Spiders coach wants to squeeze 'juice' out of players who didn't supply much (2024)

A series of dogpiles may not be coming, but Russ Huesman wants to see increased energy and emotion from his University of Richmond football players when they open at home against Wofford on Saturday.

The Spiders began their season Saturday night at Virginia, losing 34-13. From a performance standpoint, Huesman said on Monday he saw some things he liked, and some he didn’t. In terms of the Spiders’ demonstrated vitality, Huesman identified that as a bothersome soft spot.

“It’s important, because it does bring the juice. It does bring the energy,” Huesman said. “Maybe the moment was a little bit too much. I don’t know. I don’t think so. But we’ve got to do a better job of that.”

As an example of what concerns him, Huesman cited a Spiders’ sack for 20 yards early in the second quarter. UR defensive tackle Matei Fitz caught UVa. quarterback Anthony Colandrea, turning a first-and-goal setup at the Richmond 7 to second-and-goal from the 27.

“I wouldn’t mind a defensive lineman or two to come over and celebrate with (Fitz). That would be really nice,” Huesman said. “We didn’t get that. Everybody was kind of looking around.”

It’s conceivable, Huesman acknowledged, that UR’s defensive players were out of breath at the time. But the coach evidently saw other illustrations of energy shortages that annoyed him.

“I just think when you make good plays, you’ve got to pick each other up and you’ve got to be excited for your teammates,” Huesman said. “And there’s too much, ‘Well, he made the play. OK, great.’ I just want — from the sidelines, to the offense, to the defense — I want us to look like we’re having fun out there.

“Saturday almost looked like a job out there, and that’s not what I want it to look like. I want excitement. I want our guys celebrating with each other. I want our guys to be happy when somebody makes a play, celebrate with them.”

Two-hour break

The Spiders were prepared for that 2:17 weather delay at UVa.’s Scott Stadium that interrupted the second quarter.

“We knew we needed to bring some food, some nutrition, so we made (the players) sandwiches,” Huesman said.

Huesman was not thankful for a weather delay, but said he was thankful this one – the first in-game delay of his long coaching career — occurred at Virginia’s stadium.

“I’ve been in some FCS places where you can’t survive for two hours,” he said. “Fortunately, we were at UVa., and the visiting locker room is pretty spacious, so it wasn’t a cramped situation. It wasn’t awful.”

Ex-UR WR now at Stony Brook

Former UR receiver Jasiah Williams (Thomas Dale High) has reunited with Billy Cosh, Stony Brook’s first-year coach. They were with the Spiders in 2022 and UR’s most impressive offensive game that year was a 51-7 win over visiting Stony Brook. Reece Udinski completed 35 of 42 for 357 yards and five touchdowns.

SBU’s AD, Shawn Heilbron, made that trip. “I watched their offense go up and down the field like a video game,” Heilbron said of the Spiders. He wondered who was responsible for that execution and said he learned “it was the same guy who helped lead the turnaround at VMI.”

Cosh is a former James Madison quarterback and offensive coordinator at VMI. Also in that game, Williams caught 10 passes for 112 yards. Cosh brought Williams to SBU and the 5-foot-11 180-pounder made one reception last week in a 45-3 loss at Marshall.

The Spiders do not play Stony Brook in CAA Football competition this season.