UR notes

South routs North on CAA draft front

Next time you get in a discussion with a Colonial Athletic Association football fan about the quality of the North Division vs. that of the South Division, whip out this stat: In the past 10 NFL drafts, 29 CAA players have been selected, and all but eight of them played for South Division schools (Richmond, William and Mary, James Madison, Delaware, Villanova, Towson).

In last weekend's draft, two CAA players were chosen, William and Mary cornerback Derek Cox (third round, Jacksonville) and Richmond defensive end Lawrence Sidbury (fourth round, Atlanta). That means the past six CAA players who were drafted came from South Division schools. Of those 21 players selected from South schools in the past 10 drafts, seven are from UR. No other school has more than five.

Spiders likely headed to Wake in hoops

Even though Wake Forest was supposed to make appearances at the Robins Center in two consecutive years, UR will be playing at Wake Forest next season. The big boys make the rules in these relationships, or remake them in this case.

UR lost 86-79 to Wake Forest at the Robins Center last season. Originally, Wake was scheduled to return to UR for a second consecutive year as part of an arrangement that came about when the Deacons requested to skip a year in the annual series. The Spiders and Deacons did not meet in 2007-08.

Wainwright assistants are gone at DePaul

DePaul basketball coach Jerry Wainwright, a former Richmond coach, announced this week that associate head coach Gary DeCesare and assistant coach Ramon Williams resigned. DeCesare and Williams, a former VMI star, went with Wainwright from UR to DePaul in 2005. DePaul was 0-18 in the Big East last season, 9-24 overall. In four seasons with Wainwright as coach, the Blue Demons are 32-58.

Ex-Spiders coach meets ex-Spiders QB

Who says the schedule-maker doesn't have a sense of humor? Bowling Green opens the Dave Clawson Era on Thursday, Sept. 3 vs. Troy and its star quarterback, Levi Brown.

For those who don't recall, Brown was UR's starting QB as a true freshman in 2005, Clawson's second season as Spiders' coach. That didn't go well. Brown was out of the lineup by Richmond's third game.

Senior Stacy Tutt moved to QB from wide receiver. The next spring and August, Brown and Eric Ward competed for the starting job. Ward won. The 6-4 Brown, who is from Mount Juliet, Tenn., transferred from UR to Division I-A Troy. He started the last half of the 2008 season at Troy as a junior and led the Trojans to the Sun Belt Conference championship.

Clawson went from UR to Tennessee as offensive coordinator last season, and then became Bowling Green's coach over the winter.

CAA television slate coming any day

The CAA TV package for the 2009 football season will be revealed soon. If you liked last year's setup -- one game at noon and another at 3:30 on Comcast -- you'll like this year's. You may like this year's more because there probably will be some night games involved. -- John O'Connor