University of Richmond Athletics
Rocco, Green Finalists For STATS FCS National Awards
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University or Richmond football team has a pair of individuals listed as finalists for STATS FCS national awards this fall. Head coach Danny Rocco has been selected as a finalist for National Coach of the Year while RB Jacobi Green has been tabbed as a finalist for National Offensive Player of the Year.
The awards are voted on by sports information directors and conference officials from around the country and the winners will be announced at a special awards banquet held in Frisco, Texas on Jan. 8. The Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year and Doris & Eddie Robinson Scholar/Athlete Award will all be named at the banquet.
Coach Rocco has guided Richmond to back-to-back FCS Playoff appearances for the first time since the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The Spiders went a perfect 4-0 in the month of October setting up an inevitable clash with Capital Cup rival William & Mary for the CAA title to end the season. Since arriving at Richmond, Rocco is 4-0 opposite the Tribe and has now brought in a pair of CAA crowns. The Spiders posted an 0-8 record in the CAA before Rocco’s arrival and rebounded to win the league at 6-2 in his first season. Since then he has done nothing but build this program back to national prominence culminating, for the time being, with a national seed in the 2015 FCS Playoffs.
Jacobi Green has carried the ball 209 times this season for a career-best 1,285 yards, which already rank fifth highest in a single season in Richmond football history. He has collected 928 of those yards over the last five games alone. Included in that total is a 236-yard, five-touchdown effort at James Madison and a 217-yard afternoon opposite William & Mary that helped clinch the 2015 CAA Championship. His 15 touchdowns led the CAA and rank third in a single-season in Richmond football history. He is also the third-leading receiver for the Spiders with 23 receptions for 307 yards giving him 151.5 all-purpose yards per game.
The Spiders await the winner of Northeast Conference champion Duquesne and William & Mary who will meet in Williamsburg this weekend. On Dec. 5 Richmond will host one of those programs at 12 p.m. at Robins Stadium hoping to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals for the seventh time in program history.