Corp named starter for the season-opener at UVa.

Aaron Corp, a junior transfer from the University of Southern California, was named the starting quarterback on Tuesday for Richmond's opener at the University of Virginia on Sept. 4.

Corp beat out sophomore John Laub for the right to replace Eric Ward, who graduated last year after being the starter for the Spiders for four years. Corp transferred to Richmond in January after being the backup on the Trojans for two years.

This will be Corp's second career start. He was supposed to be the starting quarterback at USC last year before a knee injury prevented him from playing in the preseason. Then-freshman Matt Barkley took over the job and started 12 of the Trojans' 13 games. Corp started USC's Sept. 19 game at the University of Washington and went 13-22 for 110 yards and an interception.

For Corp's career, he has gone 19-30 for 169 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

"We have decided that Aaron Corp will be our starting quarterback for the Virginia game," Richmond coach Latrell Scott said in a statement. "It was a tremendous competition, with both Aaron and John Laub playing extremely well in preseason camp. But we have made the decision that Aaron will start the season-opener."

Richmond was ranked sixth in the Sports Network 2010 preseason poll despite only seven starters returning from last year's team.

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu