Ankrah Named CAA Defensive POY To Highlight Dukes' All-League Honors
HARRISONBURG — For a second straight season, James Madison ran over its Colonial Athletic Association competition, going unbeaten toward an outright league title.
On Tuesday, the Dukes’ on-field success bled into the conference’s yearly honors.
Senior defensive end Andrew Ankrah was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year for his 45 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
“The honor means a lot,” Ankrah said. “You definitely set goals at the beginning of the year and that’s what I had to do.
“I wrote my goals out and read them every day and every week. As games and weeks progress, you look back at those goals and they increase and they change depending on where you are. My number one goal was to make sure I’m doing my job to help my team win.
“And every week the coaches came up with a great game plan and I had the opportunity to fit within calls where my number was called to make a play and I think I took advantage of that.”
The Gaithersburg, Md., native finished in the top four of the league for both tackles for loss and sacks.
His 23-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown at Delaware in September helped the Dukes knock off the Blue Hens 20-10.
“When you’re a D-lineman and you make a play that probably wins the ballgame, he has that ability,” second-year JMU coach Mike Houston said. “But I could not be more excited for him.”
It’s the third year in a row a JMU player has won a major Player of the Year award from the league. Last year, quarterback Bryan Schor was the Offensive Player of the Year in the CAA and in 2015 quarterback Vad Lee captured the same award.
Richmond quarterback Kyle Lauletta was named Offensive Player of Year for this season.
Beyond Ankrah’s accolade, senior John Miller was named CAA Special Teams Player of the Year and 16 total Dukes — matching a program record — were named All-CAA team selections.
The 16 all-league choices were also a conference best.
Miller led the league by averaging 11.7 yards per punt return. He’s the second JMU returner to be named Special Teams Player of the Year in the last two seasons, joining Rashard Davis, who earned the award last year.
“I had no idea I was in the running for it,” Miller said. “So when Coach Houston told me and the team, I was shocked.”
Ankrah was a first-team defensive line choice and Miller was the first-team punt returner.
Ankrah has earned first-team All-CAA honors in each of the past three years.
Joining Ankrah and Miller on the first team were senior offensive tackle Aaron Stinnie, senior defensive tackle Simeyon Robinson, senior linebacker Kyre Hawkins, senior safety Raven Greene, junior cornerback Jimmy Moreland and junior cornerback Rashad Robinson.
“You have a season like we had and you get the postseason honors,” Houston said. “It’s a reflection of the level our team played at.”
Schor, who threw for 21 touchdowns and ran for six touchdowns, was the All-CAA second-team quarterback. He also won the league’s Chuck Boone Leadership and Excellence Award, becoming the first-ever recipient from JMU to take the honor.
Sophomore offensive tackle Jahee Jackson, senior safety Jordan Brown and freshman punter Harry O’Kelly were second-team selections as well.
Four of JMU’s five starting defensive backs —Brown, Greene, Moreland and Robinson — were either first- or second-team All-CAA choices.
“Our secondary as a whole, especially our corners room, had a great regular season,” Houston said. “I think if you ask anybody in the league, they are a big factor as to why we were able to do what we did defensively.
“We were able to sit there and play press-man coverage tight against good receivers in our league whether it’s [Neil] O’Connor from New Hampshire or the two wide receivers from Rhode Island or whoever. You saw it Saturday when there are no windows to throw in and the quarterback has to hold the football, that’s when the sacks start adding up and pressure starts taking effect. That group has had an outstanding regular season.”
Junior running back Trai Sharp, senior wide receiver Terrence Alls, junior defensive end Darrious Carter and senior linebacker Brandon Hereford were tabbed to the third team.
Elon first-year coach Curt Cignetti was the league’s Coach of the Year.