Today has been slightly more eventful for JMU football than your typical off season Monday in February. After the news broke this morning that Defensive Coordinator Brandon Staley had accepted a job at John Carroll University, head coach Everett Withers announced that Jimmy Moreland, Rhakeen Stallings, and K.J. Ford have been suspended indefinitely.
A statement was released saying that the players violated the football program’s core values. No other details have been made available at this time. All three players were on the defensive side of the ball though. Make of that what you will.
Jimmy Moreland was a fan favorite last season, his first with the Dukes. He was a spark on special teams, blocking five kicks. He also returned two picks for touchdowns and earned the nickname (from us at least) Jimmy Effin’ Moreland. Stallings played lineback and racked up 80 tackles. Ford was highly recruited coming out of high school, but redshirted last season.
Obviously, it’s unfair to speculate on what happened at this point. We have virtually nothing to go off of. With that being said, it’s also a little troubling and a heck of a night cap on a weird day. First the defensive coordinator leaves for a job in D-III, then the head coach announces that three defensive players, two of which who were standouts, have been suspended. Hopefully the two are not connected and this is nothing more than a relatively harmless violation of team rules. We’ve seen how the “talented player who gets tripped up by off the court mistakes” movie plays out in hoops. We’d liked to avoid watching the sequel for football.
Source: JMU defensive coordinator Brandon Staley had accepted the DC job at D-III John Carroll University. Announcement expected soon.
— Matt Jones (@MattJones36) February 16, 2015
I was just enjoying a lazy President’s Day morning about to make some coffee when I glanced at Twitter and saw this. I’m stumped. Last year’s co-offensive coordinators Drew Mehringer and Brad Davis jumping to Houston and East Carolina respectively made sense. This one is a bit more perplexing. While I don’t share the opinion, some folks have speculated that the recent departures were about frustration over the lack of an FBS move. Staley leaving to take a job at the D-III level sort of goes against that theory though. John Carroll is a powerful program, but this still looks like a move down on paper. Maybe Staley has other priorities that are motivating him to move on. Or maybe he’s been nudged out the door. In any case, we wish him well. Now we get to see if Withers can work his magic and replace all three coordinators.
JMU had a prolific offense last season under the direction of Co-Offensive Coordinators Drew Mehringer and Brad Davis. As you’d expect, their success brought a great deal of attention. A few months ago the University of Houston hired Mehringer and now East Carolina University has hired Davis. According to Sports Illustrated’s Thayer Evans, Davis agreed to become ECU’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator. While sharing coordinator duties with Mehringer at JMU, Davis was responsible for coaching the offensive line. Under Davis the Dukes averaged 4.8 yards a carry and averaged over 200 rushing yards a game. It’s easy to understand why ECU wanted him.
There are two ways to look this. The first is to freak out and panic. JMU had a prolific offense last year and now both of the guys who were in charge of it are gone. That’s sort of frightening in some ways and JMU is definitely left with a void to fill.
The second way to look at this is to see it as a sign that Coach Withers has a knack for identifying young, up and coming coaches. There is plenty of turnover in the world of college football coaching. While consistency can be nice, it’s actually better to have other schools coming after your assistants than to have them completely ignored. If nobody every wanted to snag any of JMU’s assistants, that would be a far bigger problem.
However, that doesn’t mean we’re happy to see Davis or Mehringer go. Sure, we’re happy for them and wish them well. This isn’t a Houston or ECU blog though. It’s a JMU blog, so we’re more concerned with who replaces them. Withers replaced Mehringer with Brett Elliot. In much the same way Mehringer earned his stripes as a graduate assistant on a BCS coaching staff, Elliot was a graduate assistant of an SEC staff at Mississippi State. Davis brought more experience to the table having served as the offensive line coach at Portland State prior to joining the JMU program. If the pattern holds, we can probably expect Withers to bring in someone with a few more years under his belt than Elliot. Whoever gets the job will have big shoes to fill. But he’ll also have Vad Lee and some serious talent to work with.
The JMU Dukes picked up their fifth CAA road win of the season last night by defeating the Delaware Blue Hens 67-54. It was a close game throughout much of the first half until the Dukes closed with a 11-0 run to take a 32-27 halftime lead. They came storming out of the gates after the break and broke the game open with a 11-3 run to go up 43-30. They never relinquished the lead from that point on and cruised home for the big road win.
JMU is now 15-11 overall and 8-5 in CAA play. Surprisingly, 5 of those CAA wins have come on the road. After winning the CAA last season, Delaware dropped to 6-18 and 5-8 in the league. Here are three quick thoughts on the win.
Bizarro YoYo and Bizarro Kent
This might be remembered as the game that Yohanny Dalembert hit a three pointer and Jackson Kent threw down a dunk. Those were two things we didn’t think we’d see in the same game, or ever actually. While YoYo shooting long range jumpers and Kent dunking aren’t things we expected, they both were huge plays that helped get the Dukes going. Kent’s dunk came on a breakaway after a loose ball sort of popped into his hands. It was good for 2 of his 9 points in on the night and pulled JMU to back within 2 after Delaware had briefly jumped out to a first half lead. YoYo’s three with the shot clock winding down sparked the 11-0 run that propelled JMU to take a lead it never gave back.
