidence. We haven't been perfect and have thrown a bad ball or two, but they are really executing the offense at a really good level. It is a great competition right now between Joe (Mancuso) and Reid (Chenault). I have been pleased with the progress they have made. They are really battling and splitting reps right now. They have to keep progressing.

How have the new coaching staff blended into the program in spring practice?
They have done really well. They have jumped in there and are not afraid to get their hands dirty really quick. I really like what they have brought to the program and we have had a lot of great work this week. I have to give Bobby Maffei a lot of credit as he started on the first day of practice. He shows up and is coaching immediately. He hasn't missed a beat in practice and we now have a chance to really sit down this week and work on our special teams play moving forward.

How has the spring schedule change this year, starting a week before spring break, had an impact on the spring season?
The biggest benefit to starting early is that we can get spring practices done a couple of weeks earlier and can get back into a lifting mode earlier. That gives us a bigger window to try and get strength gains there over the summer.

We haven't done this schedule in the past but getting five practices under our belt before spring break is going to be very beneficial for our coaching staff. We can now, as coaches, come back next week and reassess where we are as a team, how we can move forward and what changes we need to make. Having those five practices as a baseline will help make our spring better because of the week we have to evaluate what we are doing and what adjustments we want to make on both sides of the ball. Those five really good practices allows us to have a lot of tape to look at when making personnel and schematic changes.

Who has stood out individually through the first week of spring practice?
The two freshmen running backs, Aaron Dykes and Milan Howard, have looked fantastic. They have been really good this spring and we obviously get Xavier Goodall back this year as well. I think we have three tremendous players that can hit a home run for us, can make people miss and have great ball skills. We are very excited about that group.

At the wideout position, Charlie Fessler has been really good this spring. He brings a lot of talent and experience to the team. He has a lot of ability both receiving and even has been used on punt returns early on. We are excited for his continued development. Another one that has made strides is Isaac Brown. He has to continue to develop but has had a strong week of practice. Our freshmen from last year Isaac Brown and Justin Jasper are getting a lot of looks this spring as well.

Our offensive line has been strong, especially Tim Coleman, Clayton McConnell and Seyoum Settepani. Those three along with our two freshmen who got a lot of playing time last year in Foster Singleton and Joe More, are doing really well this spring.

Defensively, our returning defensive line guys have been good but we are limiting their reps to get the young guys some more work. Our linebackers continue to progress well and on the back end, Daniel Jones and Trent Williams have been good in limited reps. We have been getting our young guys more snaps there and have liked what we have seen from Tyrek Funderburk and Aaron Banks. Noah Nicholson has played well at the corner through the first week and we have guys out with injury right now that will compete for spots in the fall.

-- UR --