2026 Sun Belt Football Previews: James Madison Dukes

Transcript

Speaker: All right. Welcome, everybody, back to Warm Weather Fans, the Sun Belt podcast. It is Brian Stone and Zeke Palermo, your two hosts of this here show. And we are joined today by Bennett Conlon of JMU Sports News. We are here to talk about the 2026 James Madison Dukes.

Speaker: Bennett, how's it going? And give give sort of like a little background about yourself, about what you do with JMU Sports News, and then we'll kind of get into the actual football of it all.

Speaker: Sure. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I've been learning a lot more about the Sunbelt this week. i've been grinding your your videos, the other teams. I think I'm more bullish on Marshall than you guys, which has me skeptical now kind of what Marshall is. oh So I'm excited to to actually see what happens with them this year. But yeah, excited to be on.

Speaker: Jamie's Sports new weve News, we've had for about eight years now, I think, maybe going into year nine. And we cover the Dukes. It's me and Jack Fitzpatrick, who I know has been on here before. ah You got the B team tonight, but hopefully I can provide some knowledge.

Speaker: No, we appreciate you being here because without without it you know guys who are really close to the program, these previews are just, well, I didn't see enough tape of him last year, so I guess he'll be good. He'll have to be all right.

Speaker: each He's an offensive lineman that transferred from big-name U, so surely he's good. um Yeah, so I would say, ah so obviously we're familiar with a lot of teams in the Sunbelt because we watched them last year.

Speaker: We are going to have a guest on for Louisiana Tech because frankly we know nothing about them. We did not watch Kusa Ball last year, ah if I could physically help it. So hopefully they can come on and kind of inform us. That's going to be much more of like a fact-finding episode and less of like us giving our opinions on things. Yeah.

Speaker: The Marshall thing is interesting. I actually like the way that everything is set up for them. We can talk about them just for two seconds, but yeah I think the way everything's set up, like with their schedule and everything is very interesting.

Speaker: um and And they can take advantage of it. I think the only thing for me is I'm just not as high on Del Rio Wilson as everybody else seems to be. um I watched him toward the end of last year. he He wasn't good at the end of the season. He really like faded late. So I'm just a little skeptical because it's like he gave you half of a good season.

Speaker: and Yeah, I think that's with that that's what's so interesting on my end because I watched him play so – he had a gritty game against JMU, and then I did not watch him the rest of the year. So so I kind of tuned out and was like, wow, is still a real Wilson guy. And then, of course, they like tank down the end of the season and lose all these games. and I'm like, surely it's not Carlos playing a role in that.

Speaker: and Yeah. And I mean, the, the big part for me was kind of what I said on that episode, which is just like, he got benched at the end of the season. Like people forget that that ever happened. It wasn't like, Oh man, he just finished super strong. And like, there's, there's reason to just anoint him the best offensive player in the Sunbelt this coming year. It's like he, he wasn't even starting like as the season ended for them. I mean, it was, it was the backup who's still there. It's, ended the season for them when they lost to Southern in the final game. So that's why I'm just like, I'll believe it when I see it. If he's making these giant strides and they're changing the offense to let him be more aggressive, that's great. I need to see it first before I can just go ahead and be like, yeah, crown him. So that's sort of where I'm at. But we are here to talk about JMU. So let's jump into a little bit of that.

Speaker: ah Fantastic season last year. ah You know, ah Only only losses were to Louisville by 14 in week two. And then it obviously Oregon in the the college football football playoff. But I mean, 12 wins, Sunbelt title game win ah over Troy, ah you know,

Speaker: CFP appearance, like you you you name it, they they basically accomplished it. So going into this season, you hire Billy Napier to take over for a departing Bob Chesney. We've seen Napier in the Sun Belt before coaching Louisiana, obviously. He comes over from recently being let go at Florida.

Speaker: what are What was kind of the feeling when he got hired And what is sort of the feeling, i guess, around the fan base or around the team, you know, whichever perspective you have as to what Billy Napier kind of has to offer this year's team?

Speaker: Yeah, I think it was mixed at first from the fans because, Jamie, you had that track record of kind of getting an up and coming, you know, Division Two or Three or FCS coach and kind going that route where they hired Mike Houston from – the Citadel at the FCS level he came in and and did a great job with them they won an FCS national championship they got Kurt Signetti from Elon obviously seeing that he's had quite the rise the last few years that was a good hire for them certainly oh yeah and and then they they bring in Chesney from Holy Cross and he was kind of a home run too so I think Jamie fans myself included you kind of see the writing on the wall that Chesney's going to leave and you start like scouring the FCS ranks you're like all right who are we poach

Speaker: And then they get Billy Napier. It's like, oh, well, that's not not the same month. Perfectly a few years is a little different. And then I think you sell yourself pretty quickly on like, hey, maybe the Florida stuff was Florida's fault or at least partially Florida's fault.

Speaker: And I think Napier has tried to say this in some some news conferences too. Florida fans might disagree with that, certainly. But you bring him in. His Louisiana success was obviously tremendous. He's he's been good in the Sun Belt before.

Speaker: So i think you're if you're a Jamie fan, you kind of convince yourself pretty quickly that like, hey, he's Sunbelt Billy. Well, we play in the Sunbelt, right? We don't play Texas and Georgia every week. So we don't need to have a team that can can win a national championship. You just need to like, you know, beat Troy at home on a Thursday night.

Speaker: And I think Billy Napier can probably do that. I think that's sort of the the logic of Jamie fans. So you've sold yourself on it. And again, it's pretty easy to sell yourself on a lot when you're coming off a playoff appearance and he hasn't coached a game for you yet. It's the vibes are good in Harrisonburg. So I think fans, they could have hired, you know, pretty much anybody.

Speaker: And I think fans would have been like, yeah, I could see it. Sure. Yeah. A perspective on the roster from like a very high level because I mean, just like when Cignetti left for Indiana, a lot of this roster is completely rebuilt, completely fresh to the program at the very least. Is there a general consensus around the fan base of hot or cold on the guys that were brought in?

Speaker: They're excited. And we were kind of joking about this, I guess, before we started recording of like, when you try to look at a team's portal and you're like, i don't know who this guy is. There's a little bit of that where it's like, Hey, we got this safety from Finley.

Speaker: it's easy to be like, all right, cool. I'm sure he's good. If they, if they think he's good enough to play here, but you're like, he obviously hadn't watched any Finley football. So you have no idea. i don't know if you can watch Finley football unless you're at the games. So it's, it's hard to know if he's any good or exactly what he'll be. So there's definitely that, um,

Speaker: concerned but they didn't go the fcs route with the coach they did go with like the fcs d2 d3 studs route in the portal which has worked a lot for them before so i do think there's a it seemed like napier kind of took that from chesney where chesney's like hey we had a lot of success with small school guys and he were like heard and just did a lot of that so i think there's a lot of encouraging guys on the roster players that should be pretty good. Some of them had offers from power for schools in the portal and they ended up getting them. So those guys are maybe a little more encouraged by, but I think overall fans are intrigued by the roster, but also probably like going to spend, you know, the first half of September 5th against Liberty trying to figure out like, Oh, what a catch.

Speaker: Who is that guy though? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that that that's the way it always goes. It's like once once you, we've seen it with like the John Summerall Troy teams. I mean, we've seen it numerous times where it's like at all the app teams, like when they had Satterfield and Drinkwits and like the the roster gets like cut in half almost. And then it's like,

Speaker: who Who are any of these people that we've brought in? And ah Zeke, I know you were getting ready to say something. I just had one last thing. With respect to to Napier, when you said you know whether it was his fault or Florida's fault, I think there's a reason that Florida has not been a good football program since like Urban Meyer was the coach. like that's That's going on, what, 15 years now? It's like...

Speaker: They had a couple of years where they were pretty good when they had like Kyle Pitts and stuff. But outside of that, it's just been not great there. And i I attribute that, I think, more to their athletic director and like the way that they handle things. Like they are not a very stable program as a whole. So like it's kind of hard. And and i I do think this is funny, too. I hope Florida fans are listening. It is very funny to call.

