Stroll the students' parking areas at the University of Richmond and check out the license plates: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut.

The private school draws heavily from the Northeast and has for decades. The Spiders' football program, however, intensified its recruiting in the other direction during recent years. Signing players from southern states and California, areas in which high school football talent is generally regarded as the finest and fastest in the country, appears to have helped UR elevate in the Football Championship Subdivision.

"I've seen a change in the players that are here," said senior defensive end Lawrence Sidbury, a team captain who spoke of his five years at Richmond. "I can say we're a lot more athletic than we used to be."

In 2003, Jim Reid's final season as UR's coach, the Spiders totaled six players from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and California. Historically, that was typical. This year, UR has 22 players from those states.

Richmond in 2007 won a school-record 11 games, shared the Colonial Athletic Association championship and advanced to the FCS semifinals. The Spiders begin this season ranked No. 4 in the FCS and are the favorites in the CAA South.

Part of the reason: obvious increases in speed and athleticism, compared to past UR teams. The Spiders this season may have the quickest defense in school history and also feature big-play threats on offense and special teams.

"I'm a little biased because I'm from the South, so naturally, I would say the best prospects come from the South," said junior quarterback Eric Ward, who's from Atlanta. "I didn't know they didn't have [high school] spring football up here until I got here."

The geographic modification in recruiting arrived with Dave Clawson, hired as UR's coach in 2004. He came from Fordham, where he turned around the Rams in part by mining Florida talent. Of the 91 players on his final Fordham team, 25 were Floridians.

First-year coach Mike London said in recruiting he intends first to target the Richmond area and Virginia, particularly Hampton Roads. But he added, "The message the University of Richmond has is one that a lot of people from all over the country are very interested in."
Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or joconnor@timesdispatch.com.