{"id":3960,"date":"2012-05-29T19:26:19","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T23:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2012-05-29T19:27:01","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T23:27:01","slug":"jace-edwards-is-going-going-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3960","title":{"rendered":"Jace Edwards is Going, Going, Gone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>Earlier today, The Daily News Record’s Matt Stoss broke the story that Jace Edwards has been given his release and will transfer<\/a> from JMU. We wish Jace well wherever he ends up, but this isn’t really a surprise. Mickey Matthews was somewhat dismissive when answering questions at the NOVA Coaches Caravan about Jace’s role going forward. He quickly mentioned that Jace had played hurt and then seemed to shift focus to speculating on the chances of Justin Thorpe being granted a 6th year of eligibility. While nothing specific was said about Jace’s future, Todd and I both came away with the impression that his spot as the heir apparent to Thorpe was anything but secure.<\/p>\n

As a redshirt freshman Jace Edwards was forced into the starting role during Justin Thorpe’s suspension (or “sabbatical” as Mickey refers to it). He lead the Dukes to a homecoming victory over Richmond in his first start, and JMU went 2-3 overall with him under center. He showed flashes of maturity and deserves credit for doing enough to keep the Dukes’ playoff hopes alive while Thorpe was out. Due to his involvement in an off-campus altercation, he was due to serve a one game suspension to open the 2012 season. Whether or not that has anything to do with his decision to transfer is pure speculation at this point however.<\/p>\n

Edwards missed all of spring practice recovering from shoulder surgery. As a result, Andre Coble practiced as the de facto back-up QB. Presumably, Coble will enter the season as Thorpe’s primary back-up. There is potentially some good depth developing behind Coble however, with a trio of well regarded QB recruits in Michael Birdsong, Ian Fisher, and Taylor Reynolds set to join the team this year. Maybe that had something to do with Thorpes’ decision or maybe he just wanted to go back to Texas. The point is, JMU has some talent in the pipeline at QB. Given Thorpe’s history of injuries, there is a decent chance JMU is going to need Coble or one of the freshmen to step in at some point this season.<\/p>\n