NC State gets a chance Friday night to clean up its own mess, and Richmond arrives with a 2-0 record, a ranking in the FCS Coaches Poll and a top-25 spot in SP+.
The Spiders were picked to finish third in the Patriot League in the preseason, but their early-season momentum has come with a familiar problem attached. Injuries have already started to stack up again after a 2025 campaign that was shaped in part by that same issue.
Linebacker Carter Glassmyer, a preseason first-team All-Patriot selection, has not played yet this season. Starting safety Lee Bruner IV got hurt in the opener and has been out since; he is not on the depth chart this week.
Second-string running back Jamaal Brown, who has 17 carries for 80 yards in 2026, also is not listed. Starting quarterback Ashten Snelsire and starting right tackle Godwin Burger were banged up last week, though both appear set to play Friday.
Snelsire is experienced, but this is his first season as Richmond’s starter. So far, the numbers are solid rather than flashy: 460 passing yards, 7.3 yards per attempt, a 57.1% completion rate and six touchdowns, with no interceptions.
One of his main outlets figures to be tight end Sean Clarke, who delivered a strong Week 1 performance and looks like a key piece for the Spiders’ offense. Richmond’s vertical passing game has been limited to this point, and if that doesn’t change, Clarke should keep seeing plenty of action.
The backfield has a steady option in Aziz Foster-Powell, a returning starter who has run for 149 yards and three touchdowns on 5.7 yards per carry.
Defense is still the side of the ball that gives Richmond its best chance to hold up. The Spiders have preseason Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Camden Byrd, a defensive end who posted 8.5 sacks last season.
Nickel Tayshaun Burney was a second-team all-conference selection in 2025 after making 49 tackles, and safety Jordan Allen earned first-team honors with 74 tackles last year. Richmond has talent at every level if it can keep enough bodies on the field.
Through two games, the Spiders have held their two FCS opponents - both described as not very good - to 3.5 yards per play and shut them out in the first half. But the concern is whether that defense can keep absorbing the load if the offense can’t sustain drives.
That’s where NC State comes in. Richmond’s offense doesn’t look explosive or reliable enough to make this a long, competitive game, and if the defense starts to fade, the gap should widen.
NC State is expected to control the line of scrimmage and needs to come out with urgency after what happened in its season opener. The baseline here is simple: an angry NC State team that plays much better than it did before.
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