Balanced Effort
The Dukes came together for a solid defensive and rebounding effort. JMU managed to hold UD below 40% from the field and out-rebounded the Blue Hens 36-30. YoYo lead the Dukes with 14 points and secured another double-double by pulling down 10 boards. Joey McLean, coming off being honored as one of the CAA Rookies of the Week, scored 13 points in his second straight start. Five other Dukes scored in the game. Nobody was outstanding, but everyone contributed. Even guys who don’t always do much offensively dropped in some big buckets. Tom Vodonavich took some ill advised jumpers and missed an awkward attempt in the post in the first half. He got back to what he does best after the break and banged away down low for a few crucial garbage type buckets though. He finished with 9 points. Ron Curry saw his double-digit scoring streak come to an end, but it really didn’t matter. The whole team stepped up and got the job done.
CAA Road Warriors
As mentioned above, this was JMU’s fifth CAA road win of the season. With only 2 road games remaining, that means the Dukes have clinched a winning road record in CAA play. That’s pretty impressive and not something many would have predicted heading into the season. This team has definitely been up and down and has been frustratingly bad at its low points. However, it has largely taken care of business against the league’s weaker teams. That’s obviously good. We’re still looking for them to knock off one of the true contenders in W&M, UNCW, or Northeastern. For now though at least they’re beating the teams they should. And the fact that they’re doing it on the road is a nice bonus.
Hi everyone, Happy Post National Signing Day! Hope everyone has enjoyed the last couple of days as much as I have! JMU almost batted a 100% on our verbal commitments, and I am confident that most of us feel a sense of accomplishment and success with what our staff has done over the last year. Although we ended up losing WR James Brunson and OL Austin Cannon at the end, we lost them to, essentially, “bigger schools”. Brunson has been waiting for that “high-profile” FBS offer and ended up at FAU (which I guess is better than JMU?). From what I understand, Cannon’s scholarship was cut in half and VT, supposedly, didn’t sign all the offensive linemen that they wanted to, which opened up a spot for the Richmond native. With 21 signees and a few high-potential walk-ons, the new era now has a true hand in the talent pool on the roster, and the JMU coaches have the players that they can mold properly to play out their scheme. Today, I thought we’d take an in-depth look at exactly how each signee fits into what our coaching staff wants to accomplish at JMU. read more…
JMU is Ron Curry’s team. He left no doubt about that in Saturday’s win over Towson. The junior point guard dropped a career high 27 points, none more important than the 18 foot jumper to secure a 63-61 win as time expired. Curry hit 5 threes and knocked down 7 of 15 overall. He also made 8 of 10 from the stripe. We all knew Curry was talented, but his scoring ability has been a bit of a revelation. Yohanny Dalembert had another effective game, contributing 14 points, 8 boards, 2 blocks, and a steal. The ceiling continues to rise with YoYo. Freshman Joey McLean drew his first collegiate start and made the most of the opportunity. His scored a career high 14 points on a night JMU badly needed someone to step up and help YoYo and Curry carry the load. The win keeps JMU in the thick of things at 14-11 overall and 7-5 in the CAA. Towson fell to 11-14 and 4-8 in league play. Here are a few quick thoughts on the exciting win.
Thumbs Up
Ron Curry – This one is obvious. Curry was just stellar. He took control of the ball, and thus the game, down the stretch when Towson stormed back. His leadership helped the Dukes stay calm and sneak out of Towson with a much needed win.
McLean Stepping Up – The freshman made Head Coach Matt Brady look pretty smart for starting him. McLean’s effort was one of the lone bright spots in JMU’s loss to UNCW. He played with the same energy, but was even more effective against Towson. He knocked down two huge threes and took care of the basketball. Just a solid effort in a game it was needed.
Vodonavich’s Gritty Game – The sophomore might not have the prettiest game or the deepest skill set on the roster. He can be very effective when he bangs around down low and generally makes a nuisance of himself though. That’s exactly what he did yesterday, playing physical defense, grabbing rebounds, and getting under the Tigers’ skin. He also managed to set his teammates up, finishing with 3 assists for good measure.
YoYo’s Passing – Regular readers know we love YoYo. Despite the fact that he’s still learning the game of basketball, he’s developed a decent array of post moves. He’s got the potential to play All CAA caliber basketball before his time at JMU ends. What might be overlooked though is his passing and court vision. He put both on display yesterday with a couple of nifty looks to set up good shots for others.
Thumbs Down
Rebounding, or Lack Thereof – The Dukes won, so we don’t have much to complain about. However, they get beat 43-29 on the boards. The fact that they still managed to win in spite of that is pretty amazing. It’s not sustainable though. JMU simply has to rebound the basketball better down the stretch.
