University of Richmond Athletics
Spider Football Practice No. 14 Report
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The No. 18-ranked University of Richmond Spiders football team continued training on Tuesday morning with the team’s 14th practice.
The Spiders practiced Tuesday morning on the grass fields at River Road, and the change of venue energized the team. Coach Danny Rocco called it the best practice of pre-season camp.
OL Caleb High’s emotional outburst during pre-practice stretching loosened up players and coaches. The mood changed later when a couple of small skirmishes broke out between the offense and defense, which were quickly broken up.
Practice Observations
- Although Coach Rocco cancelled the planned scrimmage, officials attended practice and worked the 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills. Both sessions were high-energy and up-tempo with few whistles or penalties.
- In 1-on-1 run game, RB Jacobi Green made a terrific fake left, go right move on LB Omar Howard that drew oohs and ahhs from fellow players.
- Howard was a force for the remainder of practice, including chasing down the quarterback for a sack and an athletic pass-breakup at the goal line during 7-on-7 drills.
- Howard also had a pass deflection and a tackle for no gain near the goal line during red zone drill.
- The offense worked on moving the ball from deep in its own territory. RB T.J. Moon and RB Seth Fisher each had strong runs that drew praise from Coach Rocco.
- When the offense tried to surprise the defense with a pass from its own end zone, DB Taifon Mainsah stayed stride-for-stride with WR Reggie Diggs and knocked away QB Kyle Lauletta’s pass.
- Lauletta hit WR Brian Brown with the longest play of the practice, a leaping catch on a 50-yard gain during the 11-on-11 session. Lauletta found Diggs on a 20-yard strike in the back of the end zone during 7-on-7 drills.
- DB Ayo Ogunniyi had two pass breakups against the first team offense, then made back-to-back tackles, including a quarterback sack of true freshman QB Kevin Johnson on a blitz.
- DL Brandon Waller and DB David Herlocker also had impressive pass deflections, while true freshman LB Justin Rubin shot the gap on a blitz for a tackle for loss during the red zone drill.
Chris Anderson Observations
Among the interested on-lookers was new Spider radio analyst Chris Anderson. The former all-conference defensive back came away with these impressions:
On the safeties:
“All four of them move well. They have good feet, react well and cover a lot of ground.”
On the brief scuffles:
“We fought all the time at practice the first couple years with Coach (Jim) Reid. He was trying to create a culture – tough, hard and smart he used to say. Even the coaches fought those first couple years. Then we started getting pretty good, so the fighting stopped.”
On practicing at River Road:
“This is all we ever had when I played here. This brings back all the memories.”
Training Camp Central
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