{"id":298,"date":"2010-02-05T06:32:35","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T11:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=298"},"modified":"2010-02-05T06:32:35","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T11:32:35","slug":"matthews-signs-another-stellar-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=298","title":{"rendered":"Matthews Signs Another Stellar Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Coach Matthews brings another strong class to campus.<\/p><\/div>\n

Alright Dukes fans. As you know, Wednesday was National Signing Day (yes, even for\u00a01-AA)\u00a0and 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. It has\u00a0a 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? \u00a0Yeah, that might help attract recruits.<\/p>\n

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 \u00a0and fourteen 2-star recruits. For those of you that don’t follow FCS recruiting, just trust us, that’s a big deal.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> and Jace Edwards from Midland Lee High School. Yes, the same Midland Lee from Friday Night Light<\/a>s 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<\/a> and some impressive highlights.<\/a> The class’s other 3-star, Anthony Rose<\/a>, turned down an offer from Maryland to join his two brothers, Jon and Peter on the Dukes.<\/p>\n

As tough as it is to tell relative strength with recruiting classes in FBS, it’s even harder in FCS, so who knows.\u00a0 Word is the ODU pipeline is cranking and the Ticks (UR) & Hicks (ASU)\u00a0had 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).”\u00a0 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!\u00a0 Looking forward to Morehead St.!<\/p>\n

Here’s the official story from JMU Sport<\/a>s on the entire class.<\/p>\n