Game Preview: Richmond vs. Elon

Although the University of Richmond lost its season opener on Sept. 4 at the University of Virginia, a piece of a potent air attack emerged.

With wide receivers Kevin Grayson being limited by a knee injury and Donte Boston suspended for one game, junior Tre Gray became junior Aaron Corp's favorite target. Gray finished with 91 receiving yards on eight catches. Out of Corp's 32 pass attempts, 14 went Gray's way.

Despite that performance, Richmond coach Latrell Scott would not call Gray the team's main receiver.

"I think we have the ability with all three of those guys to have playmakers," Scott said. "I think Tre was the healthiest and he was the guy that practiced the most so he was the guy [Corp] felt he could depend on during that game.

"I think when we have all three of those guys healthy, we have a great situation. So I wouldn't say we have a go-to guy. I would say we have three guys on the perimeter that have the ability to make plays."

All three will be playing this week, meaning that Richmond's running and passing game should be better than it was at Virginia, Gray said.

"With Donte returning as well as Kevin, that's going to spread the field out even more," Gray said. "More defenses can't double-coverage one receiver because they have to cover two more.

"On the flip side, when all three of us are out there, they have to respect our run game as well. It's just going to open up everything and we can do more with our offense with them two on the field."

The Phoenix defense will try to stop the dynamic receiving corp by shifting their defense before the snap to try and confuse the offense, Gray said. As long as Gray, Grayson and Boston are able to read the defense, they should be able to solve a long-standing debate on Saturday afternoon.

"The talk of who's going to score first has been going on since the spring," Gray said.

Game notes:

• The Spiders' final home victory at UR Stadium came against Elon last year in first round of the playoffs.

• This is the third year in a row that Richmond faces Elon. The Spiders won on the road on Aug. 31, 2008 28-10, to win then-coach Mike London's first game.

• Senior Martin Parker will be back after missing most of the second half of the game against Virginia.

• Gray said that he hasn't thought of what he will do if he scores the first touchdown at Robins Stadium, but he predicted the Boston would have the biggest celebration.

• Elon comes into the meeting ranked No. 7 and Richmond is No. 9 in the nation.

• Elon is 1-1 on the year, having lost at Duke before beating Shaw last Saturday.

• Elon boasts a high-powered offense, having scored 10 touchdowns in its two games. Senior Scott Riddle averages 304 yards passing while the team averages 162 yards rushing per game this year.