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Best class? Put up your Dukes

By Craig Haley, FCS Executive Director

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The axiom for college recruiting is for a particular university to keep the top high school players from its state at home for its signing class.

The Virginia-laden roster of James Madison University football speaks a lot toward veteran head coach Mickey Matthews and his assistants annually delivering on this notion.

But when the Dukes reach outside the state, they reach with big intentions.

This year's recruiting success both in and out of Virginia has given JMU arguably the best class in the Football Championship Subdivision. The CAA Football program has secured the most two- and three-star recruits according to the nation's three main recruiting web sites, ESPN, Rivals and Scout.

"We're really doing a nice job," Matthews said in announcing the recruiting class Wednesday.

"We have a great group of salesmen in our assistant football coaches. These guys have been with me for a while, they know what I'm looking for, they know what our schemes are offensively and defensively. So we feel very good about this year's group."

Evaluating recruiting classes is an inexact science because it's all on paper. It could be four, five years before we will get the true answer of who has come up biggest this year.

Still, there's no disputing JMU has enjoyed recruiting success not just against the old CAA guard, but Old Dominion's rising program, which also is having a banner recruiting year.

The Dukes' 14-member class includes Virginia recruits Dylan Stallings, a 6- foot-4, 210-pound defensive end out of Yorktown and Grafton High; Justin Baker, a 6-foot, 255-pound defensive end out of Ashburn and Briar Woods High; and Rhakeem Stallings, a 6-foot, 210-pound outside linebacker out of Chesapeake and Oscar Smith High.

Matthews and his staff, whose team went 8-5 and reached the second round of the FCS playoffs this past season, rolled into Maryland to get 6-6, 245-pound quarterback Ian Fisher from Brunswick High and yet another defensive end, 6-4, 240-pound Silas Ademola from Bladensburg High.

The Dukes even went into CAA rival Delaware's hometown and grabbed 6-1, 185- pound quarterback Taylor Reynolds from Newark High.

In addition, Maryland transfers Titus Till, a 6-2, 200-pound safety, and Jeremiah Wilson, a 5-10, 185-pound cornerback - both redshirt sophomores - are enrolled already and will be a part of spring practices.

Oh, yes, they're celebrating in Harrisonburg.

James Madison 2012 Recruiting Class

Player (Pos) HT WT Hometown (High School)

Silas Ademola DL 6-4 240 Bladensburg, MD (Bladensburg)

Justin Baker DL 6-0 255 Ashburn, VA (Briar Woods)

John Barillo LB 6-1 215 Ventnor, NJ (St. Augustine Prep)

Michael Birdsong QB 6-4 220 Matoaca, VA (Matoaca)

Xavier Crocker CB 5-10 175 Mechanicsville, VA (Hanover)

Ian Fisher QB 6-6 245 Brunswick, MD (Brunswick)

Mitchell Kirsch OL 6-5 265 Kensington, MD (St. John's College)

Taylor Reynolds QB 6-1 185 Newark, DE (Newark)

Dylan Stallings TE/DL 6-4 210 Yorktown, VA (Grafton)

Rhakeem Stallings LB 6-0 210 Chesapeake, VA (Oscar Smith)

Gage Steele LB 6-0 210 Front Royal, VA (Warren)

*Titus Till S 6-2 200 Upper Marlboro, MD (Wise/Maryland)

Kwe'shon Williams ATH 5-10 160 Norfolk, VA (Norview)

Jeremiah Wilson* DB 5-10 185 Winchester, VA (Handley/Maryland)

* - denotes transfer
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... id=4471033" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Article rated the next 3 top classes as Portland State, App State, and Villanova & talked about them.

JMU did lose 3 commits in the past week or so to UMass, so do have some schollies open. Might take another transfer or 2 this Spring/Summer. That would be in addition to the 2 Maryland DB transfers JMU already got (one of whom was a 4 star & started for Maryland).

3 recruits from 757. I think that is the most in 5 years.

SportsNetwork would naturally give the crown to an east coast team... I'd argue NDSU's is one of the very best.

CAA Flagship wrote:3 recruits from 757. I think that is the most in 5 years.

Also got 2 from the 804. And 2 from the 540. And one from the 703/571. And 4 from the 201/340....

CAA Flagship wrote:3 recruits from 757. I think that is the most in 5 years.

Wrong

guinzone wrote:SportsNetwork would naturally give the crown to an east coast team... I'd argue NDSU's is one of the very best.

