Richmond Spiders 2026 Season Preview

Huesman Building on 7-5

Richmond closed 2025 at 7-5 and opened conference play 1-0, a clean baseline for Russ Huesman heading into 2026 rather than a program in repair. The power rating sits at a middling No. 70, so the record reads better than the underlying grade, and the follow-up question is whether Huesman's group can hold that winning form against schedules that will test whether last fall was a step forward or a ceiling. Nothing here points to instability, just a coach with a plus-.500 season and a league win banked trying to build on it.

The disconnect defense

Richmond's real story is the gap between a defense that ranked 5th nationally in yards allowed per game and 2nd in passing yards allowed, and an offense that finished 87th in success rate and 93rd in passing yards per game. That defense carried a 7-5 team even as the offense stalled on third downs at a 36.0% clip and coughed up a -3 turnover margin. Jack Callaghan is projected to take over at quarterback with no prior stats on file, and if he can lift an offense that averaged just 5.27 yards per play, Russ Huesman's defense already gives Richmond enough to win with.

Richmond's passing offense ranked 93rd nationally last season, and both quarterbacks behind it are gone, with Kyle Wickersham's 1,352 yards and Ashten Snelsire's 848 yards and 8 touchdowns off the books together. That leaves a Spiders offense that already struggled to throw the ball (183 yards per game, 36.0% on third down) needing whoever takes over to at least protect the run-first identity that produced 148 rushing yards per game. Russ Huesman's offense doesn't need a gunslinger so much as a game manager who can hit enough throws to keep opposing defenses from selling out against the ground game.

Aziz Foster-Powell's 568 yards and 4 scores were the lone bright spot in a ground game that still ranked just 63rd nationally in rushing yards per game, and he returns as the clear centerpiece for 2026. Behind him, Andrew King and Jamaal Brown both carry modest but real workloads (178 and 279 yards) that give Richmond a change-of-pace option rather than a one-man show. The bigger issue was the offense around them, a unit that finished 87th in success rate and 93rd in passing, so Foster-Powell will only push this attack forward if the passing game stops letting defenses load the box against him.

Andreas Hill's 18 catches for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns look like a starting point, not a finished product, especially with Ja'Vion Griffin's 48 catches and 585 yards and Isaiah Dawson's 42 catches and 575 yards gone from the room. Jaiden Fair caught just 7 passes for 62 yards, so the bulk of Richmond's passing production has to come from somewhere unproven, whether that is Fair growing into a bigger role or one of Joey Duggan, Nick Hanley, Cassius Harris or Donovan Higgins turning no prior stats into real snaps. A passing game that ranked 93rd in yards per game and 87th in offensive success rate last year needs Hill to become the clear focal point for quarterbacks to lean on in 2026.

Aidan Steinfeldt's 5 catches for 28 yards were the extent of last year's proven tight end production, and Richmond's passing game barely showed up nationally, ranking 93rd in passing yards per game. Sean Clarke and his 6 grabs are gone, leaving Steinfeldt as the only tight end back with catches on his résumé, flanked by Ryan Campbell, Carson Derey and Alex Smith, none of whom have logged a stat yet. Trinity Episcopal product Sam DeFrancesca joins the room, but until someone beyond Steinfeldt produces, this position will keep feeding a ground game that already outweighs it, with rushing (63rd) well ahead of the pass attack.

Richmond ground out 148 yards per game on the ground last season, a respectable 63rd nationally, but the passing game behind that line stalled at 183 yards per game, 93rd in the country, and the whole offense converted just 36.0% of third downs. That imbalance is the story up front for 2026, with Gabriel Carbajal, Scott Hummel, Phillip Gray and Phillip Gray III all gone from a group that never got the pass-blocking or explosiveness to match its rushing push. Brayson Bristow arrives to fill an interior spot, and whether Russ Huesman's rebuilt front can protect the quarterback well enough to lift that 183-yard passing mark will decide if this offense can climb out of the 80s in yards per play.

Richmond's defensive front was the engine behind a unit that allowed just 4.58 yards per play (4th nationally) and 155 passing yards per game (2nd) last season, but the production tied to that success is scattered. Matei Fitz, Camden Byrd and Donovan Hoilette are among six linemen gone, taking with them the only sack and TFL production listed at the position. Robert Edwards arrives from Emmaus as a signee to help restock the room, and Marcus Yeager joins off the edge from Trinity, both without prior college stats, meaning Russ Huesman's front will have to prove it can hold that 137 rushing-yards-allowed mark without the names that built it.

Richmond's defense allowed just 155 yards a game through the air last season, second nationally, and 293 total yards a game, fifth best, numbers that made the front seven look far stiffer than the 39th-ranked rush defense suggested. None of that production returns by name, with Peyton Seelmann, Jordan Allen, Zach Chambers and Owen Laughlin all gone, so Russ Huesman is rebuilding the tackle totals from that group almost entirely with untested pieces. The incoming class leans on high school prospects Matthew Jones and Quintin McCray rather than a proven transfer, which makes the run defense, already the softer link in an otherwise elite unit, the thing to watch in 2026.

Richmond's pass defense allowed just 155 yards a game through the air, second nationally, and none of the names most responsible for that are gone. Lee Bruner IV, Devin Geronomi, Tramayne Bullock and CJ Fraser all return, and Krystian Williams arrives from Virginia Tech to add another corner with 4 tackles already on his ledger. The tackling numbers are modest across the board, which tracks with a secondary that thrived by limiting the catch rather than cleaning up after it, and with this much of that group back, Richmond has no reason to expect the coverage numbers to slip in 2026.

Jayden Alsheskie's departure leaves a real void after he went 9 of 12 on field goals with a 41-yard long and 58 points last fall, and Richmond has no returning placekicker with a single statistic on file to replace that production. Jackson Bonser and Gavin Winterhalter both return at kicker but arrive blank in the record book, so Russ Huesman is effectively picking a scorer from scratch. Punter Ned Gray is the steady piece, back after averaging 38.7 yards on 63 punts, and long snapper Weston Sharpe also returns to anchor the operation while the kicking job sorts itself out.

Jack Callaghan at QB

Richmond hands the offense to Jack Callaghan, who has no prior statistics on file, to replace Kyle Wickersham's 1,352 yards and 9 touchdowns. The cushion is real: Aziz Foster-Powell (568 rushing yards, 4 TD), Andrew King and Jamaal Brown give Callaghan a run game to lean on while he learns the job, and Andreas Hill's 314 receiving yards give him a proven target. But a passing attack that produces even close to last year's modest output through an unproven arm is what keeps this from being a step back.

Russ Huesman's Road Trust

Richmond went 7-5 straight up, but bettors backing Russ Huesman's team at home paid for it, going just 1-4 against the spread there with only one cover as a home favorite. The road tells the opposite story, a 3-3 spread mark that included a 67% cover rate as an underdog, meaning this team travels better than its home line suggests. Books have caught on to the split, so the value case for 2026 leans toward following Richmond away from home and staying skeptical when it is favored in its own building.