Jackson Kent’s Apparent Lack of Confidence – We don’t know what’s going on in Jackson’s head, but it sure seems like he lost his confidence on the court yesterday. Which is a shame, because he’s a good ballplayer. His game has been up and down all season. Maybe we’re reading too much into things, but it sure looks like on nights when he plays with enthusiasm and stays aggressive, he knocks down buckets. On other nights he seems to play with hesitation, his game suffers. He’s a good player with a ton of potential. We just hope he realizes it.
JMU's Ron Curry sums up this loss quite succinctly: “They just wanted it more, and they played tougher than we did.”
— Nick Sunderland (@NSunderland4) February 5, 2015
The Dukes lost to UNCW 77-65 in the Convo last night. Heading into this home stand, JMU was tied for 3rd place with a chance to really leap into position for the CAA regular title. Instead, the Dukes lost two lopsided ones to CAA contenders UNCW and W&M. The loss against UNCW leaves JMU at 6-5 in league play and 13-11 overall. UNCW moved to 8-3 and 13-9 overall. Ron Curry lead the Dukes with 21 points. Joe McLean and Tom Vodanovich chipped in 11 and 12 respectively. Here are three quick thought on the game.
Yuck
Not sure how else to describe this one. Normally I can laugh things off and not get too upset about poor performances. For some reason last night’s loss was much more upsetting. JMU looked absolutely lifeless. The Dukes came out of the gate slow and let UNCW build up a lead. If not for the fact that the Seahawks weren’t particularly impressive in their own right, the Dukes would have faced an even bigger deficit. JMU was never really in this one. The game was tied for 40 seconds and JMU managed to lead for only 1:04. Translation, this was all UNCW.
The Dangers of Not Protecting the Basketball
It turns out that when you can’t hold onto the basketball you can’t score. And in fact you give the other team more opportunities to score. Crazy concept, right? UNCW jumped out to a first lead and never looked back because JMU couldn’t handle the press. They turned the ball over repeatedly, resulting in 18 UNCW points off turnovers before halftime. That was all it took. Despite a brief rally after the break, it was never really close. UNCW’s first half pressure was the difference.
What Ron Said
Look at Ron Curry’s quote above. There a few things worse than fans and bloggers questioning players’ heart or effort from afar. We’ve never done and we don’t want to start now. But we certainly wouldn’t want to contradict the best player on the team either. He said it. We just happen to believe it.
It’s National Signing Day, the day that high school seniors from the class of 2015 can officially commit themselves to play football for the NCAA institution of their choice. It’s an exciting day and while the hype has escalated beyond reason, we’d by lying if we said we didn’t get a little caught up in it ourselves. Everett Withers and his staff have been working the recruiting trail and appear be on the verge of bringing in some excellent recruits, or “dudes” as they like to say.
Thanks to the wonders social media random alums from all of the world can interact with recruits. Here’s the thing though, don’t do that. Tweeting at 17 or 18 year old recruits prior them signing a letter of intent is both an NCAA violation and sort of creepy. After they sign it might not be an NCAA violation, but it’s still creepy. That’s it. That’s our advice. Now go and enjoy the hype. The Dukes are about to reload.
After 11 years on the ballot, and 6 years as a finalist, former JMU football player Charles Haley was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Haley played 12 years in the NFL with the San Fransisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. He was a Pro Bowler 5 teams and an All Pro selection twice. He is most famous for being the only player in NFL history to have won 5 Super Bowls, two with San Fransisco and three with Dallas.
At JMU, Haley was simply a beast. He earned four varsity letters during his time with the Dukes between 1982 and 1985. He was AP All America twice. He was JMU’s Defensive MVP a ridiculous 3 times and JMU named the award after him in 1989. His 506 career tackles are the most in JMU football history. He’s a member of both the JMU and Virginia Sports Halls of Fame. He is now the first JMU athlete to ever be elected to a professional sports hall of fame.
In addition to being know for his 5 Super Bowl wins, Haley is also famous for some pretty outrageous reported antics. What is less well known is the fact that he faced a serious battle with mental illness, which he spoke about several years ago. Thankfully he appears to be winning the battle and has his life on track. He’s now reportedly doing great and has even gotten more involved with the JMU football program under Coach Withers. His election is an incredible and well deserved honor both for him, and for the entire JMU community.
The Dukes dropped a 84-65 decision to the William & Mary Tribe yesterday. The loss leaves JMU at 13-10 overall and 6-4 in the CAA. William & Mary moved into sole possession of first place with a conference record of 8-2 and 14-7 overall. The Tribe used a 25-0 run to surge to a 37-8 lead, and that pretty much says it all, no? You can see the full game highlights above. If we’re looking for positives, Jackson Kent and Winston Grays shot great from long range. Other than that, we’ve got nothing. Just need to put it behind us and get ready for a huge game against UNCW.