Sports Network only has Rivals and Scout to use as a guide. Players mostly get rated by either group if a kid goes to a camp with the scouts there, or if the school is someway affiliated with either.

It's why you see kids with no stars from rural areas sometimes become all stars.

I would bet NDSU has a great class, just not many of their recruits were seen by the staff of Rival or Scout.

BDKJMU wrote:Article rated the next 3 top classes as Portland State, App State, and Villanova & talked about them.

Burton did a fantastic job of hitting the Portland metro area. The article talks about the 5 from Portland itself, but we picked up 12 from the metro area. Lost only 2 from all the verbal recruits (one to Montana that hurts, the other went to Wyoming), but the running back (Adams) from Maryland did sign. Looks like we will keep our motto of "Our Town, Your Team", at least for the next few years.

Here's the article from the Oregonian newspaper

http://www.oregonlive.com/vikings/index ... tland.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BDKJMU wrote:

CAA Flagship wrote:3 recruits from 757. I think that is the most in 5 years.

Wrong

4?

JALMOND wrote:

BDKJMU wrote:Article rated the next 3 top classes as Portland State, App State, and Villanova & talked about them.

Burton did a fantastic job of hitting the Portland metro area. The article talks about the 5 from Portland itself, but we picked up 12 from the metro area. Lost only 2 from all the verbal recruits (one to Montana that hurts, the other went to Wyoming), but the running back (Adams) from Maryland did sign. Looks like we will keep our motto of "Our Town, Your Team", at least for the next few years.

Here's the article from the Oregonian newspaper

http://www.oregonlive.com/vikings/index ... tland.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope the Griz get will turn into another great DE. We haven't had a dominant DE since Kroy Biermann.

SeattleGriz wrote:

guinzone wrote:SportsNetwork would naturally give the crown to an east coast team... I'd argue NDSU's is one of the very best.

Sports Network only has Rivals and Scout to use as a guide. Players mostly get rated by either group if a kid goes to a camp with the scouts there, or if the school is someway affiliated with either.

It's why you see kids with no stars from rural areas sometimes become all stars.

Like Taylor "No Rating from Rivals or Scout" Heinicke?

Look, I know it's a business, but if you can't see all the players, what good are the ratings?

DJnVa wrote:

SeattleGriz wrote:
Sports Network only has Rivals and Scout to use as a guide. Players mostly get rated by either group if a kid goes to a camp with the scouts there, or if the school is someway affiliated with either.

It's why you see kids with no stars from rural areas sometimes become all stars.

Like Taylor "No Rating from Rivals or Scout" Heinicke?

Look, I know it's a business, but if you can't see all the players, what good are the ratings?

I think it would be more up to the players to be seen. Attend a camp in a big city perhaps. Montana sees it every year - very poor Scout and Rivals ratings, only to have the no stars step up and do a great job.

Isn't BDK the one that always bitches about how worthless polls are until deep into the season?

But, FCS recruiting rankings are worth something?

LOL at anyone trying to "rank" FCS recruiting classes. Completely worthless.

I love Apps recruiting class and the way it addresses immediate needs but GaSo and even Little Sammy have really strong classes on paper in the SoCon. GaSo would have to be ranked somewhere near the top (if recruiting classes in FCS can really be ranked).

DJH wrote:LOL at anyone trying to "rank" FCS recruiting classes. Completely worthless.

No more worthless than a pre season poll.

Yes. Definitely more worthless than a preseason poll.

NDSU, UNI, YSU all did great this year

Skjellyfetti wrote:Yes. Definitely more worthless than a preseason poll.

Oh BS. Mid season Top 25 polls you have 5-6 games to go off of. Pre season Top 25 polls you have zero games to go off off. Worthless as tits on a bull.

BDKJMU wrote: Oh BS. Mid season Top 25 polls you have 5-6 games to go off of. Pre season Top 25 polls you have zero games to go off off. Worthless as tits on a bull.

And Craig Haley skimming some blurbs on recruiting classes and spitting out a ranking?

Skjellyfetti wrote:

BDKJMU wrote: Oh BS. Mid season Top 25 polls you have 5-6 games to go off of. Pre season Top 25 polls you have zero games to go off off. Worthless as tits on a bull.

And Craig Haley skimming some blurbs on recruiting classes and spitting out a ranking?

And if they had ASU as the top class like you or another ASU fan on here wouldn't have started a thread on it.

Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA)

February 2, 2012

UMass Raid Hurts
MIKE BARBER

HARRISONBURG - James Madison's on-field competition with Massachusetts in football likely came to an end when the Minutemen left the Colonial Athletic Association to move up to the Division I-A Mid-American Conference. But the school's recruiting rivalry is apparently just getting started.

