Well, we’re back with our first Old Guys Leave Roundup of news and notes for the new 2015-2016 year in JMU Athletics. All kinds of good stuff in here today.
First, JMU’s own Charles Haley is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow night in Canton, Ohio. Needless to say, JMU having someone in the HOF is just really ‘effin cool. The ceremony starts at 7 and the speechifying shortly afterwards. Given what appears from the outside to be Haley’s renewed interaction with JMU over the last couple years, we might even get a Dukes shoutout or two, a Buckhantz sighting, and some purple in the crowd. Or at least one of those! The official JMU Sports has been doing a great job with a three-part series on Haley’s career this week and you should check it out here.
Next, it was announced this week that JMU has added a home-and-home (meaning each team plays one game at home) series with Norfolk State in 2017 and 2018. Some people want to bitch about anything, and I’m certainly not immune from this nefarious syndrome, but we’re really pretty pleased with this news. We’d much rather be playing an in-state foe for JMU’s gimme games early in the season than the no-name NEC and OVC teams JMU’s wasting our time on this year. Plus it’s a cheap trip, it’s cool for Tidewater area Dukes, and we need these games regardless. So-called “guarantee games,” whether JMU is the presumed heavy or the designated patsy (cough, 21-16, cough), should exclusively be against local teams anyways unless there’s something cool about the trip (like SMU this year). Not to mention there’s nothing wrong with doing a solid and helping out at the gate for a fellow Virginia public that’s reallllllly struggling lately.
Finally, the news that really matters. New uniforms are back! Though JMU may never be able to replicate the insanity of that first black jersey/purple chrome helmet game last year, remember why it matters even if some of you old farts (oh wait, that’s us) don’t like all this newfangled nonsense. I for one actually really like a few of the elements on what we’ve seen this year and I of course want the purple helmets forever!
Oh, one more thing. 29 days till kickoff.
First, thanks to everyone who chimed in on our “greatest JMU QB ever” poll last week. Not exactly a surprise, but Rodney Landers was the runaway winner. Really we just can’t believe Cory was the only one to mention Maddox in the comments!
Hopefully the Mickster’s last schedule, pictured here, is the last of its kind.
What, you thought I was done? Dadgum it son, we’re gonna whoop up on cupcakes even if our crowd looks more like a high school game by the week!
Moving on, we’re both alternating vacations the next couple of weeks, and while we’ll try to dig deep and find motivation to preview a few CAA heavyweights, there’s no level of “putting on a good face” that allows us to dedicate ourselves to in-depth reporting on RhodeI or the Fighting Christians or the Great Danes. But fear not, it’s only 18 short days till Women’s Soccer welcomes Georgetown to the ‘Burg for the first real game of the 15-16 year in JMU sports! It’s actually only 12 days till that same team visits Mason in an exhibition game on the 15th. And even better, we’re now a scant 33 days – less than five weeks – until the football season kicks off at Bridgeforth Stadium on September 5th (though admittedly we’re still nine weeks away from an opponent anyone gives half a turd about).
[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?
Another CAA Football Media Day has come and gone. Today’s event took place at M&T Bank Stadium in lovely Baltimore, Maryland and it unofficially kicked off the 2015 CAA Football season. Or preseason. In any case, it’s finally time to start talking football.
The highlight of the event is the release of the CAA Preseason Poll and All CAA Teams. As we expected, Villanova, JMU, and New Hampshire took the top three spots. Nova is a deserving pick. The Wildcats return a wealth of talent including the reigning Walter Payton Award winning and 2014 All CAA First Team QB, John Robertson. The team managed to finish second in the league last year, with a record of 11-3 overall and 7-1 in CAA play. UNH won the CAA last season and earned the #1 overall seed in the FCS playoffs before bowing out in the semifinals. New Hampshire hasn’t missed the playoffs since before JMU won its National Championship.
Our beloved Dukes were picked to finish second in the league. After a slow start last year, JMU rallied behind the play of do everything QB Vad Lee. As great a season as John Robertson had, Lee was right there with him. With a full (record setting) season under his belt, Lee could be even better this year. JMU will be replacing several key players on defense however. Realistically, you could make an argument for picking JMU, UNH, or Nova first and no reasonable person would disagree. Any one of those teams could win the league, as could a W&M or UR if they catch a few breaks.
