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 Draft Scout College Football Player News: James Madison
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  Alonza Barnett III threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to George Pettaway in the final minute of the first half to give James Madison the lead and the Dukes pulled away in the second half to earn a 30-7 win over Charlotte in a season-opener on Saturday night. Barnett added a 73-yard touchdown pass to Omarion Dollison a minute into the second half and Ayo Adeyi and Pettaway each ran for fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Noe Ruelas connected on a 43-yard field goal in the final minute of the first quarter to give the Dukes the lead, but Max Brown threw 26 yards to Isaiah Myers for Charlotte's lone score to take a short-lived 7-3 lead. Barnett completed 10 of 18 pass attempts for 219 yards with an interception and carried nine times for 89 yards to lead James Madison. Adeyi carried 17 times for 41 yards and a score and Pettaway had eight carries for 25 yards. Brown attempted 45 passes for Charlotte, completing 22 with two interceptions for 193 yards. Terron Kellman had 76 yards on nine carries. - AP College Football


rSo/2027 QB Alonza Barnett IIIJames Madison
News Source: AP College Football
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  2023 SUN BELT DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jalen Green, James Madison (Sr., DL - Baltimore, Md.),...Despite playing in just nine games due to a season-ending injury, Green led the nation with a Sun Belt record 15.5 sacks and paced the Sun Belt in tackles for loss (21, 2nd in the nation). The Baltimore, Md., product tied the Sun Belt and James Madison single-game record with 5.0 sacks at Marshall. The senior defensive lineman led the highly-regarded Dukes defense that contributed to an 11-1 overall record and the first bowl berth in program history. - Sun Belt Football

rSr/2024 DE Jalen GreenJames Madison
News Source: Sun Belt Football
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  2023 ALL-BIG SOUTH-OVC FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION FIRST TEAM: DB - Ja'Kai Young, R-Soph., Gardner-Webb,...Ja'Kai Young picked up First Team All-Conference honors at defensive back. Young led the Runnin' Bulldogs in pass break ups with nine this season, including three against Tennessee Tech. In the Gardner-Webb 35-0 win over the Golden Eagles, Young also had a 23-yard pick-six. The Stamford, Conn. also had a pick-six in Gardner-Webb's 35-32 win over Eastern Kentucky. Young also had one forced fumble and recorded 38 tackles. - Gardner-Webb Football

rSr/2025 CB JaKai YoungJames Madison
News Source: Gardner-Webb Football
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  2023 NEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: DL Eric O'Neill, LIU, R-So,...O'Neill, a preseason All-American who flashed plenty of ability as a rookie in 2022, continued to be a dominant force. The 6-foot-3 defensive lineman was second in the circuit in sacks (5.5 per game) and was first in the NEC in tackles-for-loss (23.5) over the course of the regular season. In addition, his 2.14 tackles-for-loss per contest are good for second overall on the FCS leaderboard. He was also credited with 80 tackles, one forced fumble, seven quarterback hurries, three pass breakups and one interception.

The Staten Island native made a plethora of noteworthy plays against prime competition. He opened the season by making 3.5 tackles-for-loss at FBS opponent Ohio University, which finished second in the East Division of the MAC, before he contributed 2.0 tackles-for-loss at FBS member Baylor. In more than half of his NEC appearances, O'Neill produced 2.0-or-more tackles-for-loss, including a league-leading 4.5 against Merrimack, the top offense in the circuit. Boosting his All-NEC First Team award count to two, O'Neill has also been named a national finalist for the second straight season. Making the cut for last year's Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award, which is awarded to the nation's top freshman, he inked his name as a finalist on the 2023 Stats Perform Buck Buchanan Award list, which recognizes the FCS's Defensive Player of the Year. - Northeast Conference Football


rJr/2026 DE Eric ONeillJames Madison
News Source: Northeast Conference Football
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  2023 PATRIOT LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jacob Dobbs, Holy Cross, 5th-year, LB, Macomb, Mich./De La Salle,...2023 Stats: 9 GP, 123 tackles, 12.0 TFLs of 39 yards, 6.0 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 14 quarterback hurries,...The four-time All-Patriot League selection and two-time League defensive player of the year led the Patriot League and finished second in the FCS with tackles per game (13.7). Dobbs recorded at least 1.0 TFL and a half sack in each of his final six games of the season to finish second in the League in TFLs (12.0) and third in sacks (6.0). He eclipsed the Patriot League's career tackles mark in the second half of the Crusaders' season-finale against Georgetown, giving him 432 tackles, second among all active FCS players. Dobbs earned Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors four times and is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the FCS defensive player of the year, for the second time in his career. - Patriot League Football