Speaker: napier sunbelt billy and then be like but we did not check where john summerall was three years ago that is important that we we do the you know hands over the ears like la la la la la we don't we don't hear that he was at troy three years ago when in you know when in the sunbelt so i just think that's always very funny it's like oh he's sunbelt billy he's but john summerall is the shiny new toy now so we we talk about him like he only came from tulane which i find very funny Summerall's going interesting there too, right? I mean, has today where he like has the fake freak out over the the phone going off. He's a little bit of a cornball himself. So sure um I think Florida fans will embrace that. But the other thing for JMU fans is like Dan Mullen obviously didn't work out at the end of his time at Florida.

Speaker: Pretty good first year at UNLV, all things considered. So I think there is a lot of thought, at least if you're a JMU fan, that like, hey, you can go to Florida and bounce back pretty quickly to G6. Sure. I wanted to, again, just like broad temperature check this, you know, going into 2026 and then compare that maybe if you could dial back to off season going into 24, where again, like very similar, at least in terms of like program position yeah dominant in the conference, but lost so much of it, you know, from leadership down to, to players is, you know, does that instill confidence or is this a completely different ball game? What, how do those play together? I guess.

Speaker: Yeah, i think it I think it instills a decent amount of confidence. Jamie fans were kind of annoyed at the way Kurt Signetti left um because he's yeah he's a he's a good quote and he knows it. So he was putting out some Some quotes early that angered JMU fans.

Speaker: Chesney was was not doing that. He kind of just leapt in a way that I think was maybe a little more professional. So fans like that. But the fact that they've gone through that roster turnover at the FBS level and they went eight and four the next year or 9-4 the bull win, I think that has a lot of fans confident that like, hey, we should win eight or more games. like Chesney did it. They had a lot of roster turnover with guys who went on to win a national championship in Indiana. I think there's probably – I thought that last year's team was pretty good, but i think Jamie fans love that 2023 team too. That's some really talented dudes. So it's like, Hey, we lost some good guys reloaded in the portal.

Speaker: the The thought is that, Hey, let's bounce back. Let's win eight or more again. Sort of the, we don't rebuild, we reload thing. There's definitely a lot of that in the fan base. This is anecdotal as well, but I so I live from last season's schedule. I live in Louisville, so I was at the Louisville JMU game. you game Funny enough, I have a friend who has Louisville season tickets and is a JMU alum. And I was like, are you going to do the Donna Kelsey house divided jersey where you like hand stitch it together? And he was like, no, I'm just going to wear purple socks and a red jersey. was like, fair enough. But ah yeah, I mean, JMU was right in that game until I felt like when they started doing the Sluka. The two quarterback stuff. I was like, all right, were we're getting way too, we're playing with our food here. And then by that point, it was like Louisville busted off that long run kind of at the end yeah that iced it. But they were well in that game through three and a half quarters until, like I said, they got a they got a little too cute. And you saw when they phased out the Sluka packages later in the season, it was like, Oh, this is a more streamlined offense that seems to run a lot smoother than when we're like throwing double reverses to from Barnett to Sluka back to Barnett and he's trying to run 15 yards. It's like that's that's way too cute. um

Speaker: On the on the subject of the quarterbacks. yeah Currently, you guys are in what like a triple threat match to see who's going to ah so it's From what I remember, it's J.C. Evans, it's Camden Coleman, and Arrington Maiden are currently in this battle.

Speaker: ah You've had the Belfour guy ah who was in the battle ah willingly converted to receiver, so that kind of took one of the... the things off the table uh so has there been any indications about who may be in the lead for that i mean by the time this drops they might have already named right week one starter is going to be but has there been any indications on who it might be it's been kind of a weird battle so phil steel came out and that he's been spot on with the quarterback battle the last few years because obviously you know he talks to the coach for like an hour in the spring so that helps sure um So he has JC Evans at quarterback one, who was the first quarterback out in the spring game. The spring game was kind of a waste of everyone's time. Everyone's really excited to see these quarterbacks. They ran like three plays and then it started pouring rain. They canceled it because they didn't want guys like warm up again and get hurt. So that i was, you know, he completed a 51 yard pass in that game.

Speaker: So people are like, whoa, JC Evans, 51-year pass. Corey Scott cooked his corner on this pass, was like seven yards wide open, and then ended up making a contested catch because the ball was under thrown. So it wasn't really a JC Evans play. It was kind of a receiver play. But he's like 6'5", 230. He can run. he's super athletic.

Speaker: But he has three career college passes, which is a little concerning. Camden Coleman is 13 and one is the starter from his time at Richmond. He was with the JMU team last year, but red shirted. So he's played a lot and has experience, maybe less dynamic as a runner, but still a decent dual threat, good player. And then Maiden came in from Memphis, kind the least buzz of the three, I would say.

Speaker: So I might be surprised if he ended up getting the job, just kind of based on what we've heard. But Evans seems like, you know, Phil Steele's got him. he was the first quarterback out in the spring game, but also a weird wrinkle there. Camden Coleman was a captain for the spring game.

Speaker: I don't know how many like backup quarterbacks or captains, probably not the most common thing. So like that is also weird. So it's probably between those two and it's really hard to get a read on like what they're going to do. Evans, I think is like a really high ceiling, but we have never seen him throw meaningful passes. His first pass in college was a one yard touchdown pass.

Speaker: in the bowl game against Western Kentucky, he threw like there was supposed to be like a quarterback power and he just threw like a little thing over the top, like a Tim Tebow jump pass kind of thing. It turns out after the fact it was revealed that he checked into the pass.

Speaker: So the coaches didn't even want him throwing the pass. So until last season when he had two pass attempts, both like kind of ducks that were incomplete. He had never actually had a called pass for him.

Speaker: So if he is your guy coming off a playoff appearance, there's a lot of like unknowns and questions there with him as a passer, which of course is very important as a quarterback to throw the ball. So it's gonna be ah a little weird if he's the guy, but also it seems like he's made A lot of strides as a passer behind the scenes. But again, as a fan, it's concerning because like, you know, I'm not with that guy in Florida when he's working out, getting better at passing. I've only seen his three college passes, which have been a little bit underwhelming.

Speaker: yeah um that that That is interesting. I do remember J.C. Evans from a couple years ago, like you mentioned in that that bowl game, and I was like, well, this is interesting. like And I think that Phil Steele's job has been a little easy in predicting who the the starting quarterback was going to be for JMU because it was was Barnett, yeah and then he gets hurt, and then it's McLeod, and then McLeod moves to Texas State, and it's Barnett again, and it's like, okay, well,

Speaker: He was going to be the starter going into what, 23? He hurts himself. 24, it's his job. 25, it's his job. So it's like, you know, your work's pretty much done for you at that point. This is going to be interesting, though. just Does Coleman project as as someone who is mobile as well? Or is he more of like a stereotypical um pocket passer, a drawback guy?

Speaker: He can definitely move. I think he had like 370 rushing yards his last year at Richmond and like six rushing touchdowns. So he can run. he's just not ass like, I don't know. Billy Napier does love like tall, big, strong people. So there is like, I could definitely see him being like 6'5", 230 and can run like a four five Whoa.

Speaker: That's my guy. So I do, I could see him falling in love with that just based on like how they attack the portal where they're bringing in linemen who are like six, eight, three 30. And it's like, okay. Billy might be a little obsessed with, with traits.

Speaker: Yeah. sure Well, you got to scout something, I guess. so um Okay, so at least from what I remember about Billy, it was at the running back spot specifically, it was always a rotation. He always had two or three guys he felt really good about.

Speaker: You guys return George Petaway as your big you know returning running back. And then ah from there, it's it's some transfers. It's you know Seth Cromwell, it's Nick Herman, it's it's guys like that. So do you anticipate Petaway to be kind of the lead guy and then everybody else just kind of picks up some work behind him? Or do you think that they're going to continue to rotate the way that he did it at move or up but louisville louisiana where it was like a true three-headed monster where it was like one guy would come in for a play and then rotate out and then another guy would come in and then the first guy would come back in and it was just a constant like carousel of running backs

Speaker: I imagine it would be some sort of rotation. And part of that is because Petaway, they listed him to like 5'10", 200, but he's kind of on the the slender side. He's never had 20 rushes in a game his entire career. So he almost ran for 1,000 yards in 2024. And he was banged up a lot of last year.

Speaker: But I think his highest carries were like 19. He's also, I think Jamie fans are like, all right, we got Petaway back. We're good to go. Wayne Knight was like tied for first in the country last year with Ahmad Hardy of runs of 40 or more yards with eight.

