Offseason Poll: Who Is the Best QB in JMU Football History?
[polldaddy poll=9005062]The wait isn’t over, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s right, football season is coming. But we’re not quite there yet. So we’ll save the talk about the schedule and playoff prospects for a later day. Instead of looking forward, we’d like to look back today. Specifically, we’d like to discuss who the best QB in JMU history was.
Last night we were going back and forth with a few Twitter friends on this very topic. Of course everyone has an opinion about who the best signal caller in Dukes’ history is. The only consensus we could seem to come up with was “not Justin Thorpe.” Guess that’s the price you pay for being talented and unfairly compared to Rodney Landers before ever taking a snap. In any case, Todd and I actually are in 100% agreement here. For us, the top 3 JMU QBs in order are Rodney Landers (Superman), Justin Rascati (National Champion), and Mike Cawley (JMU Hall of Famer). And because this is our blog, those are going to three players we force you to choose between.
We’re not that hardheaded though, so we’ll throw in a few more. He might have preceded us by more than a few years, but JMU Sports Hall of Famer Eriq Williams is also deserving of consideration. And to add a little extra spice to the mix, we’re going to include Vad Lee as well. Yes, he’s still active and only has one season under his belt. However, it was a heck of a season and if he follows up on last year’s record setting performance, he’s definitely going to be in the JMU G.O.A.T discussion.
Vote in the poll and then share your thoughts in the comments. It’s a Friday in the summertime, what the heck else are you gonna do all day?
This is hard! I voted Rodney because of his dominance in 2008! He lead the Dukes to the first undefeated CAA regular season ever in the conference. We still had UMASS in the conference that year as well, not the three new pancake teams we have today. Anyway, Rascati is a very close second. I feel if we ran a different offense for Rascati, it would be even harder to judge. With that said, the power run game won us a national championship!
For pure excitement, it’s no contest, Rodney takes all the marbles! I just wish he didn’t take so many hits that season because it ultimately ended it early against Montana. What a great competitor, playing through all the pain for most of the season! Shout out to the great offense line that year as well!
Can’t wait to watch some JMU football this season!
I agree with almost everything Nowell 81 said. I voted for Riscatti because he actually won the national championship. That being said, I think Riscatti had more help from his team. I actually love the power running game as opposed to the “same-three-plays” offense we’ve had for the last few years…including last season.
Then again, Mike Cawley actually made an NFL squad and hasn’t gotten a lot of love on this poll (including from me).
CAWLEY!
I voted for the correct choice, Justin Rascati. I can’t deny that Landers was the more exciting player, but Rascati was the better QB. Rascati was the better passer (threw more, was more accurate) and Landers was the better athlete (rushing yards and tds, ran more than he threw). The winning percentage is basically the same and both won the conference, but the conference was much tougher at the top in 2004. Playoff record is the tiebreaker for me. Landers was 2-2 in the playoffs, but was Rascati was 4-1 in the playoffs and won the national championship in 2004 which put JMU football on the map.
It really comes down to what you like more; excitement and flash or winning in the clutch/playoffs (go watch that GW TD drive against Furman in the playoffs).
I will take a different approach. Best running qb = Rodney Landers. Best passing qb = Greg Maddox. Best all around QB = Mike Cawley. Best QB to win a national championship (with a great power running game) = Justin Rascati.
Cory – I’m just happy you threw Maddox in there! Really a travesty we didn’t have him in the poll, or maybe it’s just that you and I love the kid.
I may be a little jaded because I snapped the ball to the man but he really was a great QB that played for possibly the worst OL coach (Prince) and head coach (Woods) in JMU history.
I voted for other: Greg Lancaster, not because he was a good quarterback, but because he was my roommate and could drink beer.
Greg Lancaster was very talented. I was disappointed when he didn’t come back as a fifth year senior I think if you would have he would’ve set all kinds of records because the coach back then was pretty serious about winning the national championship.