In only its second year in the league, poor Elon was picked to finish dead last behind the eternally struggling Rhode Island Rams. Elon didn’t win a game last year and is probably the only team in the league that actually wishes Georgia State was around. The full predicted order of finish can be found here.
In addition to the Preseason Poll, the Preseason All CAA Teams were also announced. Villanova picked up both the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, which were predicted to go to John Robertson and linebacker Don Cherry respectively. The Dukes were shut out defensively (cough, Taylor Reynolds, cough), but tight end Deane Cheatham and lineman Mitch Kirsch were honored with offensive selections.
Preseason honors are fun, but essentially pointless. JMU will need to earn a spot at the top of the league and a playoff bid that typically goes with it on Saturdays this Fall. Likewise, there are more than a few Dukes who could play their way onto the postseason All CAA teams. John Robertson is a worthy honoree, but he’s by no means a lock for any postseason honors. As we all know, Vad is rad and UNH’s Sean Goldrich have the talent to put up big numbers all year. There is plenty of talent across the board in the CAA this season. And it’s almost time to watch it in action.
And just like that, the worst part of the year (basically everything from KB’s team’s season ending to now) is over. And as much as we’re tempted to make a CAA joke, the truth is we always get excited again when the season arrives and as usual, JMU is no lock to dominate anything in CAA Football. Feels like we’ve barely been paying attention or even finished our beach trips this summer, but the hype season is upon us, and before you know it, summer camp begins back in the ‘Burg!
Remember this guy! Almost time.
Today (Tuesday) is Media Day at CAA HQ in Baltimore (that joke is getting harder to resist), and you can follow along for the JMU portion here. There’s a cool “ask Vad a twitter question” option in which we’ll try our best to avoid asking about conference realignment scuttlebutt. And it’s always exciting to hear Coach Withers – pretty sure he won’t miss the chance to tout the seven former Dukes headed to NFL Training Camp next week which actually will be cool to hear.
In any case, this also means we’ll have some actual meat on the bones to pick at come Wednesday! At least some preseason All-CAA teams, coaches’ picks, and maybe the last word on Jimmy ‘effin Moreland (we will miss you on the field). Plus the early volleys in the Vad Lee/John Robertson battle for all the trophies.
Waddup @OBJ_3 ! pic.twitter.com/9awvCMJqdJ
— Ish Hyman (@HollyWood_Ish13) July 20, 2015
Odell Beckham Jr. turned heads last year as a rookie in the NFL with a rather unusual pre-game warmup routine. Prior to each game ODB Jr. ran routes and caught passes like practically every other receiver ever. But he caught the passes exclusively with one hand. It was pretty neat and helped prepare him to make one of the most spectacular catches of all time. But he never did it on a bicycle. JMU’s Ish Hyman did however.
The redshirt sophomore receiver was having some fun yesterday when he posted this video. Actually he tweeted it at ODB Jr. We now can sit back and see if there’s a response. Beckham has been known to playfully call out stars via social media and might actually respond to one up Ish. I’m hoping that he posts a video of himself catching a football one handed while riding a unicyle on a surfboard and kicking a shark.
Barring further news, this will be our last complainy post of the summer as we get ready to shift into preseason hype mode. But at least we’ll do this in short form and hopefully with a bit of levity. As the undisputed national model for engaged monitoring, we thought we should start the week with the Top Ten things JMU is best at monitoring:
10) Fan reaction to new, creepy versions of Duke Dog
This is Duke Dog, don’t mess with perfection.
9) How many more years they can tell the alums/donors that want to hear it that we’re “well-positioned” with a straight face
8) Whether enough tailgaters complain after the annual opening-game crackdown to allow fun again each year.
7) How quickly schools paying the Full Cost of Attendance stipend gain a massive recruiting advantage or are better positioned for FBS. Seriously, we’re monitoring this. But we have to admit if that choice of words was intentional and Bourne’s just trolling us, that’s some next-level work there.