Speaker: Paddleway's never had a run of 40 yards in his career. He's had a bunch of like 15 and 20. There was kind of the joke in 2024 that like he needed to like, you know, tie his laces tighter or something. Cause he was always seemed like he was tripping. He was like one player away from, from getting it to be a 50 yard touchdown. Instead was a 12 yard run. Cause he stumbled over his feet or something.

Speaker: Yeah. Highly productive, really good receiver. He's a very good player. Like Wayne Knight was, was taking a lot of things to the house last year and masking a little bit of some issues for Jamie where it's like,

Speaker: They would run it up the middle in a tight game against Washington State. He breaks three tackles the end zone and scores. Hattaway's never really done that. So I do think it'll be a rotation. nick Herman apparently has breakaway speed from Drake.

Speaker: So an interesting player there. Cromwell is more of like a big-bodied short yardage back. They have Treshawn Dye, who was at linebacker, who's a really good athlete that they moved to be a short yardage running back now. So they have some guys in there that I think they – they think can contribute and and be solid alongside Petaway. So my guess is rotation partially because Petaway has never actually shown the ability to get like, you know, 20 touches a game.

Speaker: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. what What do you know about ah offensive coordinator? Is it Aiken who came over from like East Tennessee, formerly Ole Miss, if I'm correct? yeah um like how How does he split this offense? Is it very 50-50? Do we go one way the other? It's kind of hard to tell from from what he did at ETSU. They had decent balance last year, but he also had like – His receivers were nice, and they brought in one of those receivers, Jeremiah Harrison. They brought in a tight end, Cole Keller.

Speaker: His quarterback style was like Cade McNamara, who was like at Michigan and Iowa, ended up there. And then some other team. Yeah, and they like rotated. But I remember looking, i was like, let's see their quarterback stats. And i was like, wait, what in the world? So I think it was Cade McNamara and some other guy like rotated and had like wildly underwhelming stats. but They still put up like 32 points a game.

Speaker: So it might depend a little bit on like who he's got at quarterback, but the idea is they want to run some tempo. I think they want to have decent balance. Napier seems to like when they can have a dominant run game, at least based on what they did at Louisiana. So I think they're going to try to find balance, although I kind of think this reminds me a little bit of the 2023 JMU team that was like, all right, we're going find some balance. We're gonna run the ball.

Speaker: Then they played like three weeks and they're like, all right, the running game doesn't work. And they just throw it and they had two guys go over a thousand receiving yards. It kind of gives me those vibes. Cause like head away, i don't think is Wayne night. I don't know if they have the same level of talent there, but they somehow landed like two really good portal receivers that probably aren't going to be here in a year's time. So my guess would be that after like a week or two, they're like, wait, we got to sling this thing more than we thought. Sure. Sure.

Speaker: You talked about going high volume with the receivers. I mean, last year it was kind of the opposite, right? We're spreading the love, a bunch of 30 receiving guys. Wayne Knight ended up leading the team in receptions at 40. So it's like, is there going to be that true X that we see sometimes across this conference where like we've we've had some really high volume guys. I mean, Bo Sparks last year at Texas State caught like literally a million passes. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, he was he was nuts. they I mean, I don't know if they're going have Sparks territory, but they they do have some really good players. And Corey Scott from West Florida, he's the one who had the 51-yard catch in the spring game. He was between like Virginia Tech, Michigan State, and JMU.

Speaker: And I think JMU was like, hey, like you're going to play a lot here if you come here. So I would expect him to get a lot. Jeremiah Harrison was at ETSU as a freshman. Ole Miss recruited him in the portal. Some others, he follows his offensive coordinator, which I think probably comes again with the promise of like, you're going to get a lot of catches and then you can go get your bag in a year. So I think that would be the logic there. They bring Wislowski back in the slot who had a nice year last year.

Speaker: and they've got some backups that they feel pretty good about too. But like Scott and Harrison, probably don't belong in the Sun Belt. They seem like they're high-level guys. And um Napier's been pretty high on them. I know they weren't like named you know preseason all-conference because they're not a returning player, essentially. And Napier is like, I think there's a lot of weapons we have that the media doesn't know about. And it's I think he's essentially referring to those two.

Speaker: I mean, respect with respect to Scott's kind of choice of football school, I would rather take part in JMU than the rebuilding projects at at Michigan State and Virginia Tech as well. I mean, you want to be a part of James Franklin's first year? You want to be a part of whatever Michigan State has been trying to do for the last like decade? um No thanks. So, yeah, I'd rather go somewhere where I catch a million passes and then, like you said, maybe a Florida State or somebody like that comes calling next year and goes, okay, we'll we we got the reps for you, but we got a huge bag to throw you as well. then we can, we can divvy it up. ah You talked a little bit about Cole Keller.

Speaker: um One thing that I think Zeke and I have noticed going through this conference, like, you know, Toby Payne last year was a, from Marshall was a first team, all Sunbelt tight end. He had like 300 yards receiving last year. So, I mean, it to be the best tight end in the conference, it's not like a high bar to clear because, know,

Speaker: It just feels like offenses in this conference do not – they either don't view it as a talent ah a talent level that they feel comfortable peppering these guys with targets, or they just feel like the tight end position not like a premium position for them. What do you kind of foresee out of of Keller out of the tight end spot this year?

Speaker: I think they like Keller, but yeah, I think with the receivers, like, I don't know if he's putting up, you know, more than four or 500 yards, but I think they, they like him. They think he's probably the best of the group. They brought in, I think Thatcher Miller from like Westchester, who they have up at like 260 or so. So they pretty much made him like a blocking tight end already. And I think that's kind of what he's done before. So they have some tight ends that they just want to block. I think.

Speaker: They think Keller can probably do a little bit of both and should be a solid player. He's obviously from ETSU too, so he knows the offensive coordinator well, and knows the scheme, which will be helpful, I think. And then they've got Katie Mosley from Howard, another tight end I think they feel pretty good about. He got arrested in February, but his charges have been dropped since then, and they've confirmed that he is still on the team and has internal discipline. So like maybe he doesn't play against Liberty, but it seems like for the most part he'll be good to go. So I think they feel pretty good about like those top two tight ends, and and they seem to like Keller. But yeah, like you're saying, I think there's a little bit of the feeling there that it's like, eh, that's a tight end.

Speaker: Mm-hmm. Yeah. ah offensive line. Talk about that. Zach Greenberg is the Duke's only preseason offensive preseason first teamer.

Speaker: um How much you want to put on that? Who's to really say? ah i mean, but like you know, what is that? Because the offensive line has been pretty good to my eye.

Speaker: you You alluded that maybe Wayne Knight was hiding some of that last year, but through their Sunbelt tenure, the the Dukes have had like a pretty good offensive line. Yeah, it was like a great pairing last year. The offensive line was pretty solid. And then on plays where they were like average Wayne Knight would break three tackles and make them look even better. So it was like a perfect, perfect setup. They've had years where they've been better at pass blocking. Greenberg coming back will be good.

Speaker: he's He's very old. He's one of those guys like the NCAA is trying to have not play football anymore, essentially with with some of the rule changes. So he was at Muhlenberg for like an entire career, spent a year at North Carolina,

Speaker: Red shirted there spent last year at JMU. Everybody thought he was done. And then like during the playoff media lead up, they're like, Zach, you're coming back. And he's like, yep. Excited for year seven. Everyone's like, I didn't know he could do that, but cool. So he's, he's back for another year, which is kind of wild.

Speaker: They've got Tyler Brown who comes in another guy who like, you know, I think the NCAA would like to get a job or have them go pro or something, but like did a job he played, he played for Billy Napier at Louisiana.

Speaker: and then he went to And then he went to Jackson State with Deion Sanders. And then he went to Colorado with Deion Sanders. And now he's at JMU. The guy's lived like four college football lives. But yes he's old and experienced, and they expect him to start at guard. Billy Napier says he thinks he can be an NFL player.

