Your JMU Football Offseason Catch-up

Coach Withers and the Dukes are back at practicing getting ready for the season. While the players pretty much work year round, it was definitely a long offseason for fans. And as much as some of us love JMU football, it’s not like we’re there’s top notch, round the clock coverage. In fact, Dukes’ coverage is so lacking that you unfortunate souls have decided its actually worth your time to read this blog. So let’s quickly recap the major stories of the offseason before jumping into the real preseason discussion.

Where We Left You

The first year of the Everett Withers Era ended with a bitter home loss to Liberty in round 1 of the playoffs, but it was still a pretty great debut. The Dukes started off slow, but once Vad Lee and the offense got rolling the wins started piling up. The defense took most of the season to adjust to a 3-4, and still was far from lights out. The offense, behind a couple of hot shot co-offensive coordinators, was a bit of a juggernaut though.

About Those Hot-Shot Co-Offensive Coordinators

Gone and gone. The success Brad Davis and Drew Mehringer had coordinating the Dukes offense did not go unnoticed. As a result, both young coaches were snatched up by other programs. Davis left for East Carolina, where he’ll coach the offensive line. Mehringer returned to him home state of Texas to join the Houston Cougar coaching staff.

And That Defense With Growing Pains

The coordinator on that side of the ball, Brandon Staley, is gone too. He returned to John Carroll University in Ohio, where he coached prior to joining the JMU program.

Tell Me the Defense At Least Features Some More Experienced Players

Actually three players, including two very talented defensive starters, got kicked off the team.

This Isn’t Fun to Read

You ever heard the saying, “We don’t make the news, we just report it.”? Yeah. Well we don’t even report the news. We wait for others to report it and then we just aggregate it. Then maybe we’ll add some snarky joke. Anyway, don’t blame us.

Tell Us Something Good

Vad is back. And Vad is Rad.

More Good Stuff Please

While it sucks to lose coordinators on both sides of the ball, it’s also a sign that Withers has a good eye for talent. Seeing Davis and Mehringer go is particularly rough, but there’s no reason to believe that either are irreplaceable. In fact, there’s reason to be optimistic that the guys Withers’ hired or promoted to serve as coordinators. Steve Sisa will take control of the defense after coaching the safeties last season. Last year’s defense was slow to adjust to the new scheme. Maintaining some consistency by allowing Sisa to continue working with the same system, is better than starting all over again.

On the offensive side of the ball, Withers has tapped Brett Elliot and Zak Kuhr to serve as co-coordinators. Like Mehringer, Elliott comes to JMU young and hungry after a low level position at a P5 school (Mississippi State). Kuhr was in charge of JMU’s running backs last year. Under his leadership, the Dukes rushed for over 200 yards a game. With a more mature and comfortable Lee, the offense could be even better under Elliott and Kuhr than it was under Mehringer and Davis.

That’s the glass half-full version of the coaching situation. It might take a bit more spin to see the positive in 3 players getting kicked off the team, but it’s still possible. Jimmy Moreland and Raheem Stallings were impact players for the D. Withers talked a big game about accountability and players living up to his high standards. Not bending the rules for even the most talented players, shows how serious is and sets a good tone for the program. As we’ve seen with the basketball team, sometimes it’s better to just cut the cord and set a tone, than make exceptions for talent.

So Things Are Gonna Be Alright

We think so. The players seem to buy into what Withers is selling. And he and the coaches convinced some pretty damn good players to join the squad.

That’s Good. What Else?

We weren’t kidding about Vad being Rad.

Now We’re Talking

Plus, there’s Gage Steele, Taylor Reynolds, Ish Hyman, Brandon Ravenel, Khalid Abdullah, Deane Cheatham, Ascene Jacques, Austin Lane, and a whole bunch of big uglies. There is talent on this roster. After some less than thrilling offense in the final years of the previous regime, the Dukes are now playing a fun and exciting football. And the defense made strides last year and should be much more comfortable in the 3-4. There aren’t many easy outs in CAA Football (there are a few though…looking at you URI and Elon), but the Dukes definitely have the talent to win it.