rSr/2025 ILB Jacob DobbsJames Madison
News Source: Patriot League Football
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  Dylan Morris came under heavy criticism as the starting quarterback for the Washington Huskies during their 4-8 season in 2021. Morris, expected to be the backup again this season to Michael Penix Jr., has earned himself a big fan - Ryan Grubb, the Huskies' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach - for how he has handled himself after all that criticism. "I don't know if there's many guys that I admire more than Dylan Morris because I think that there's grown men that would be able to take about 1% of the criticism that Dylan's taken, and operate at the level that Dylan operates at," Grubb said Wednesday about the former Graham-Kapowsin High School star.

In 2021, Morris completed 220 of 362 passes for 2,458 yards with 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. But the season started with a shocking loss to Montana and it didn't get much better. "He knows the expectations that this community has for this program, and there is nobody more disappointed on a 4-8 season than Dylan," said Grubb, who said Morris has grown a lot as a player since then. "I think he admitted to himself to things that he needed to get better at and he owned the mistakes that he made." Grubb said Morris is one of the hardest workers on the team and does a good job "being in the day - be great today and then tomorrow, do the same thing." Grubb said a quarterback has to "have thick skin" and he said Morris has taken that to heart. "I admire that kid a ton," Grubb said. "I don't that I would have had the mental fortitude to blast through some of the stuff that he has and still be really positive." - Seattle Times


rSr/2025 QB Dylan MorrisJames Madison
News Source: Seattle Times
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  Of the Dukes' new batch of wide receivers, a trio came from the transfer portal, bringing collegiate experience that could translate to the Sun Belt Conference. Phoenix Sproles, a North Dakota State transfer, was the first portal addition that the Dukes made for the 2023 season, and Cignetti said he showed flashes with the Bison, but the coach wants to see it done on "consistently." Sproles caught 61 passes for 888 yards and five touchdowns in 50 games with North Dakota State across his five seasons in Fargo, N.D. - Daily News-Record

rSr/2024 RB Phoenix SprolesJames Madison
News Source: Daily News-Record
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  When Immanuel Bush stepped off the charter bus with the rest of his Marshall teammates before the Thundering Herd's game at James Madison in late October, he didn't know what to expect. It was Marshall's first time playing at Bridgeforth Stadium in program history, so that feeling was palpable around most of the Thundering Herd. But when Bush took to the field, he had a career-best afternoon, posting 1.5 sacks while using his 300-pound frame and strength to push past the JMU offensive line in what the defensive lineman called the "funnest game that I played in all year." "It just felt like that's what college football is supposed to be," Bush said. "From the fans to the game, there wasn't any dirtiness from JMU players or us. That's the kind of game that I think college football should be like."

Fast forward a few months, and after less than 30 days in the transfer portal, Bush announced his commitment to JMU on Sunday - becoming the 10th transfer to commit to the Dukes for the fall - with three years of eligibility remaining. The Lancaster, S.C., native is the second Marshall defensive lineman to transfer to JMU in the past two seasons. Jamare Edwards made a move at the same time last year and had a productive final season of college football with the Dukes, recording 12.5 tackles for a loss en route to a second-team All-Sun Belt selection. - Daily News-Record


rJr/2026 DT Immanuel BushJames Madison
News Source: Daily News-Record
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  2022 PHIL STEEL ALL-INDEPENDENT CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM: K Noe Ruelas, Connecticut,...Sophomore kicker Noe Ruelas was thrust into the starting role during summer camp when returning starter Joe McFadden suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. McFadden was the Huskies leading point producer in 2021, hitting on 12 of 17 field goals and all 19 of his extra point attempts. Ruelas saw his first action in 2022 and held down the place kicking duties all season, making 12 of 15 field goals. Ruelas is the Huskies leading point producer with 62 points through 12 games.