6) The “down in front” crowd’s wishes on start times (we’re actually kidding on this one as the Gameday Experience survey seems like a good thing and we’re generally pleased with start times this year Nova game notwithstanding, but we do hate the down-in-fronters.
5) Whether Old Dominion generates any excitement from HOSTING NC State this year.
4) Cranky, whining blog-dorks and message board morons, but while JMU will monitor us, it’s probably not a bad thing they don’t make decisions based on us
3) The value that former peer George Mason places on a head’s men’s basketball coach given the A-10’s significantly higher conference profile (if you don’t feel like clicking it’s 5 years/3.5 Million).
2) App. St. and Georgia Southern battling for the Sun Belt crown in their first eligible season and the G5’s automatic ticket to a big bowl. They play the Thursday night ESPN game at ASU October 22nd (always a weak time slot with nobody watching -ha). But don’t worry, moving up was a mistake for them according to some at Just Monitoring University.
1) the status, or lack thereof, of momentum and fan morale
Check out what’s gracing the JMUSB coozie today!
The University of Maryland recently announced they’ll be adding beer and wine to the concessions menu, even for the proletariat, at Byrd Stadium for football game. The Terps are joining a growing nationwide trend at college venues to take a shot at extra revenue even with the obvious moral hazards presented by selling booze to a crowd that is particularly rife with underage ticket-holders. What do you think, should the Dukes get in on that sweet action?
[polldaddy poll=8985094]
As we mentioned last week, JMU’s CAA league mates, College of Charleston and Towson, announced that they’ll begin providing scholarship athletes with cost of attendance (COA) stipends. The DNR’s Matt Jones reached out to JMU Athletic Director Jeff Bourne yesterday to get his thoughts and some insight into how JMU will handle the situation. Bourne said that “at this point we’re better off monitoring and watching what happens at a national level with cost of attendance through this fall.” Yes, he said “monitoring.” I can’t decide if he just talks that way or if he’s openly trolling message board folks now.
COA is a sticky issue. It’s one thing when P5 programs generate multi-million dollar surpluses from athletics and decide to spread the wealth. It’s another thing with schools that have athletic programs not operating in the red and generating the overwhelming majority of their athletic revenues directly from student fees. In that situation, paying COA is essentially like having students write checks to their classmates.
Bourne notes that many conferences haven’t decided what to do about COA and that justifies JMU taking its time. He’s not completely wrong. However, with Towson and CofC biting the bullet, and UNCW seeminly poised to join them, it looks like paying COA is inevitable. JMU can probably only kick the can down the road for so long. Eventually, the price of doing business is just going to go up and they’ll have to get on board. Failing to do so while other CAA teams up the ante, will put JMU at a competitive disadvantage.
JMU estimates that COA stipends will amount to about $4,180 per athlete. That’s a grand total of about $900K/year. That doesn’t seem like too much compared to the millions JMU has spent, and wants to continue to spend, on facilities. The Dukes already spend $37 million a year on athletics, the most of any FCS program. That’s both staggering and sort of depressing.
At a certain point, this spending just becomes unreasonable for an athletic program of JMU’s stature. The school needs to find a way to seriously boost revenue or start being a little more judicious with the spending. Obviously, a lot of fans will immediately pull the “Go FBS” card. That might be a solution. There needs to be a back-up plan though. JMU simply can’t afford (literally) to spend like this while patiently waiting for an FBS opportunity to present itself. Adding more costs to an already swelled budget, without creating new revenue streams is just unwise. JMU is probably going to have pay COA eventually. Ducking the issue in the press with political speak is fine, provided of course, that there is a real plan to fund things being developed in the background. This is one issue the school can’t just monitor.
While the rest of us spend out summers doing whatever it is we do, the members of the JMU football program are putting in work. Practice hasn’t kicked off yet, but strength training and conditioning are in full effect. And as you can see in the above video, it’s not something the players are taking lightly.
True to his word, Coach Withers has the guys competing at everything they do. For some reason someone has chosen to compete in his skivvies and a Superman cape, but that’s a topic for another day. With only a few short months until football season, this is one of those videos that makes me run through a brick wall. Well, that’s not true. But it does have me pumped up enough that I feel like I could run a 6.2 forty or lift 150 pounds.