Speaker: um So, sure, why not? They've got, i think, Evan Bushong is kind of their projected starter at the other guard spot, returning redshirt sophomore. So he's won NCAA is okay with still being in college. He hasn't played a lot, but they seem to like him for the most part. And then the tackle positions are are maybe a little more interesting. DJ Fox is like 6'8 and or something. He comes in. I think he played like Division III at like Wisconsin. He played some Wisconsin. I can't remember the school. Wisconsin River Falls thank you yeah it wasn't even like Wisconsin Whitewaters Wisconsin River right so he comes in it's supposed to be good he was like a d3 all-american I think they think he'll have a chance to to play there Napier was joking in spring ball he was calling it the great wall of Shenandoah for their offensive line because we're all like gigantic people so they they feel good about you know that and then I think the other tackle spot they've got

Speaker: Let me see. I think it's Deacon Rawls. Deacon Rawls played right tackle last year, filling in when Pat McMurtry would get hurt occasionally. And Patrick McMurtry was like a seventh-year guy, and now he's moved on. NCAA approves. But they've got, you know, Rawls, who's a pretty good player, big dude himself, right tackle. They feel good about him kind of being a guy. And then they brought in a few other dudes. There's like Daniel, Michael, or Michelle from um one of the Florida schools. he was Florida International. He came in. He's like 3'15". It's like a rotational tackle. They brought in an ETSU tackle from Australia that he was at ETSU last year. So he's – I think he started his career at Miami, another guy who's been a million places.

Speaker: He's a rotational tackle. So they feel pretty good about like the starting unit and the first couple of backups. I think the concern is if you have like major injuries, you get pretty quickly into unproven guys, especially at like guard and in center, you'd have to start moving things around, but the starting unit they feel good about.

Speaker: And then like those rotational tackles, I think they feel pretty good about too. It's just the depth, which is probably true of like most teams in the portal area. It's hard to build a lot of offensive line depth. it It seems like Napier has kind of married the two strategies when you're building a modern offensive line at this level, which is, do I want a mountain of a man, 400 pounds, Morgan Moses type, or do I want – ah it speaking of that guy who then you know played none at a Power 5 school, or do I want the guy who had 13 reps at you know FCS last year?

Speaker: They've like married both of these. We have those traits, but we're actually getting reps. and ah you know we're We're doing these previews kind of wonky order at this point, but it's like this is the first team that I think we've seen do that.

Speaker: Everyone has chosen their side, and James Madison is the first one to say, we want size and skill that has actually played football before. And I think maybe that might probably be the right decision in the long term.

Speaker: Yeah, it's it's a fascinating one where it's surprising that they're able to do it. Like I didn't realize that, you know Wisconsin River Falls, can't remember the name of the school, that they would have a 315-pound tackle. But I guess good for them for for having him for a few years. And yeah, it seems like he, you know, has the ability to play at the FBS level. So I feel bad for some of the D3 edge rushers that had to go up against him.

Speaker: Oh, they were probably getting worked on like a daily basis. They were probably like, get me out of here. um Yeah, maybe Tyler Brown was just trying to live in every time zone before he graduated college. I mean, he hit three out of the four. So all he had to do was go to the Pac-12 or, you know, Big Ten, I guess now and and try to play there. But he was ah he was on Mountain Time. He was on Central. Now he's on Eastern. It's like, you know, he's trying to hit every time zone before he gets out of college. Crazy. We talked to him when he committed. It was funny, too. It's like Napier and, you know, Coach Prime feels like a very different transition. Like, what was the logic there? He's like, yeah, i don't know. I just thought it'd fun. Seemed like he enjoyed it. But yeah, it's a crazy thing to go from from Billy Napier. he' was You know, talking to the Southern girl, the of a famous coach like Dion.

Speaker: That's super funny, too, because we had somebody else on for preview. I can't remember if it was the coastal preview that I recorded with with two guests or if it was the Arkansas State one. But there was a transfer that was came over from Colorado to one of those schools, and they interviewed him. And he was like, I kind of just want to play football. I don't want to do all of the other stuff. And I'm like, I wonder if that's like the the mindset of a lot of these guys. It's like.

Speaker: you know i i kind of thought when i signed up for this that we were just going to be winning football games and geon sanders is going to be my coach and now i'm like the fifth lead on a reality show that airs on vh1 like get me get me off the tv like i don't i don't want i don't want to do this so it'll be interesting to see you know what what kind of the uh the incoming talent from that has filtered out of colorado and ended up in other places especially around the sunbelt um Shifting over to the defense, I'm going to kick it to you because there's two guys that I recognize on this defensive lineup. It's Gannon Weathersby, who had 57 tackles last year at the linebacker spot, and then Amar Thomas, who was an honorable mention, the Sunbelt player last year.

Speaker: Other than that, I do not recognize any of these names, so can you kind of take us through who we need to be like aware of, who we need to look out for, that type of stuff? Yeah, that pretty much checks out, right? It's like a completely overhauled unit. I think the one that JMU fans still kind of know and is not a new face is KJ Flo at Nickel. He's a rising junior, replaces DJ Barksdale.

Speaker: He's been like a good backup the last couple of years and JMU fans have enjoyed him, but they just had no chance to really come get on the field with Barksdale playing well. And now he's at UCLA, so he's got his opportunity.

Speaker: They've described him, I think Napier called him an alpha, which is funny because he's he's like 170, but he's apparently the alpha defensive at Nickel. He seems like he's a a leader for him. He's a really good player. He had one of he had a really nice tackle in that four-play spring game that I think stand stands out for people. But he's he's a good player. He had pick six last year in the coastal blowout when he was able to get in and get some – get some time so he's good they think he'll be solid defensive line i think should be pretty good kels bush is another returner he started his career at lsu then he went to louisiana tech then he was at jamie last year dealt with some injuries

Speaker: He's like 300 pounds, but he seems to have gotten like leaner and more explosive than he's ever been in the past. So they're talking about him as one of the most improved players on the defense. He had a sack or a pressure in that four-play spring game. So you know one of the four players who stood out from from that nonsensical game. But he looks the part compared to what he has in the past. I think last year people were like, this guy was in LSU?

Speaker: And now he looks like, oh, there's the guy that maybe LSU thought was in there the whole time. So he's one who I think could be good. They added a couple other big guys, Rashid Lovelace. He was at nickel state. He's like three 2330, just a run stopper, just a really reliable run stopper. You need some of those. So I think he feels what Emmanuel Bush did last year.

Speaker: Bush was funny. was like three 30 or three 40 last year. And then they had like some interview around Thanksgiving. He's like, no, I'm like at 400 pounds. So I don't know if Lovelace will, I don't know if Lovelace will do the same thing, but they want a big guy in the middle and he kind of does that.

Speaker: The thing with the the defensive line that i think is interesting is they remind me a lot defensively of the 2023 team where they're like, all right, we're not going to let anybody run the football against us.

Speaker: but our secondary is going to be like really iffy. And that's kind of what it looks like on paper. But the 2023 team had Jalen green on the edge, who like led the country in sacks and nine games. He had like 15 and a half before he got hurt.

Speaker: I don't know if they have a Jalen green. So Amar Thomas, really good run stuffer. They added Keetron Simpson from Lamar. He's like six, two, two 70. Another guy who's great on the edge against the run, but none of them have been like dynamic or elite pass rushers. So Amar, I think could potentially make that leap. And then they have a couple other guys they brought in who are like clear speed rushers, Mason Perham. He was an Emory and Henry. He's a quick one. and I think they expect him to be able to do a little bit.

Speaker: So they have some guys on the edge they brought in, but I guess my concern would be like, if it's first and 10 and you don't have your speed guys in there, like what's your pass rush look like? Cause most teams are not going to just go run, run, pass. They do get San Diego state this year, which is known for the run, run, pass. So maybe it'll work out in that game, but Otherwise a little concerned. And then the corners and and secondary, the safeties in general, way more unproven. DJ Kelly's supposed to be pretty good from Toledo. he was played meaningful steps there as a freshman. They have a decent track record of developing defensive backs. They're really good defensively last year. So intriguing that he was able to get in there and play a bit. But then like at safety, Javis Minat or Javis Minat from Texas State comes in. He was banged up in the spring, but a decent player.

Speaker: think he was also at Wofford before and he's had like three straight seasons over 70 PFF. We'll see what PFF looks like and if they actually grade this year and if he can get over 70 for a fourth consecutive year. But but he he seems like he could be all right. But there's just a lot of questions in the secondary of like who's going to step up, who's going to play. And that feels pretty similar to 2023 when they stopped the run really well.

