2013 outlook xx
Heading into the 2013 season, the James Madison football team has set its sights on returning to the postseason and making a run in the playoffs. The Dukes had their challenges in the spring, as they dealt with a mix of new coaches, new systems and a rash of injuries at a key slot which hampered some of their preparation for the fall. “Spring training was a challenge because of all the injuries at the running back position,” Head Coach Mickey Matthews said. “We were supposed to have six kids at the position and we went through the entire spring with four of them hurt. It was difficult to practice at times as it was really a struggle with all of our injuries. I’ve never had that happen before, and it really was the overriding theme of spring training. “We put in new terminology, but there are a lot of the same plays that we ran this past year,” Matthews continued. “With a new terminology, there’s a learning curve with all the players as they adjust to hearing new formations and how they are called. I thought we handled it well, and Coach (Mike) O’Cain put in a lot because he wanted to overdo it. Coaches are notorious for putting in the entire package and then going back to work on certain things. Spring practice is not as long as it used to be, so you do not have the luxury of being as good at executing certain things before you move on as when you had longer spring training.” How the team adjusts to those new packages on the offensive side of the ball will have a serious impact on the success of this season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the 2013 Dukes, position-by-position.
QUARTERBACKS
Heading into spring practice, sophomore Michael Birdsong had already been declared as the starting quarterback this fall. Birdsong has shown his ability to lead the team, as he came in late at Richmond and nearly led the Dukes back from a late deficit, paced the team to victories over Georgia State and Maine before an injury cut his season short. This spring, Matthews saw growth and development in the youngster that has him excited about how well he could perform this season. “The most improved player in the spring, from the first day to the last day, was Michael Birdsong,” Matthews continued. “We needed to work on his touch, and he really grew in that this spring. He has a great arm, but he’s certainly like all those guys that have the great arm, as they need to work on their touch passes. He did a nice job with that, and I think he will grow even more during fall camp heading into the season. “One thing we like about Michael is that football is very important to him,” Matthews continued. “It’s very important that he be the best quarterback in the nation, and he wants to be that guy. He’s a guy that wants us to win the national championship. He wants to play in the NFL. He has a strong desire to play football. Football is very high on his priority list. But he has so much ability to play the position. He’s 6-5 and 240, has a great arm, and to be so big, he’s deceivingly athletic. When he’s running with the ball, he’s a lot faster than you think he is. He’s a physically tough guy and very competitive. He doesn’t like to lose at anything. He’s gonna make some young mistakes from time to time, but we have high hopes for him.” The backup slot is the question mark for Madison entering the fall drills. Redshirt sophomore Lafonte Thourogood has been bothered by injuries since his arrival in Harrisonburg, including one that kept him out for most of the spring. Senior Quintin Hunter, who has seen a variety of positions in his college career, shifted back to his high school slot of quarterback for the spring drills to give JMU a second leader on the offense. Matthews saw his growth through workouts and believes he will be in the mix if Thourogood isn’t healthy, freshman Luke O’Connor doesn’t grasp the offense quickly in August , or another experienced signal caller isn’t brought to campus. “We felt like we needed to work Quintin at quarterback because there are no guarantees we can get another guy,” Matthews said. “He still may Dae’Quan Scott
be the backup QB going into fall camp. We don’t really know where that is. He had a lot of turns. We move the ball with Quintin because he is so competitive. It’s not fair to him because he’s probably in the top two or three of our receivers. We may move him back, but we’ll have to see who we have in August.”
RUNNING BACKS
The running game has always been a key part of the Madison offense and again, the Dukes start the season with one of the top backs in the Colonial Athletic Association. Redshirt-senior Dae’Quan Scott is back and enters his senior year in the Stephon Robertson top 10 at JMU in career rushing. Over the last two years, injuries have impacted his numbers and contributions, but Matthews hopes this is the year he can put it all together. “Dae’Quan’s a very competitive youngster and there is no question we’re going to move him around this year to get him the ball,” Matthews said. “He’s a good ‘satellite’ player -- he’s good out in space as the more times you get him the ball out in space he makes a lot of guys miss. The only thing that keeps Dae’Quan from being a candidate for the Walter Payton Award is health. Last year, he was injured in the first game and was not healthy the whole year. The year before it was his shoulder. If he stays healthy, I think he will be a strong candidate for the Walter Peyton Award and can be the player we want him to be. “Dae’Quan also is arguably the best receiver on the team, so it’s no secret we’re going to get him the ball,” Matthews continued. “He can take a swing pass and take it the distance because he’s so explosive. He is quicker than he is fast, he’s going full speed the first two steps and beats many that way.” Who will be behind Scott in the rotation is a big question to be answered in the fall. Matthews was honest in saying that part of the team is one of the big questions the coaching staff needs to answer before the season opens. “After Dae’Quan, it’s a mystery,” Matthews said. “Right now, Dean Cheatham is the second-best back we have. Jordan Crawley-Lambert came on and did some good things, but has had some issues so we’ll see where he is. He really played well in the spring game and everyone was very excited about how he played in the spring game. Otherwise, Dejor Simmons, Jauan Latney and Eric Magruder have all been hurt through the spring so we won’t know what kind of depth we have until the fall. We’ll see how the fall goes as there are a lot of mysteries.”
OFFENSIVE LINE
The offensive line is a veteran group, with the majority having played together last year. This year, the group is led by Assistant Coach Curt Newsome, a member of the 2004 national championship staff. Part of the spring was spent with the group getting to know and working with their new leader. “They’ve adjusted to Curt and are working well with him,” Matthews said. “It’s a very veteran bunch, as those guys have all played a lot and will do nothing but get better. When Curt came, he felt if they could all gain 15 pounds, they would be more effective. We had some target weights for them to get bigger, and they have gotten bigger. I feel good about that, as I thought these guys played really well this spring.” However, the Dukes did suffer a significant loss in spring practice when Austin Lane was hurt in the first outing. While he should get the year of eligibility back and he will be missed, the front line still has the ability to make things happen. There are still five starters returning, including Josh Wells, Matt Williams, Scott Jones, Matt Cunningham and Eric Buchholz. There are several others that will be in the rotation, but this group, led by Wells will have a major impact on how the offense is able to move the ball on the ground and through the air. “Those guys have all played a lot, but Josh Wells is the leader of the group,” Matthews stated. “Josh is the top prospect on our team, and I was really stunned
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