He kicked the first field goals of his career, hitting a pair in the 4th quarter (47yd, 54yd) in the loss at Utah State. Ruelas's 54 yarder was the first 50-plus yard field goal at UConn since Michael Tarbutt hit from 50-yards at Tulsa in 2018. Ruelas now owns the second longest field goal in UConn school history, with his 54-yarder coming in behind school record holder Jim McManus who hit a 56-yard field goal against New Hampshire in 1998. It is the longest field goal in UConn's FBS history (2002-present). - Connecticut Football


rJr/2026 K Noe RuelasJames Madison
News Source: Connecticut Football
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  2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL FIRST TEAM: WR - Kris Thornton, James Madison (RS Sr., WR - Manassas, Va.),...Thornton became JMU's first receiver to reach 1,000 receiving yards in back-to-back seasons, as he caught 59 passes for 1,015 yards and seven touchdowns. Thornton averaged 17.2 yards per catch and turned in five 100-yard games, including a career-high 173 at Arkansas State. He ranks third in the Sun Belt in receiving yards (92.3), tied for third in receiving touchdowns, sixth in receptions per game (5.4) and seventh in yards per catch. Thornton was one of just two SBC receivers to go over 1,000 receiving yards this year. - James Madison Football

rSr/2023 WR Kris ThorntonJames Madison
News Source: James Madison Football
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  2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL SECOND TEAM: QB - Todd Centeio, James Madison (Gr., QB - West Palm Beach, Fla.),...Centeio made an immediate impact at quarterback, as he guided JMU to an 8-3 record and 6-2 mark in Sun Belt play to finish tied atop the East Division. In 10 starts, he completed 64% of his passes, throwing for 2,697 passing yards and 25 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He also ran for 393 yards and seven scores, accounting for 3,090 total yards and 32 total touchdowns. - James Madison Football

rSr/2023 QB Todd CenteioJames Madison
News Source: James Madison Football
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  2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL SECOND TEAM: DL - Jamare Edwards, James Madison (RS Sr., DL - Miami, Fla.),...Edwards produced 44 tackles with 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks while forcing a fumble and recovering another at the defensive tackle position. He led the Dukes in TFL, was second in sacks and fourth in total tackles. Edwards had at least 1.0 TFL six times, including a career-high 3.5 versus #23 Coastal Carolina. He had a full sack in four games, ranking seventh in the league in sacks per game (0.59). - James Madison Football

rSr/2023 DT Jamare EdwardsJames Madison
News Source: James Madison Football
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  2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL HONORABLE MENTION: TE - Drew Painter (RS Sr., TE - Hershey, Pa.),...Painter had 19 catches for 221 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He had four games with three or more catches and three games over 40 receiving yards. He was JMU's fifth-leading receiver and the top tight end target. - James Madison Football

rSr/2023 TE Drew PainterJames Madison
News Source: James Madison Football
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  2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL THIRD TEAM: LB - Taurus Jones, James Madison (RS So., LB - Portsmouth, Va.),...Jones led the Dukes in tackles in his first season starting at linebacker. He made 81 tackles with 10.5 TFLs and a sack. Jones also recorded three takeaways with one interception and two fumble recoveries, to go with two forced fumbles and four pass breakups. He had seven-plus tackles in eight games, including a career-high 13 twice. Jones ranks tied for fourth in the conference in forced fumbles, tied for fifth in recoveries and 11th in tackles per game (7.4). - James Madison Football

rSr/2025 OLB Taurus JonesJames Madison
News Source: James Madison Football
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  2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL THIRD TEAM: RB - Percy Agyei-Obese, James Madison (Gr., RB - Frederick, Md.),...Agyei-Obese capped off his illustrious career as JMU's third all-time leader in career rushing touchdowns, at 3,503. This season, he rushed for 908 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Agyei-Obese turned in three 100-yard games, including a career-best 158 at Arkansas State. He also rushed for 75 or more in nine of his 10 games. He's the Sun Belt's third-leading rusher (90.8) while also ranking fourth in yards per rush (5.7) and sixth in rushing scores (8). - James Madison Football

rSr/2023 RB Percy Agyei-ObeseJames Madison
News Source: James Madison Football
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