Speaker: They got after the passer. But like if you got the ball off in the air, there was a decent chance you had like a 45-yard pass coming. And I think that's the fear that a lot of fans have, that it's going to – It's going to look tough on like obvious passing situations.

Speaker: Any thoughts on defensive coordinator Robert Bala, who comes over ah with Napier from Florida, a guy who worked under Saban previously? Yeah, I think he you know he seems solid. like He's had some decent track record in the past, wasn't dominant maybe at Florida. But I think there's also ah a hope that they can sort of do like a mind meld because they've got Dave Plungus, who was a really good defensive coordinator at Robert Morris, who was on staff coaching linebackers last year. He's going to oversee the defense a bit too. And he was, um i think he's like an associate head coach now. So there's a hope that he can help.

Speaker: Brandon Bailey comes over from Georgia Southern and I tell you, you're shaking your head. You don't want him anywhere near any, you don't want him in a play calling capacity. You do not want him game planning. He had no clue what he was doing for the last two years. He was basically playing game boy, like in film discussion. Like I don't, I'm, I'm dead serious. He's like,

Speaker: ah Outside of... I'm not even saying this to, like, poke the bear. I brought this up in our Georgia Southern episode. Two years ago, when we beat JMU at home, it was one of the most inexplicable, like, positive yeah defensive performances I've ever seen. He never came close to touching that again. I don't know if like, the center was tipping the snap and he, like, locked onto that. I'm dead serious. Like, last year, we literally fielded the third worst run defense in the entire country. And so, like...

Speaker: i I don't even really know like what he can give you like as a coach, like he will not tell anybody. And I'm sorry, but it's like he will not tell anybody what they don't already know.

Speaker: Let's put it that way. i will i think' never go to learn you You might like this then because it it sounds like so the fan thing was right. Oh, we got Bailey who's been a defensive coordinator. We got Plungus has been a defensive coordinator. We got Bala. And I think they asked Plungus in one of the things like, yeah, you got a lot of great minds in there. Like, you know, how's that going? And he kind of said something the effect of like, Bala's got his plan and we're kind of, we're kind of doing what he tells us to do.

Speaker: So I think the mind meld might be less of a mind meld. So maybe, yeah, maybe Bala's on the same page with you there. And he's like, hey, Brandon Bailey, you can like handle your small secondary role and and we'll go from there. it Certainly seems that way. But it's going to be interesting because I think there's, there's hope that they can have,

Speaker: a decent defense, but like Colin Hitchler was phenomenal last year. They had Lyle Hemphill, who has who's been really good. i mean they've gone on kind of a crazy run of coaches, but really defensive coordinators were Hitchlers at UCLA. Now Lyle Hemphill is a defensive coordinator at Texas A&M.

Speaker: Before that they had, so you know, Haynes, right. Who's at Indiana doing a great job there. So can they keep that up with Bala? I don't know, but I think he's got enough pieces there to feel the competitive, competitive defense.

Speaker: I will say, i mean, i I don't want give to give really any credit to Bailey, but if I was going to give him some credit, I would say that the only bright spot of the defense the last couple years had been the secondary. And it was like they were really banged up last year. But talent-wise, they had guys back there like Chance Gamble and stuff who were – solid.

Speaker: It was just, if he talks to anybody in the front seven, I would whack his knuckles with a ruler. I'd be like, no, we don't, you don't talk to anybody in the front seven. Like, don't, don't tell them how to do run fits. Nothing. Hush. Just walk away. Um,

Speaker: I have a question for you. So the last, you know, basically since JMU has moved up to the Sun Belt, they've always been one of the conference leaders in sacks. Yeah. With with this new kind of front where it's like a bunch of new faces other than, you know, Thomas, it's like all of these guys are kind of in new spots.

Speaker: do you anticipate this team once again being like one of the conference leaders in sacks? Cause I mean, it's like they're one of the few teams that we talk about on a regular basis. Who's like North of 30 sacks on like a yearly basis. It's like a lot of teams, Arkansas state was a perfect example last year.

Speaker: They were really bad in 2024. Great in 2025 specifically toward the end of last year. But those are the types of teams we typically talk about where it's just like, peaks and valleys as far as pass rush, but it seems like JMU's consistently been toward the top as far as sack numbers go.

Speaker: Yeah, they've hit. It feels like every time they bring in like portal edges, they just kind of hit on them. They had Kyrie Manns who came in from Maine. It worked out really well. Eric O'Neill was phenomenal from Long Island. They got um last year, they had some some solid players. Aiden Gobira and then Syair West blew up.

Speaker: So they they had some guys who have popped every year. I think Amar Thomas can certainly make the leap. But Simpsons played he played three years at Lamar and like wasn't a sax guy. So like do you become a sax guy coming up a level? Probably not. So I'm a little interested to see how that goes because I'm definitely skeptical that they'll get the same level of sax. They have those speed rushers that I think they're excited about.

Speaker: although they brought in three, one of them is no longer listed on the roster and they did a little court record search earlier today and he appeared there. So my guess is that he's not on the team. We'll see what comes of that in the next week or so. But like, I don't know, they brought in some speed rushing guys, but some of them they're legit like two 30, two 20, two 30.

Speaker: So are you putting them in on first and 10? They're just going to like run it right at that guy. Cause that would be a concern. And if you bring them in on third and 10, they can probably feast in that situation. Yeah. But are you getting to third and 10? So I don't know. i'm ah I'm a little skeptical because in years past, it seemed pretty clear every year of like, yeah, they have the guys to get a lot of s sacks.

Speaker: And this year, it's like, I think you have the guys to stop the run. But I don't know if you have a ton of sacks, guys. Sure. I mean, the good thing about all of this, especially uncertainly uncertainty defensively, is like,

Speaker: you don't have to be elite in the Sun Belt defensively to, at the very least, win the conference. And, you know, with expansion and how we're moving around the ah the bids, like, that's that's kind of the the bar now is just win the conference and you're in.

Speaker: um Only two or, was I think four teams, which is less than the the top third, ah were allowing less than 30 points in conference games last year.

Speaker: So it's like, um you know, obviously we've had Troy in recent years, James Madison, like we've had those powerhouses. But to be at the top of this conference, you don't need to be that defensively at the very least.

Speaker: You just need to stop stop guys. And you look at the Georgia Southerns, the Georgia States, Arkansas State saved for the pass rush of last year. ah Coastal in recent years, it's like,

Speaker: you guys are forgetting about half the game. there's There's a whole nother ball. And then you're looking at like coastal, for example, and they're rolling out the tad Hudson's of the world. And it's like, You forgot about the other half, too. Right. We don't we don't necessarily need to limit teams to 18 points or whatever a game when it's like half of the quarterbacks we play are like the Bishop Davenport's, the Tad Hudson's. And you're like, I think the bigger question is, can this guy throw the ball 12 yards down the field and still know where it's going when it leaves his hand?

Speaker: Like, it ah it almost seems like we're bringing, like, Major League Baseball players to come play T-ball, like, against kids. And it's it's like, I don't know, man, is he going to make contact? Like, we'll we'll have to we'll have to get him up there and see how goes.

Speaker: Yeah, so I think that's a plus for JMU is they feel pretty confident, I think, about the offense, right? You're not trotting out Aiden or Mentor or something like that. So I think you're probably going to score some points, and then maybe that can make up for whatever the defense does now. But there's – yeah, there's definitely a lot of questions on defense, especially like edge rusher and in the secondary.

Speaker: I think that conversation about like conference context kind of rolls as well into talking about the schedule. Yeah. Open at Liberty – or I'm sorry, open hosting Liberty. Play ah host Wagner at San Diego State. Only three games of non-con before you start the conference play.

Speaker: ah That's because you've got a late like a late November game at UConn. What's going on there? What? this is Not an ideal schedule in many ways. They were supposed to play Virginia Tech instead of San Diego State, and that one got canceled. So now they're making that a West Coast swing. And then, yeah, I think fans are having a hard time from, like, nobody wants to go to UConn in November.

Speaker: war at all. fair It's kind of like, what's the what's the benefit of that game? That's funny. Yeah, you're in the you're in the stands making an igloo. like you know It's like, why would I want to go to Yukon? No, that's untrue, Brian, because an igloo requires other people to conserve some heat. I don't think they have that. And again, this is coming from the Georgia state guy.

