Corp's season over;Quarterback suffered leg injury in defeat at New Hampshire

Published Oct. 20, 2010 10:04 a.m. ET

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College football: Spiders QB Corp lost for the season

Bad got worse yesterday for the injury-riddled University of Richmond football team.

First-year Spiders coach Latrell Scott announced that quarterback Aaron Corp, a junior whose January transfer from the University of Southern California inflated expectations in this rebuilding year, would miss the rest of the season as a result of a knee injury he suffered Saturday at New Hampshire.

Corp will undergo surgery Thursday. According to Scott, the resident of Villa Park, Calif., plans to return to UR for his senior season.

"There's no question that he'll be back. He's upbeat. He's full of energy," Scott said. "He's just going to get his knee fixed, and rehab and get himself squared away."

Corp, a Parade All-American coming out of Orange Lutheran High, was slated to be USC's starter heading into the 2009 season, then broke a bone in his leg during August practice. Matt Barkley became the Trojans' starter, and Corp transferred to an FCS program, where he could gain immediate eligibility.

The 6-3, 200-pounder had modest stats in five games at UR, in part because of injuries that affected his receivers, and also because he worked behind an offensive line that replaced four starters from last season's 11-2 team. In all, 15 fifth-year seniors started last season

Richmond has six games left this season. Four are against teams ranked among the top eight in the FCS poll: No. 8 Massachusetts, No. 6 Villanova, No. 7 James Madison, and No. 4 William and Mary. Of those games, the Spiders

play all but JMU on the road.

"It's unfortunate for him. It's unfortunate for our team," Scott said of Corp's injury. "He's a great kid that brought a lot of energy and excitement to our football team. But we'll move on. That's the reason we have other guys."

UR (0-2 CAA, 2-3) has experienced difficulty regenerating momentum from a string of three seasons in the FCS playoffs because of numerous injuries. Corp was hurt early in the 17-0 loss at UNH, and his absence meant eight Spiders were out with physical issues, including backup QB John Laub.

"We've been asked every question from 'Is it our strength-and-conditioning program?' to 'Is it our turf field?" Scott said. "But we've got the same strength coach that we've had, and we've practiced [on the same field] for about the last six years."

The Spiders hired Chris Stewart, their strength-and-conditioning coach, in February 2009. The FieldTurf on which Richmond practices was installed in 2004, at a cost of about $750,000.

"If you look at all of our guys who are injured, they've all been game injuries," Scott said. "So these are just situations that arise during a football season. It's nothing you can point a finger at. It's just us being unfortunate.

"But we have to find a way to continue to move on."

Scott said yesterday that UR has not determined who will start at quarterback Saturday on homecoming at Massachusetts (2-0, 4-1). Third-string quarterback Will Hicks, a sophomore who threw five interceptions at UNH, and true freshman Montel White are the only healthy QBs on the roster. Scott mentioned cornerback Justin Rogers and tailback Garrett Wilkins as potential options at quarterback.

"We're not going to come out and junk it up and just go away from exactly what we do," Scott said. " . . . Obviously we may tweak a few things. But we're not going to come out running the wishbone or anything this week."

Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or joconnor@timesdispatch.com

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