University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Look Sharp In Final Scrimmage Of Camp
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The busyness of the academic calendar is just days away for the University of Richmond football, but before getting back into the classroom, the Spiders took to the field at Robins Stadium for one last training camp scrimmage.
Richmond lit up the field, with both sides of the ball having highlights throughout the afternoon.
“I’m really happy with the way our guys responded from Tuesday. We can be an explosive team and I think we saw that today, which was great to see,” Head Coach Danny Rocco said. “We still have a lot of work to get done, but I’m proud of the way our guys bounced back.”
The afternoon started with the defense keeping the offense pinned deep until Kyle Lauletta found Tyler Wilkins down the right sideline for a 45-yard pass play to move the Spiders down the field.
That’s when the defense stepped up, holding Richmond’s offense without a touchdown for the next three series, led by great pressure inside by Chad Wiggins and Joe Nelson.
Enter the two preseason All-American picks, Lauletta and Brian Brown. The duo connected on back-to-back long pass plays in a series to set up a TD run by Gordon Collins, which ignited the offense.
Ricmond’s deep receiving core was on display once again with Brown, Wilkins, Jarmal Bevels and Will McCombs all having really strong days, including two TD catches from McCombs.
On the ground, Collins and redshirt freshman Deontez Thompson both had solid runs on the afternoon.
The offensive line was outstanding all afternoon, protecting both Lauletta and senior David Broadus, giving them plenty of time to find their receivers.
“It was a good day for us. I thought we showed how dynamic and explosive we can be this year if we are focused and don’t hurt ourselves,” Lauletta said. “Like we’ve said all preseason, we have high expectations for ourselves and in order to achieve the goals we set as a team, we have to push ourselves every time we step on the field.”
Defensively, sophomore linebacker Justin Rubin and classmate Micah Keels had good afternoons, along with freshman DB Trent Williams who had a couple pass breakups.
The Spiders have three more days of training camp before classes get underway next week.
RichmondSpiders.com will have a full training camp recap with Coach Rocco on Monday afternoon.