North Carolina A&T faces 21st ranked Richmond in return to CAA play
North Carolina A&T football coach Vincent Brown will see a familiar foe on Saturday in opposing head coach Russ Huesman when the Aggies go on the road to face Richmond, their first Top 25-ranked FCS opponent of the season.
"The relationship is a very positive one," Brown said. "I have great respect for Russ Huesman. Like I said, he was the defensive coordinator at Richmond when we won the national championship. There are a lot of ties to our program. Our tight ends coach Stephen Barnette played wide receiver there, I worked there, coach (Charles) Bankins, our special teams coordinator and running backs coach worked there, so there is a lot of respect for what they do and how they built their program, but with that being said, every week, it's a new opportunity for us to right the ship and so that is where our focus is right now."
The Aggies (1-4, 0-1) return to CAA play, with their previous conference game being a 42-13 defeat at home to Delaware. Overall, A&T has lost their last three games since getting a 27-20 win in overtime against Division II Winston-Salem State.
On Saturday, they lost 45-25 on the road to unranked South Carolina State in a game in which they led 17-10 in the third quarter but were outscored 35-8 down the stretch.
Now the attention turns to Richmond (3-2, 1-0), ranked 21st in the FCS Coaches Poll, who have won three straight since falling to FBS Virginia and only by a touchdown to Wofford.
On the season, the Spiders have averaged 27 points per game, despite having just two touchdown passes to six interceptions. For them, the key has been a rush attack led by Zach Palmer Smith (84 carries, 493 yards, 6 touchdowns) that averages 5.0 yards per carry, to go along with a 43.5% third down conversion rate that ranks 27th in the FCS. In the red zone, all 11 of their touchdowns have come on the ground for an offense that has scored on 16 of 18 trips.
The Spiders defense ranks 13th in third down defense with opponents only converting 29.3% of the time and the team overall is among the least penalized in the FCS with only 4.2 flags enforced per contest, so the margin for error may be small in aiming for an upset.
"We have to score more points offensively and that has been a recurring theme the last several weeks," Brown said. "We have to create creative ways to score. And then defensively, we have to stop giving up explosive-play passes. Those are the things that are allowing offenses to move the ball down into scoring territory and we haven't had a lot of great success with red zone defense."
The Aggies will also have to overcome the absence of starting quarterback Kevin White and two leading rushers Kenji Christian and Wesley Graves, with all three likely out for the season, according to Brown.
Last week, Houston Christian transfer Justin Fomby got his first start since joining A&T this season. In the game against SCSU, he threw for 205 yards and was the first A&T player to throw for three touchdowns since the 2021 season, although he also gave up a fumble and threw an interception in the effort. Brown said he will make the start against Richmond.
At running back, redshirt sophomore Cameren Dalrymple led the way with 93 rushing yards on 11 carries. This was his first game receiving any carries this season for the Wallace native, who previously played at Navy and Mars Hill.
"I mean I don't know very many programs that can withstand losing as many players that bring the production that the guys that have been out brought, but like I said, we've had kids step up," Brown said.
High School Sports Reporter
