University of Richmond Athletics
Rocco, Seven First Team Selections Highlight CAA Awards
RICHMOND, Va. – CAA Football on Tuesday afternoon announced its 2015 award winners as voted on by the league’s coaches and the University of Richmond football team had 13 individuals honored, headlined by head coach Danny Rocco receiving Coach of the Year honors to go along with seven First Team selections.
The 13 selections for the Spiders are the second-most in program history behind only the 2009 team which had 16 players honored. Seven First Team selections also match a program record set by the 2010 team. Richmond and William & Mary led the league with seven First Team choices and only the Tribe had more players named overall.
RB Jacobi Green, WR’s Brian Brown and Reggie Diggs, OL Nick Ritcher, LB Omar Howard, CB Ayo Ogunniyi and DB David Jones all received nods to the 2015 All-CAA Football First Team. QB Kyle Lauletta headlines the Second Team with OL’s Thomas Evans and Nick Vergos, PK Peter Yoder and DL Winston Craig. TE Nick Holloway is the lone Spider featured on the Third Team.
Coach Rocco is the second CAA Coach of the Year in Richmond history and has guided the program 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. Overall, Rocco is the eighth coach in Richmond football history to be honored as the Coach of the Year in his league and the first since 2007 (Ed Merrick, ’58, Frank Jones, ’67, ’68, ’71, Jim Tait, ’75, Dal Shealy, ’87, Jim Marshall, ’92, Jim Reid, ’98, ’00, Dave Clawson, ’05, ’07).
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 and fifth in the nation. 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.
Brian Brown became just the second receiver in Richmond football history to go over 1,000 yards in season twice in a career. With 1,180 yards, Brown is the only CAA receiver to go over 1,000 this season and is just nine yards shy of matching the most yards in a single-season by any Richmond pass catcher in program history. He the only CAA receiver to average over 100 yards per game at 118.0 and his six touchdowns rank second in the league.
Reggie Diggs has certainly done his part to make his pairing with Brown arguably the most dangerous receiving tandem in the nation. This is the second-consecutive All-Conference nod for Diggs and his first appearance on the First Team. He has 58 receptions this season for 781 yards and five touchdowns. He finished fourth in the CAA with 5.3 receptions per game and fourth with 71.0 yards per game.
OL Nick Ritcher joins the skill position players on the First Team as the top blocker for Richmond. This is the first All-Conference appearance for the redshirt-senior who helped Richmond running backs combine for 2,176 yards on the ground this season while also protecting QB Kyle Lauletta had an all-conference season in his own right.
On the defensive side of the ball LB Omar Howard, CB Ayo Ogunniyi and DB David Jones all appear on an all-conference list for the first time in their careers. Howard is one of two captains on defense and led the Spiders by a wide margin with 107 tackles, which also ranked second in the CAA. Omar also had 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks four pass breakups to go with one fumble recovery. Howard went for double-digit tackles on many occasions this season highlighted by an 18-tackle performance at Rhode Island.
DB David Jones is in the midst of one of the greatest seasons ever had by a Richmond DB. His eight interceptions not only lead the CAA and rank second in the nation but also are tied for the most in a single-season in Richmond football history. He ranks second on the team and 13th in the CAA with 81 tackles out of the defensive backfield. He also has three pass breakups and one fumble recovery this season while doubling as the punt returner over the final few games.
Ayo Ogunniyi has had a senior season to remember as the top corner option for the Spiders. He ranks third on the team with 53 tackles and second behind Jones with three interceptions. He is regularly tasked with marking the top receiving threat of the opposition and has been a leader on the defense all season long.
QB Kyle Lauletta headlines the All-Conference Second Team. Lauletta has been stellar during his debut season as the Richmond starter under center, throwing for 2,912 yards, which ranked atop the CAA and are currently second most in Richmond single-season history. He is well on his way to becoming just the second QB in Spider history to throw for over 3,000 yards along with Michael Strauss. He threw for 17 touchdowns and ran for five more. His 218 yards rushing ranked third on the team behind Green and Seth Fisher. His 150.85 passer efficiency rating also ranked top 10 in the nation for most of the season.
Richmond offensive linemen Thomas Evans and Nick Vergos join Ritcher as all-conference performers. As members of the second team both appear on the all-conference awards list for the first time in their careers. Both individuals will return next season giving the Spiders a great foundation for continued success going forward.
The coaches are honoring PK Peter Yoder for a second-straight year. He was named to the second team as well a season ago and earned it again this season by hitting 11 of 15 field goals including a career-long 48-yard goal at JMU in a hostile environment that gave the Spiders a commanding lead. He was also 39-41 on the always-important PAT’s. His 72 points ranked second on the team behind Jacobi Green’s 92.
DL Winston Craig is the lone Spider defensive player to appear on the second team. He ranked fifth on the team with 49 tackles and collected 2.5 sacks, which were second on the team. He is the leader of a defensive line that ranks seventh in the CAA in rushing defense.
Rounding out the all-conference selections for the Spiders is TE Nick Holloway who appears on one of the teams for the first time in his career. While he collected just four catches for 22 yards this season he was instrumental blocking for all of Richmond’s extremely successful backs. He served as a clear extension of the highly praised offensive line.
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.