University of Richmond Athletics
Justin Rogers Named CAA Football Rookie of the Week
Sept. 3, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond's Justin Rogers was named the first-ever CAA Football Rookie of the Week, it was announced by the conference Monday morning. The Spiders' redshirt freshman, seeing his first collegiate action, collected 201 yards in kickoff returns and scored on a 93-yard return for touchdown against Vanderbilt.
The Spiders open their CAA schedule at Northeastern Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Rogers made his first collegiate action memorable. His 93-yard return for touchdown in front of 32,215 at Vanderbilt Stadium pulled the Spiders within striking distance of the SEC foe at 31-17 with 2:43 left in the third quarter.
"The key to having a good kickoff return is to have a returner," said head coach Dave Clawson. "We've got a guy that can catch the ball and scoot. He took a seem and hit it and he looked good doing it."
The Baton Rogue, La. native's return tied for the 10th-longest kickoff return in team history and was the first for a TD since Clement Johnson went 86 yards against New Hampshire in 2003.
For the game, Rogers' racked up 201 yards on five kickoff returns -- the second-best single-game performance in team history, behind Jesse Williams' 215 yards at West Virginia in 1980. To put it in perspective, the Spiders as a team had just 404 yards on kickoff returns all last season.
Rogers, who backed up at cornerback, was also in on three tackles in the defensive backfield and broke up a pass.
Delaware running back Omar Cuff was the CAA Football Offensive Player of the Week, Brian Bradford of Towson was the Defensive Player of the Week and Massachusetts' Courtney Robinson was the Special Teams honoree.