Feb 5 / Rob

Matthews Signs Another Stellar Class

Coach Matthews brings another strong class to campus.

Alright Dukes fans. As you know, Wednesday was National Signing Day (yes, even for 1-AA) and the Coach Matthews officially inked 19 recruits. Todd and I made the strategic decision to hold off on posting our JMU football recruiting wrap until this morning, so that our Mid-Atlantic readers could really dig in and enjoy it on a snowday. I swear that’s the reason. It’s not because we didn’t get around to it yesterday. Not at all.

I wasn’t really what anyone would call a “star athlete” in high school, so I’m not really to hip to the world or recruiting. It doesn’t take a genius to imagine the pitch Matthews and the staff sell to recruits though. JMU is a winning program in hands down the best FCS conferences. The facilities are top notch and the new stadium is gonna be ridiculous. It has a terrific gameday atmosphere and is situated in the heart of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Oh, and did we mention that the student body is 60% female?  Yeah, that might help attract recruits.

Regardless of how they do it, Matthews and the boys have an outstanding class coming to the ‘Burg. According to Rivals the Dukes signed two 3-star recruits  and fourteen 2-star recruits. For those of you that don’t follow FCS recruiting, just trust us, that’s a big deal.

There is a lot to love on paper about these recruits. The Dukes went all the way to Texas to snag two quarterbacks, including Henry Hunter and Jace Edwards from Midland Lee High School. Yes, the same Midland Lee from Friday Night Lights fame. The guy I’m most excited to see suit up for the Dukes is 3-star recruit, Dejor Simmons, a RB out of Virginia Beach with 4.39 speed and some impressive highlights. The class’s other 3-star, Anthony Rose, turned down an offer from Maryland to join his two brothers, Jon and Peter on the Dukes.

As tough as it is to tell relative strength with recruiting classes in FBS, it’s even harder in FCS, so who knows.  Word is the ODU pipeline is cranking and the Ticks (UR) & Hicks (ASU) had strong days too, but we here at JMUSB are confident that MM and co. have probably done good work with a class that knows it will spend it’s best years in the new “best FCS stadium in the nation (or at least east of Missoula).”  Also, and not sure this can be overstated, it’s great to see the Dukes go 19 for 19 with no decommits from the kids they’d already lined up!  Looking forward to Morehead St.!

Here’s the official story from JMU Sports on the entire class.

7 Comments

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  1. Priz / Feb 5 2010

    I think we need more acronyms. I see: FCS, JMU, JMUSB, UR, ASU, ODU, 1-AA, MM and FBS. It’s almost like working for the goverment.

    I like the idea of 3 brothers on the team. Speaks well for JMU and MM that a family is that tied to the school and program.

  2. DM / Feb 5 2010

    Any thoughts as to whether the stud RBs will be redshirted?

  3. Uncle Ron / Feb 5 2010

    They nabbed at least one 3-star rated recruit last year as well (LB Adrian Cavanaugh). Although I’m still biased and in the tank for 2009 recruit Jordan Stanton (DE from my beloved Robinson HS).

    MM has the program rolling….I love it. And I’ve contributed 3 acronyms in my comment.

  4. million / Feb 5 2010

    Was last year’s class only 2 3-stars and 3 2-stars?

    Rivals.com rated me a gas giant as a TE/DE out of local vo-tech powerhouse Edison.

  5. Rob / Feb 5 2010

    Million, I think you’re right. I read somewhere that last year’s recruiting class had a total of around 14 stars from Rivals, but I’m not sure what the breakdown was. This year’s class had a total of 34 stars. Not sure what it means, but from now on we’ll refer to this measure w/the acronym TNRS (total number of rivals stars).

  6. Rob / Feb 5 2010

    Oh, as far as the redshirt situation goes, I really have no idea. Typically, Matthews redshirts pretty much everyone. I was really disappointed with the rushing game last year and would like to see if one of these stud RBs is good enough to start, or at least play a lot. Simmons is small, but I don’t know if JMU has ever had a kid as fast as him.

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