UMass signed three players Wednesday who had previously given verbal commitments to the I-AA Dukes, a turn of events in the past week that clearly irked JMU coach Mickey Matthews.

"It was totally stunning to us," Matthews said. "UMass took three guys away from us at the end. We couldn't do much about it."

Matthews said the late defections were part of a steady tide of increasingly negative recruiting and more courting of athletes who have already committed to other schools.

"All's fair in love, war and football recruiting," Matthews said. "But I think right now it's probably worse than it's ever been. ... There's a lot of negative stuff going on."

JMU accomplished its main goals of recruiting quarterbacks and linebackers in this year's 12-man class, but that didn't take the sting away from losing the three recruits, including a prized three-star prospect: William Floyd High School (Mastic Beach, N.Y.) running back Stacey Bedell. The other two were Paramus (N.J.) Catholic linebacker Leo Krizanovic and Lacey Township (N.J.) lineman Tyrell Smith.

"It was surprising. I don't know if we've ever lost a guy to UMass the whole time I've been coaching James Madison. It's the Division I thing: They're going to have 50,000 people at Schaefer Stadium and they're going to beat Michigan next year," Matthews said sarcastically. "You really have to take your hat off to their staff that they convinced those kids of that. And we've moved on."

Matthews said JMU's primary focus in this year's class was to add quarterbacks. The Dukes signed Newark (Del.) High's Taylor Reynolds, rated a two-star recruit by Rivals.com, Matoaco High's Michael Birdsong and Brunswick (Md.) High's Ian Fisher.

"The three quarterbacks, I really couldn't tell you who's the best prospect," Matthews said. "I like all three of them or we wouldn't have taken them."

How can three quarterbacks in the same class all play at the same school? Matthews said that's something that will work itself out as the players progress.

"All three of those kids want to compete for the job," Matthews said. "We had them visit the same weekend. We didn't try to hide anything. We always tell them, `If you're afraid of competition, don't come, because we have good players here.'"

All three will almost definitely redshirt this season. JMU - which went 8-5 and reached the second round of the Division I-AA playoffs in 2011 - returns both starting quarterback Justin Thorpe and backup Jace Edwards.

Third-string quarterback Billy Cosh - who had transferred to Madison from Kansas State - transferred out after one semester and is now at Butler Community College in Kansas.

All three appear suited to JMU's run-oriented spread offense. They are dual-threat options who are able to run and pass, Matthews said.

Matthews said he considered the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Birdsong the top quarterback prospect in the state.

Fisher is the biggest of the group, listed at 6-6, 245.

"I've heard people ask him, `Do you play offensive guard or tackle?' because he's so big," Matthews said. "Has a great arm. He's certainly going to have to watch how big he gets if he wants to remain at quarterback. But the guy can throw the ball and run with it, very athletic."

But it was the 6-1, 185-pound Reynolds who drew the comparison that is most likely to open JMU's fans eyes.

"Reminded us a lot of Rodney Landers," Matthews said. "I think the sky's the limit with the guy. He can run with it, threw for a lot of yards."

Delaware, Old Dominion and William & Mary were among the other schools that offered a scholarship to Reynolds, according to Rivals.com.

JMU also signed a fourth high school quarterback, Norview's Kwe'Shon Williams, but it is listing him as an "athlete," which means he could end up a variety of positions.

The rest of the Dukes' 2012 class: Bladensburg (Md.) defensive lineman Silas Ademola, Briar Woods defensive lineman Justin Baker, St. Augustine Prep (N.J.) linebacker John Barillo, Hanover defensive back Xavier Crocker, St. John's (Md.) offensive lineman Mitchell Kirsch, Grafton tight end Dylan Stallings, Oscar Smith linebacker Rhakeem Stallings and Warren County linebacker Gage Steele.

JMU also added two transfers, both defensive backs from the University of Maryland and both already enrolled: safety Titus Till and cornerback Jeremiah Wilson.

Matthews said he considered signing more high school seniors to replace the three late defections, but instead will wait to see what players are left unsigned. He'll also consider adding more transfers.
http://www.dnronline.com/article/umass_raid_hurts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats good news for JMU. They will certainly need a better team next time they come to Fargo to play The BISON.

JBB wrote:Thats good news for JMU. They will certainly need a better team next time they come to Fargo to play The BISON.

Or the next time they host Montana in the semifinals.