I thought it was a done deal. Redshirt junior Drew Dudzik was Rodney Landers’ backup in 2008 and got his baptism-by-fire when Landers went down in the first half of James Madison’s 35-27 national-semifinal loss to Montana, throwing for 70 yards and running for 88 yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion for the highlight reels that brought the Dukes within striking distance late.
It has to be Dudzik’s job to lose. Right?
“We have two guys that are very capable. It’s going to be a very competitive situation to see who the starter is,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews told me, making moot my line of questions about the silver lining in the Montana loss being the playing time that his new starting quarterback was able to get, given that Matthews is still deciding between Dudzik and redshirt freshman Justin Thorpe, who has yet to take a snap in a live college football game, but was quite impressive in the Dukes’ spring game, running for 72 yards on 13 carries and completing six passes for 40 yards while looking quite comfortable back in the unique JMU spread, which puts a premium on quarterback mobility and decisionmaking.
“We recruit quarterbacks who can run and throw. And both of those guys can throw and both have really good speed,” said Matthews of his QBs, who have big shoes to fill, to say the least, with the departure of Landers, the runnerup for last year’s Walter Payton Award, I-AA’s Heisman, who ran for 1,770 yards and 16 touchdowns and threw for another 1,534 yards and 21 scores.
Landers ignited a record-breaking Madison scoring attack that averaged 38.1 points per game and made it possible for JMU to basically outscore teams at will. Funny as it might sound, Matthews thinks the Dukes could be even better in 2009 “as long as we get the quarterback situation set.”
“We have a good contingent of receivers returning, a very good offensive line, running backs with good hands. We feel like we’ll have a chance at being better than last year,” Matthews said.
I’m not sure that they’ll be that good on offense, but they will be good. The big question mark for JMU in ’09 won’t be at quarterback but on defense, specifically linebacker, where a run of injuries in ’08 left the Dukes vulnerable. Madison allowed 23.1 points per game in ’08, and in its three-game playoff run gave up a smidge under 32 a game all told.
“We struggled last year because we didn’t have many players at the linebacker position. That’s the cornerstone of any football team, how good you are at linebacker, and we didn’t have much there in terms of ability. Hopefully we’ll be better there,” said Matthews, noting his other concern on the defensive side of the ball being safety, where he has plugged in the returning leading rusher from last year, Griff Yancey.
Turning from the field to the locker room, Matthews doesn’t think there will be any stinging left over from the disappointing playoff loss to the Grizzlies. “The two years prior to that, we got knocked out in the playoffs the first round. That was some motivation. But when you go to the Final Four, it’s hard to say it was a bad situation,” Matthews said. “It was a tough game to lose, but two good teams were playing. I don’t really know if it adds to our motivation this year. Our goal at JMU every year is to win the national championship. That’s not going to be different this year.
“If you come to JMU, you’re going to play for championships. That’s what we say. We play for championships here. We’ve won 49 games in five years. That’s a lot of games. We’re having a great run. We’re selling out every game, and we’re winning a lot of games. It’s really exciting to be around the football program here,” Matthews said.
Players to watch
– Scotty McGee, senior, kick returner: four return touchdowns in 2008, second-team preseason All-America
– Dorian Brooks, senior, offensive guard: first-team preseason All-Colonial Athletic Association
– Sam Daniels, senior, defensive tackle: 42 tackles, six sacks, first-team preseason All-CAA
– Arthur Moats, senior, defensive end: 65 tackles, 11.5 sacks, first-team preseason All-CAA
JMU ’09 season schedule
Sept. 12 at Maryland
Sept. 19 VMI
Sept. 26 at Liberty
Oct. 3 at Hofstra
Oct. 10 Richmond
Oct. 17 Villanova
Oct. 24 at William and Mary
Oct. 31 at Delaware
Nov. 7 Maine
Nov. 14 at Massachusetts
Nov. 21 Towson
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