Speaker: i don't think they have that in Connecticut. Right. That's fair. um This is interesting. So I had a talk um as of today, it hasn't released yet, but I had a talk with the coastal Carolina guys and they let me know that like Liberty is not entirely thrilled with Chad. Well, especially in last year's Liberty team. So he could be, out of a job like if that if that keeps up so do you anticipate that being like a tough game for you guys like I have no idea what Liberty is doing I haven't kept up with them in a couple years they're weird and we've kind of kept up because they're in state and we played them last year so it's it's been weird but like Chadwell I think in within the last week said that he had a health issue the last two years that like he could deal with but was painful and now it's gone and now he feels happy to coach again and it's like what

Speaker: Like, what do like what do you need? Some specifics here. I'm going to be really confused, but he, he didn't seem to give any, but he seems like now he likes to coach again. Maybe that'll help them. They have questions at quarterback again. They still have Ethan Vasco on the roster, which Jamie fans are like, you roll him out again. Like wouldn't mind seeing that one again. I think last year when we previewed coastal, we were like Ethan Vasco's at Liberty. We were like, good luck with that. Y'all have fun. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, so they're they're weird, but i don't I don't know what to make of that game because there's so much roster turnover on both sides. Their running back room, Liberty, looks kind of sick. They've got some some decent running backs they brought in. um They had like Udo or whoever was at Army, and then he went to Arizona State, he's coming back to Liberty. So that's a nice little pickup. They seem like they could be good offensively um and could win a bunch of Conference USA games. But again, I don't know what you know what does that really mean.

Speaker: Also, what is it with the Liberty coaches and the health issues? You've got Hugh Freeze in the booth, like in the hospital bed, like giving thumbs up down to the field. Like, what is it about coaching at Liberty that all of a sudden makes you be like, I feel terrible. Like, I can't do this job. I do like that for Chadwell with the timing, too, where it's like, man, you're maybe on the hot seat now. He's like, well, I've been sick for two years. Like, of course we've been. I've had long COVID. What did you want me to do? Exactly.

Speaker: Um, so like Zeke said, it's like you play home at Wagner against Wagner week two at San Diego State. We talked to about them just a tad. You know, that's another team where I'm like, who who's the coach again at San Diego State? Like I can't. Is it it's not Brady Hoke anymore, is it? No, it's ah Sean Lewis.

Speaker: Oh, OK. The old Colorado. Oh, yeah. That went super well at Colorado. yeah um OK, well, I like you guys's chances in that game. I watched him call plays at Colorado. I'm not scared at all of that.

Speaker: Week four is interesting at Old Dominion. It's ah it's ah a rematch from a very interesting game from last year where it was super tight through two quarters, and then JMU just absolutely dominated the second half of that game.

Speaker: um I'm personally, I don't know how Zeke feels about this, but I'm personally kind of of the opinion that they're going to take a small step back without Colton Joseph.

Speaker: Um, I just frankly don't know if Quinn Hennekel is the level of passer that Joseph was. I mean, like you can go back, he's played very sparingly, but you can go back and look at his completion percentage. It's like night and day from what Joseph was doing. yeah Um, I think I looked at it the other day when we were recording an episode and it was like, Joseph was almost at 60% of his passes completed and Hennekel in the little bit that he's played, was like at 43%.

Speaker: And I'm like, we you you guys are aren't going 10-2 or whatever again with a quarterback completing less than 45% of his passes. 43 on 40 attempts. ah So yeah he he had the, you know, that's not small sample size at that point as well.

Speaker: Although that's probably spread out over, you know, 12, 13 but... Well, i I just like I brought this up like one of the last ones Zeke and I recorded. I think it was Marshall, but it was like, what happens to them when they get down 14 points late in a football game? And it's like, I want to run every play.

Speaker: OK, you know, you guys are going to be like or whoever are going to be like, go ahead and run. Stay in bounds. Take time off the clock. We'd love to see it. So what what do you kind of anticipate in that game? Because that was a very tight game for two quarters last year. And then all of a sudden it just got away from ODU.

Speaker: ODU's come really close to taking down JMU a couple of times since they've made the the FBS move. it's It's an interesting one. like Every JMU coach that's gone up against Ronnie has kind of hated him like almost secretly, but Cignetti wasn't a fan. Chesney like didn't say anything publicly, but like very much was was not a Ricky Ronnie guy. And Ronnie wasn't a Chesney guy. He did like an onside kick one year, or JMU did. I can't remember exactly who did it, but they failed onside kick, and Ronnie was like, yelling after you across the field he was fired up so there's a weird weird thing there we'll see if Napier picks up on that really weird yeah but they've come close they play I've played Jamie really well they've given him fits with that unique offensive system we'll see how much they they keep of that with Decker going to Memphis and um probably somewhere else next year when Charles Hoff leaves and takes a new job But he's, he's you know, I think like he was a great offensive mind and did a lot of good stuff at ODU. So if they can keep that going, it's definitely given J and U fits even going back to the Cignetti days. So I think that's an interesting one. Definitely an interesting matchup, especially the week before you're on your West Coast trip. Then you had to fly back to Virginia for a rivalry game, which some of the travel stuff's probably overblown because it's like you get on a plane and then you fly back. It's not actually that taxing, but it's it's definitely a little bit different for him to do that. So I think that'll be a big test.

Speaker: Yeah. um October 3rd, you play at home against Marshall. That was another game that was that was pretty tight last year. And you were talking about the Wayne Knight breakaway runs. I remember that. He kind of put the exclamation point on that win. Yeah.

Speaker: You know, i again, it's like the Sunbelt wants to say that Carlos Del Rio Wilson is the next, you know, best thing that we've seen in 10 years. And I'm just kind of like, I don't know. I'm not I'll have to see it because like last year he for me, it was like when the running game worked, their offense looked fine when it's when the running game dried up and and he was like kind of forced to make plays on his own.

Speaker: It it was it was not not didn't look great. So um I think Marshall will give you guys a run for sure, but i'm I'm still just keeping kind of them at arm's length just because of how last year ended and and all of the stuff that went into, again, he didn't even finish last year, like taking the last snap of the last game when they were fighting for bowl eligibility. So that'll be an interesting one for sure.

Speaker: Yeah, that should be an interesting one. They lost to him. guess they've lost to him both games at home since they made the Sun Belt move. 2022, Todd Centeno was out and Billy Atkins, I think he had like five interceptions and he took like nine sacks or something. He wasn't ready for that game. But he came in in 2022 and struggled and then he lost in like double overtime in 2024 at home. Last game of the season, that was ah a thriller. I think, Jamie, you got up like 17-0 and kind of choked that one well. tore his ACL in that game Yeah, last play in the game. So that was that was a tough one. so they've had some bad memories against Marshall at home. So that's, I think, you know, flushing those would be good for the fan base. Of course, like three of the players actually have any of those memories. It's all like Portal guys, but the fans, I think for sure, will care about that one.

Speaker: Sure. ah October. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Well, I obviously that rolls into at Georgia Southern. i Yeah. But the reason I'm jumping in here is because my thought on James Madison schedule is like you knock out that old dominion and Marshall, the only two teams in the East that are going to be gunning for you real from, you know, realistically you get there, you can kind of coast the rest of the way.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, obviously you can't drop your game like Georgia state. Yeah. We can't just phone it in right. Southern miss. We can't just phone it in. be I mean, you get the hard part out really early.

Speaker: You gotta beat Troy, though, on a Thursday. If you beat Old Dominion and Marshall, you can lose to Troy and it won't matter. Yeah. I mean, you got to what you said, though, like you can't trip up again. like true that We've seen teams like get out ahead and get like a two-game advantage, and then they immediately blow it the next two weeks, and you're just like, oh, well, we're back we're back at square one. so Yeah, I mean, it it depends.

Speaker: what Let me ask you, Bennett, what do you think it is about this this Georgia Southern JMU series where it seems like every time one of the teams plays at home, yeah they just have the other team's number regardless of how they match up on paper?

Speaker: It's interesting. Jamie makes a ton of excuses when they play in places that are not like immediately near a gigantic city. like They did that with ULM. They've done that with other games, Statesboro included. They're like, you know it's kind of a challenge to get there.

Speaker: It's like, all right, well, you got there. Once you get there, like you're playing the game. You know you're going to do that travel. like They lost to ULM, and fans were all mad at Chesney in 2024 because he was like, man, they're playing music in the stadium that just had us rattled.

