3-Star LB Martin Picks JMU Over Seven FBS Schools
The urgency didn’t go unnoticed.
James Madison made Stone Bridge (Ashburn) linebacker Skylar Martin its priority.
“I just had a family feeling with all the coaches,” Martin told the Daily News-Record on Tuesday shortly after publicly committing to the Dukes via Instagram. “They were in a rush to meet me, always got on the Zoom calls immediately and there was no delay. It was just a really good feeling.”
Martin’s pledge to JMU continued the program’s sudden surge on the recruiting trail, catapulting the Dukes all the way up to 77th nationally in team ratings by Rivals.com. JMU is the lone FCS school ranked in the top 100, and are currently ahead of Power Five teams like Oregon State, Utah and Colorado and Group of Five institutions like Appalachian State, Central Florida and East Carolina.
Rivals rates Martin as a three-star prospect and as the 28th best player from Virginia in the 2021 cycle.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder said he had eight total scholarship offers before deciding on the Dukes from a final three, which also included FBS independent Connecticut and SEC member Vanderbilt. His other offers were from Akron, Buffalo, Louisville, Massachusetts and Virginia – all FBS members.
But Martin said he wasn’t bothered by JMU residing in the FCS.
“Just the fact that they’re going to the national championship every year,” Martin said, “and getting most of the attention in their own division was a really big factor.”
This past fall as a junior for Stone Bridge, Martin racked up 79 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and two pass breakups while helping the Bulldogs reach the Virginia High School League Class 5 state championship game. He earned VHSL Class 5 All-State first-team honors at his position, too.
According to Martin, his lead recruiters, Dukes wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Mike Shanahan and linebackers coach Bryant Haines, told him he could earn playing time early in his college career.
“It’s very similar to the defense we run at Stone Bridge,” Martin said. “And [Haines] said they can fit me in at middle linebacker and outside linebacker, and with the way I can rush off the edge and also the way I play in the middle that I can be a really big piece as soon as I get there.”
Martin said ahead of his decision he FaceTimed with Shanahan frequently and spoke often with Haines. Additionally, Martin had conversations with JMU defensive end Mikail Kamara, another Stone Bridge product and who enrolled early with the Dukes this past January as part of the 2020 recruiting class.
Both Kamara and Martin visited Bridgeforth Stadium this past October for JMU’s come-from-behind win over Villanova.
Kamara was also named to the VHSL Class 5 first-team All-State squad this past fall.
“We were actually working out together, and I had told [Kamara] I was planning on committing,” Martin said. “And he was fired up. He was just eager for us to get back to it together.”
Another factor Martin considered, he said, was his family, which vacations regularly at nearby Massanutten. He wanted his mother to have an easy drive to all of his games, and because his sister goes to school at Virginia Tech he said him and his family have stopped in Harrisonburg on the way to and from Blacksburg.
Before he becomes a member of Dukes, though, he said must take care of some unfinished business at Stone Bridge first and has a goal winning the Class 5 championship this coming fall.
“Going for that state ring,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of our players returning, and nobody is stopping us.”