SOME MORE OPINION, MOSTLY FACT

 

If University of Richmond linebacker Tristan Wheeler isn’t the best 

defensive player in the CAA, then the Albany LB who won the award 

would be best advised to enter the transfer portal … pronto! ... and 

start counting his money. Of course, we’re assuming he has remaining 

eligibility or can convince the NCAA he deserves a sixth or 

seventh year … to pad his bank account.

(Did you see where a tight end at Georgia Tech petitioned the NCAA 

for an EIGHTH year?

No wonder JMU tried to get the NCAA to ignore the rule regarding 

post-season eligibility. It was worth a try. You never know what they 

might do.)

Wheeler, who has more than 400 tackles for his career, was the 

Spiders’ best player in 2022, too, but a quarterback passing through for 

one season as a graduate transfer, Reece Udinski, was handed the 

Dudley Award, emblematic of the state’s best, after being UR’s 

nominee.

…. Made sense, of course. Anyone with big numbers on offense 

invariably beats someone who was equally impressive on defense. It 

may not be fair but the reality is … voters are fickle that way. And Old 

Dominion University All-American Jason Henderson is NFL-bound 

as a linebacker, guaranteed, yet he came up short to Udinski who went 

undrafted, failed tryouts with Seattle and Minnesota and signed with 

CFL Montreal. 

The Alouettes won the Grey Cup, which is Canada’s version of the 

Super Bowl … without Udinski, 25, taking a snap. He spent the entire 

2023 season on the practice (taxi) squad … deferring to the always-

popular Cody Fajardo (U. of Nevada), 30, who took the Toronto 

Argonauts to a Grey Cup title in 2017. His backup was/is legendary 

Caleb Evans, 25, former Louisiana--Monroe University great who 

spent 2022 with the CFL Ottawa Redblacks, passing for 1,391 yards. 

Among eight siblings is brother Jarod Evans, Virginia Tech QB in 

2016 when he accounted for 41 touchdowns (12 rushing) and passed 

for 3,552 yards, leading the 9-3 Hokies to the ACC championship 

game. Having originally signed with the Air Force Academy where he 

played one season, suffering a knee injury, J. Evans came to 

Blacksburg from a community college … and left after one breakout 

campaign, went undrafted then spent time on the Philadelphia and 

Green Bay taxi squads. He recently retired after a minor league career 

that included some Arena (indoor) football.

…. ESPN sent Nate Gatter and Adam Breneman here to call 

Saturday’s UR-North Carolina Central first-round FCS playoff game. 

Never heard of them? Get in line. 

Gatter, 27, is a University of Missouri graduate who was named the 

best collegiate sports announcer in 2017. According to his bio, since 

2014, he has called more than 800 games in eight sports on 20 

different levels … including Western Kentucky and U. of Missouri 

Oh, and he is a second-year law student at Washington University in 

St. Louis … where he does fill-in work with Cardinals’ pre-game and 

post-game shows.

Breneman, 28, has had quite a career … from being a most-wanted 

tight end recruit at Penn State … to becoming a two-time All-

American at UMass after a knee injury led him to leave Happy Valley 

after three seasons (one as a redshirt) … to twice running successful 

campaigns for Pennsylvania politicians … to joining Herm Edwards’ 

staff at Arizona State as graduate assistant only to be moved up to 

tight ends coach the following year … then resigning after being 

among several ASU coaches put on administrative leave for being 

involved in illegal recruiting.

Get this: They came under investigation by the NCAA for violation of 

a rule that prohibited recruits from visiting campus during the 

pandemic. Seriously.

Breneman became a sportscaster. He also has a podcast that “

Did we mention the native of Spring Hill, Pa., has been involved in raising money to help people with Lou Gehrig’s Disease? 

Know what? They came prepared and, because they didn’t have a 

rooting interest, we didn’t have to put up with the drivel that too often 

clogs local coverage … here, there and everywhere. In other words, 

Gatter and Breneman were very good. Remember the names.

You can check them out next weekend (Noon, Sat., Dec. 2). They will 

be in upstate New York for the second-round matchup between CAA 

rivals unseeded UR and No. 5 seed Albany. The Great Danes got a 

first-round bye.

…. One thing we did miss was Lane Casadonte’s halftime interview 

of Russ Huesman, a staple of Spider home games during the regular 

season. The Richmond coach is from the tell-it-like-it-is school, and 

his comments are unlike any other … especially when his team hasn’t 

played well.

…. You want to talk about a MIA defense ,,, look no farther (further?) 

than NFL Buffalo which absolutely caved Sunday … especially in OT 

after kicking a field goal to take a 34-31 lead. Jaken Hurts covered 

the last 12 yards for the winning TD virtually untouched … when the 

last defender did his best impression of a matador, giving the Eagles 

QB the Ole Treatment. Instead of possibly hurting Hurts with a head-

on tackle, he simply got out of the way, turning to attempt a two-

handed push from behind as No. 9 ran by him into the end zone.

Until next time ...