Speaker: They're like, what? Like you're rattled by a ULM crowd? What are you talking about, man? All 6,000 people had a show. There nobody there. but What do you mean it was a tough environment to play in? But Statesboro, it's tough. They've never won in Statesboro. It's just been ah a tough spot for them to play. It seems like it's always given them bits Maybe i don't know if they're overlooking it. I don't know if they, you know, it's hard to get to for them and they freak out, but they have just had a really bad time. And and also, and I guess in Georgia Southern's defense, they play pretty well in Statesboro and i have done that. Oh, a lot. Yeah. A lot better at home. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: ah that That is interesting because it's like if you fly into Savannah, it's like a 40 minute drive. like to Anytime there's like a bus trip that included after the very short flight, they freak out. Like every coach will be like, oh my God, like, yeah, we're gonna have to figure this out. It's like, i don't think you do. You just get on the bus that's there for you. but You get on the bus, you get off the bus, you play football. like It's not that hard. um I've been dropping this stat. I don't know if you've heard this before, but it's like the last time that JMU and Georgia Southern played each other.

Speaker: And even, you know, the home team seemingly wins every time. But even when they play, the last time that the game has the margin of victory has been within a touchdown was 1992.

Speaker: ah between the two teams. So it's like, even even when one team plays at home, it's not even close. Like, you know, last year obviously was a total destruction by JMU ah in Virginia. And then the year before...

Speaker: Again, I don't know if it's like the center was tipping the snap or whatever, but it was like Barnett looked like you had just taken a random guy off the street and been like, you have to start. We need somebody today. And so I was just like, and then like as said, Brandon Bailey had us looking like the 2002 Buccaneers. And I was like, what is going on? Like we're picking off passes left and right. Like we we're in Barnett's lap like as soon as ball snapped. Like I don't.

Speaker: i don't want I don't really understand what this mojo is that both of these like teams have when one of them plays at home. It's crazy, yeah. That was one of the ah the bad Barnett 2024 games that had fans. Fans are probably excited for the offensive coordinator change, even though Jamie put up a bunch of points last year.

Speaker: They thought Dean Kennedy was a maniac when things weren't going well. And every now and then, they just looked horrendous. And that was one of those games. ULM was really bad. There were there were definitely like a handful of games when it looked like barnett had never touched a football and then other games was like why are you not at the p4 level what was that that uh let me let me look at real quick the the georgia state game last year 14 to 7 he had 74 pasting words yeah he had under 100 i think it was like it was it was crazy yeah yeah And i mean he had under a hundred i think it was like it was it was crazy he that was, terrible that had a knock on effect for Georgia State because you guys passed whatever two quarterback disease you had onto Georgia State because then we started, it was TJ Finley, Christian Valere, Cameron Brown. Like we started running that, you know, not necessarily two quarterback sets, but it's like, oh, well, it's ah you know, we might want some mobility on this. So we'll give the running guy a chance. like

Speaker: Awesome. thanks now i I need a touchdown. I don't like, I don't care. Yeah, it was brutal. JMU last year, too, like obviously making the playoff covers up a lot of like what went wrong before that. But yeah, they would run like fourth and two and they'd be like, they'll never expect Sluka.

Speaker: And then they go to Sluka and everybody expects Sluka. That killed me last year. I was watching some of the games and I'd be like, okay, Sluka's in the game. This is the time they're going to let him throw it, right? Catch him off guard. Nope.

Speaker: Straight at the middle, one yard. Okay, great. Let's go back to the sideline. And they love to do it like when they're clearly in field goal range. It's like you take like a 30 yard field goal and extend your lead or you could let Sluka get stuff and they're like, Matthew, come on. We promised you you were going to hit X amount of snaps. By God, we're going get you those snaps. Um,

Speaker: Yeah, so that actually kind of rolls it. October 17th is Georgia State at home. um I have confidence that you guys will handle it this time ah pretty easily.

Speaker: Yeah, Del McGee a little bit with the quarterback carousel thing last year was almost like that meme of the guy riding the bike and then he sticks the stick in the spokes and trips. Yeah. Because I was like, I think he's the only one that doesn't realize that this team's not going anywhere. Like, why wouldn't you put the young quarterback in and get him experience and all that kind of stuff? And he was like, seventh year starter, TJ Finley will take us to a bowl game. And I was like...

Speaker: TJ Finley hasn't been good in years. like what are we What are you doing? like He needs to get a job like outside of college football. Still out of the application, buddy. Not that they needed any extra juice here, but James Madison, this will probably be the earliest we could possibly see a Hugh Jackson coached Panthers team, Georgia State, off of their bye.

Speaker: Again, they they start with a ah grab bag of different teams in those first five games before the bye, but like... You got good odds that you're facing esteemed.

Speaker: I wouldn't even say esteemed. I would say coach football coach Hugh Jackson leading that team. I don't think you can argue with the the phrasing of football coach. Like, yes, he is one of the coaches of all time. I guarantee that. um And then October 22nd, you turn around and play at App State on a Thursday.

Speaker: um This was ugly last year. ah you guys absolutely crushed App State. ah People were clowning Loggins for having like his 10-year-old on the sideline at the end. He was playing like Brick Breaker on on an iPad like while the team ran for negative 10 yards or whatever. Yeah.

Speaker: I don't know. He hired offensive coordinator. um From what Aikman, our App State like fan that checks in with us, said, apparently he is giving up play calling duties is what he told me.

Speaker: After last year, agree. Good move. Because that that was that was not great. They were all over the map last year. So we'll see what Mike Anthony does there as the new OC. um They've got a lot of things to figure out if they want to get back to where they were. Like, again, Satterfield, Drinkwitz, even Sean Clark. like They're along a long ways from where where they were there.

Speaker: And then, like I said, October 29th, you get a rematch of the Sunbelt title game from last year, Troy. um I just hope Goose Crowder has kind of learned his lesson from the Sunbelt title game, which is you don't need to die on the field. It's okay. Like, it's okay to throw the ball away on first and ten. Like, we don't need to we don't need to get a stretcher out for every ah every snap of this game.

Speaker: Yeah, it seemed like maybe they were trying to kill him, too. was insane. He was just taking a a lot of hits, he seemed to be okay. would take a lot of hits. It didn't make a lot of sense. That was a kind of a fever dream of a game. You had the snowballs, which...

Speaker: they they cleared the snow and the stands by just like moving it under each seat. theyre Yeah, they can't grab it. The drunk students won't do anything. and then they're like, oh God, miscalculate.

Speaker: it's like It's like when you go to like Oprah or one of those shows, it's like there's a prize under your seat. And they're like, oh really? Snowballs. Look everybody. Yeah. And then they, and then wasn't it like you guys' AD had to come out and like make an announcement during the game. It was like, please stop. They will penalize us. Like, please quit.

Speaker: So it's a fun shenanigans there, but you guys get a shot at doing what, a you know, if it snows October 29th, like you guys would be all over it. ah And then November 5th at Southern Miss, that's another team that is totally rebooting everything pretty much. You know, you mentioned Charles Huff is gone. No Braylon Braxton starting over the quarterback spot.

Speaker: um It seems like they're just generally like having to, to revamp that entire team. I don't, Other than the running back room, who I took like a quick look at their roster the other day, other than the running back room, which was not good last year, everybody is brand new.

Speaker: um So that that should be, I think, a rebuilding season for them. And then the aforementioned at Connecticut game, ah November 14th, you guys got a late bye this year. yeah You play 11 games and then you have a bye. then you play your final game of the season, which is nuts. Like, who made this? No. not very helpful we have fans are kind of ticked off it's like a really exciting first half of the year and then you just get pounded by like thursday night games and then you have like a week yeah you play three thursday night games in a row yeah and then at least according to this schedule

Speaker: yeah You probably can't draw up like a more boring November schedule. Southern Miss, Yukon, Coastal in a bi-week mixed in. It's like, ah, it's kind of a kind of ah a lame way to tail down the season. So it's going to be an exciting like early October.

Speaker: And then I think it'll be a little like a peak of fan interest depending on how many wins they have. I appreciate that the Sun Belt has been trying to push some of these like off day games, but it's like yeah Thursday is not one of those days that is available to to use a football program. There's only three. You've you've got four others, right?

