Terande Spencer: The Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week

ROCKINGHAM — A performance on the football field that nearly set a new program record highlights this edition of The Richmond Observer’s weekly feature series.

Junior linebacker Terande Spencer has been named the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.

Although the Richmond Raiders didn’t come away with a win against a top-five team in the state during Friday’s opener, Spencer and the team gave Richmond County fans something to cheer about.

Now in his second full season as a varsity starter at outside linebacker, Spencer earned his second career recognition.

Athletic Profile: Terande Spencer

Year: Junior

Fall sport: Football

Position: Outside Linebacker

Varsity experience: 2 Seasons

“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH TERANDE SPENCER

A hard worker on the football field, Spencer is also a dedicated student-athlete in the classroom who puts a lot of value on his school work.

This school year, Spencer will continue to put in work in the weight room with the Raiders with a section of Weight Training Honors each semester.

His other courses for his junior year include Business Management I, Civic Literacy, English III, Math 3, Physical Science and Spanish II.

Maintaining As and Bs for the majority of his classes during his sophomore school year, Spencer has a 3.06 weighted grade point average heading into this semester.

“TALKING RECORDS” WITH TERANDE SPENCER

Facing a top-five ranked opponent in their season opener Friday, Spencer and the Raiders almost pulled off the early upset. Erasing a 14-point deficit in the second half, Richmond ultimately fell 35-28.

Richmond’s defense showed strength at times at stopping a downhill running game by the Falcons. Leading the defense was Spencer, who recorded 20 total tackles (12 solo, 8 assists).

His 20 total drag downs puts him third all-time for a Richmond player for the most total tackles in a game by a single player.

Most recently, former player and current Campbell University linebacker CJ Tillman had 18 total tackles in a 36-0 win over Pinecrest in 2019. That mark still tops the Richmond record book for the most solo tackles in a game.

Ray Ellerbe (24 total tackles) and Dannell Ellerbe (21 total tackles) are the only two Raiders ahead of Spencer.

Spencer also recorded one quarterback sack against DeAndre Nance and defended one pass. The knockdown came at the line on third down during the Falcons’ first offensive series.

A presence in the backfield all game from the edge, Spencer managed to cause a fumble by Seventy-First in the first half, but the ball was recovered by the Falcons.

Richmond (0-1) will host Butler High School (0-1) Friday in the Raiders’ home opener. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

“RAPID RESPONSE” VIDEO WITH TERANDE SPENCER

The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week.