Carter Takes Next Step

HARRISONBURG — The question was simple enough and Mike Houston provided an answer without hesitation.

‘Has any player done enough this spring to win a job?’

“Ron’Dell Carter has had an incredible spring,” Houston, the third-year James Madison football coach, said Tuesday after the team’s practice. “I mean he is, holy cow, I think he has come into his own with what I thought his potential was.”

Houston brought Carter to JMU last summer after the defensive lineman opted to transfer from Rutgers and join his brother, outside linebacker and special teamer Robert Carter Jr., with the Dukes.

This spring, Ron’Dell Carter has mostly played defensive end, his preferred position, after seeing action both inside and outside on the front this past fall when he tallied 28 tackles to go along with eight tackles for loss and four sacks.

Houston said in January once the team returned from its 2017 FCS title game loss to North Dakota State, he challenged Carter to elevate his play.

“He can play either [tackle or end], but it’s at defensive end right now,” Houston said. “He’s a force, and we’re playing pretty good up front on offense I feel like because I’ve been really pleased with [offensive linemen] Liam Fornadel and Zaire Bethea. I think [center] Mac Patrick has had a real solid spring, so we have guys playing at a real high level, but Ron’Dell is a load now. He’s hard to handle.”

During team periods or scrimmages, Carter can be found making tackles or disrupting the offense by reaching the backfield frequently.

Earlier this spring, Carter said he wanted to use the 15 practices to better himself against the running game and refine his technique before working to perfect his pass rush.

Houston said he sees a completely different player from the one that arrived last May. Carter will enter this summer as one of the team’s projected starters at end.

“He’s developed his body,” Houston said. “He’s probably 15 pounds heavier and much more solid. And then I think that [defensive line coach Jeff] Hanson has done a great job with him fundamentally.

“When we got him he was a good athlete, played hard, maybe wasn’t as fundamental, but you look now and he’s a fundamental and an extremely physical player that plays every single play.”

At this Saturday’s spring game, don’t expect to see senior running backs Cardon Johnson, Marcus Marshall or Trai Sharp.

The trio has been mostly sidelined and held out of spring practice with lingering injuries from the fall, so sophomore Percy Agyei-Obese has taken the majority of first-team touches and sophomore Eric Kirlew, a walk-on who made the team at an open tryout last year, has worked with the second team.

“That’s a guy who was in the student body, came and tried out,” Houston said. “So to see where he’s come from that to now, certainly he’s improved and worked very, very hard. I’m pleased with him.”

It’s unlikely Kirlew will be in the mix for any playing time at running back in the fall, though. The Dukes are deep with three upperclassmen all capable of leading the team in rushing and the emerging Agyei-Obese, who showed promise in a reserve role this past fall. But Houston hasn’t ruled out finding other ways for Kirlew, a Reston native, to get on the field. At South Lakes High School, Kirlew was a first-team All-Liberty Conference choice as a senior.

“He needs to find a way to get on the field with special teams,” Houston said. “For those guys that are young trying to earn they’re spot, they’ve got to get on the field on special teams because that gets them on the bus. That gets them on the travel team. Once you get on the travel team, you can get on the depth chart.

“But the first thing is that you’ve got to be able to get on the field. Special teams is going to be his way to get on the field this fall.”

Former JMU wide receiver Terrence Alls and tight end Jonathan Kloosterman were named to the National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Honor Society by the organization on Wednesday.

The honor recognizes graduating or graduated seniors that have maintained at least a 3.2 GPA for their college careers.

Alls played two seasons as a graduate transfer at JMU after spending his first three seasons at Duke. He made 94 catches for 1,285 yards and seven touchdowns over 24 games for JMU.

Kloosterman, a Strasburg product, had to walk-on before eventually becoming JMU’s top tight end during the 2016 championship run. Kloosterman recorded 46 catches for 10 touchdowns in his career.