Speaker: So let's say you're trying to get away from Saturday. You still have three choices. And they've failed. They've done the Monday games. They've done the Thursday games. Tuesday night. That works. They've done Tuesday games, which is which is fine. There's nothing else on Tuesday.

Speaker: Although you have to give the teams a bye week beforehand. because yeah Didn't we talk about this with Kara, Richie, about the Arkansas State schedule? How they had to be like, no, we're actually not going to play, what was it, a game and then turn around and play again on a Tuesday? Or something crazy. They were like, you should play a Thursday night game and then turn around and play the following Tuesday.

Speaker: Like Arkansas State had to go to the Sun Belt be like, we're not doing it. And they had to be like, okay. And I'm like, yeah, they claim to care about player safety. then they wanted you to play two games five days a apart or whatever, which is nuts.

Speaker: um And then, like you said, you get the bye week, the 21st, you close with Coastal at home. Coastal is going to an interesting team. um I recorded the podcast with the two guys from the the Strut um Coastal Carolina pod. They were very optimistic about Ryan Beard year one. I don't know if that if some of that is just, thank God we're done with Tim Beck, or they they really think that this year is going to be something. But um they're also a team that feels like their quarterback position is up in the air. They're they're going through like a a real battle right now. So like they didn't even really have any indications on who

Speaker: who was going to start that week one game. um But Coastal, again, is is starting over. They've got some pieces like Robbie Washington and stuff like that. But other than that, it's like kind of a brand new squad. so um So when we close, I just want to ask this. so what are what would you say are like the fans' expectations of this season? Because – I do think it's a lot to ask in year one of Napier coming in, like, hey, you need to replicate what we did last year. you know, you need to win double digit games. We need a Sunbelt title game appearance and a win. And we need to be like in contention for the CFP. Like, I think that's a lot for a guy in year one. And it's like, at least going back a couple of years, it seems like year one is like ah an adjustment year for Napier.

Speaker: You know, Signetti, you know, in 22 wins eight games. um Chesney in 24, he does win eight in the regular season, then they win the bowl game. But what are kind of the expectations for this season around the program?

Speaker: I think for me, like you get seven or more and you can you can sell yourself on it. there's the Most fans would disagree with that. I think the majority of the fan base is like, we got to be in the mix for the East, which I think is probably fair.

Speaker: We got to be in the mix to win the league. And then there's other fans that like, we got to flirt with a playoff bid. I think they could like go undefeated and not get a playoff bid. They don't play a power four team. Like I don't think this schedule screams playoff. I think it screams the opposite of like, you have no business.

Speaker: making the playoffs. So I don't think that should, should be a thought for any fans. Some will certainly disagree, but like, i don't know. I think the, the goal should be to contend for the East, but if you do what you did a couple of years ago, you go eight and four in the regular season, four and four in the Sunbelt, win a bowl game.

Speaker: You probably still be pretty excited about year two Billy Napier. So I think if you, you know, you get the winning record, you show some signs of development, you try to retain some of your good players. I think you can feel good going into that year two or year one off season going into year two.

Speaker: But yeah, there's definitely a lot of fans who think, hey, like we should dominate this league again. And I have some doubts about that, but we'll see. I think another big thing too is like, I don't know who's going up winning the the quarterback competition, but it's like, if you get one of these guys like Maiden or Evans, or I guess even Coleman, like having that continuity, if they came back next year and had a second year of starting, especially guys like Evans, where it's like, they haven't had a lot of pass attempts. um I think that would be huge for them. Cause that was the one thing I kind of noticed about Barnett is like,

Speaker: he really didn't need the 24 season, you know, after sitting behind McLeod to kind of get like in the flow of things, get, you know, learn how to lead a team, things like that. So I think if you use this as sort of like,

Speaker: you know if it's a down i say air quotes If it's a down year, but you're still like you said like in contention for the Sun Belt at the end of the year, like you can really look at that next year and yeah, we have something to build off of. Plus, if you have a ah returning quarterback, that's that's the cherry on top. so yeah it'll be It'll be interesting to see like what kind of team JMU ends up being this year.

Speaker: Yeah, and then I think there's other spots too where like Napier could get some you know signature kind of wins to hang his hat on. like Obviously, beating Liberty in state would be nice on the road against San Diego State. I think fans would appreciate the fact that they've never won in Statesboro. If you can check that off, that's a pretty solid accomplishment. So if you go eight and four and you have some nice wins like JMU went eight and four and then nine for the bowl win.

Speaker: They had their first ever bowl win and they hung 70 on North Carolina in 2024. Pretty nice feather in Bob Chesney's cap to be like, Hey, you should believe in my long-term vision. So if they can go out and have some of those moments too, I think it's easier to sell.

Speaker: year two but yeah i mean the schedule sets up you know you can get through that first half you got a decent chance to say hey maybe we could go on a you know 10 plus wins do something crazy but um a big ask i think to be have this many new players and be like hey we need to play our best football at the end of september and early october yeah maybe but that's that's a pretty big ask i think Yeah, we have to play our best our best football then because the end of the schedule is kind of simple. And it's like we don't want to be peaking kind of late in the season and then be like, great, we we hung 80 on Georgia State, but it doesn't really move the needle for us as a program. Right. You your best ball at UConn and then during bye week is probably not good. It's very valuable. Exactly. um

Speaker: Zeke, do you have any sort of last minute ah things for Bennett? and then And then we'll go ahead and kind of, you you know, Bennett, if you want to plug, you know, whatever you have, we can go ahead and and start doing that and then we can get out of here.

Speaker: Yeah, Bennett, I mean, thank you for so much for being here, obviously, with as we talked about at the top without you, this is. Oh, this guy came over with Napier and this guy and this guy. So, we appreciate you having me here. um i I, think it is a big ask. i see 10 wins here with James Madison. i I think that is my most likely outcome.

Speaker: um But I, you know, we'll see. i have a bad track record. If you're new to the show, um the Texas state incident of 2024, will forever loom.

Speaker: um I had them going to the CFP that year, undefeated I um so i think they won seven games. Yeah. um yeah Uh, yeah, this isn't we've, we've come a long way too. Cause when JMU moved up, I gave JMU like a pretty good benefit of the doubt. I was like, you know, I think they're going to be like a good, they're, they're in a good position to make that transition. And Zeke was like, I, I think it's going to take a couple years. And then it was like, they kind of hit the ground running with, yeah you know, who was it? Centeno was the first yeah starting quarterback they had. So I was like, no, they're, they're going to be like firmly, you know,

Speaker: in in contention with like all of their usual players and zeke took a lot of convincing and then he was like all right i undersold him at the end of the year so yeah we've come a long way for them for him to have to give credit you know where it's due now you know yeah you've really sold him on it um yeah so bennett anything you want to plug before we before we kind of throw it around the horn and get out of here Sure. Yeah. You can find us on JMU sports news. i think most of our handles are at JMU sports news and then JMU sports news.com. We're talking to ah Phil Steele in a few days. We'll have an interview with him on our YouTube channel where we'll try to get to the bottom of why he has JC Evans and QB one. So hopefully we had some, some insight there, which we much needed for us.

Speaker: Awesome. yeah Yeah. You can find me on Twitter at Zeke Palermo, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. I bought a copy of Art of War, so if it gets cryptic on there, it's going to be big for me.

Speaker: Zeke is sitting is sitting in his living room reading the Art of War playing college football 27, and he's like, never let them know your next move. And so he punts on third down. And so I roll out Matthew Sluka on third and long.

Speaker: um As always, you can find us on Twitter or TikTok at Warm Weather Fans. You can find me on X at WatchTheStone. Bennett, yeah, thank you so much again for coming on. This will pretty much be one of the final, what, two episodes that we put out of our Sunbelt previews. And then we will actually have a chat also with the Phil Steele coming out. Nice.

Speaker: after this comes out, um we have to make sure to get 14 questions ready to go because last year we asked the fans from different teams to submit questions to us. And I think we got like three questions. So I asked them all. And then people were like, why didn't you ask him like an App State question? i was like,

Speaker: I made a call for questions and no one, no one said a word. Like, what what did you want me to do? So I guess we need to have one question per team when and we, when we talk to Phil ready to go, but yeah, thank you so much for joining us again. And this has been warm weather fans.