Cignetti Stays Patient On Recruiting Trail

James Madison football coach Curt Cignetti said he and his staff are generally sticking to the same deliberate theory he’s always abided by – gaining as much knowledge as possible about a prospect before offering a scholarship to that player or taking a commitment from him – in order to avoid misses in recruiting.

“I think we’ve got to be patient,” Cignetti said. “We did throw some offers out a while back.

“A lot of those guys have numerous Power Five offers and are in-state prospects, and maybe they’re guys where you’d get ‘em on the bounce back if it doesn’t work out where they decide to go. Then there were a few guys we felt we knew enough about and a lot of different things go into that; their character, their work habits, their academics, how they play on tape. But at the end of the day, we still got to get ‘em on campus, sit down and look ‘em in the eye to see if they’re the right fit for our program.”

The Dukes don’t have any commitments for their 2021 recruiting class yet, but they didn’t have any pledges for their 2020 class at this time last year when the world wasn’t stopped due a pandemic either. JMU got its first commit for the 2020 class when Stone Bridge (Ashburn) defensive end Mikail Kamara gave his verbal to Cignetti and company in mid-June during a visit to the school.

Eventually, JMU finished with HeroSports.com’s No. 1-rated recruiting class in FCS.

Cignetti said he, area recruiters and position coaches are keeping in contact with prospects during this time. Earlier this month, the Division I Council extended a dead period banning all in-person recruiting through May 31. In March, the Division Council had also advised schools to suspend all official and unofficial visits. Phone calls and written correspondents are allowed.

He said the coaching staff evaluates players on film hasn’t changed at all since prospects have their game tape and highlight tapes widely available online.

“We have a great product to sell here,” Cignetti, the second-year coach who led JMU to an outright Colonial Athletic Association crown and an FCS national championship game appearance in 2019, said. “We have a very strong brand and the kids recognize that, and so once we’re able to get ‘em on campus, up and going again, you’ll probably see a few commitments.”

And Cignetti said based on the size of JMU’s current senior class, the Dukes will have many scholarships available for 2021 recruits.

There are 22 seniors listed on the 2020 roster and 18 of them have started at least one game in their career. Last year as juniors, right tackle Liam Fornadel was an All-American while defensive tackle Mike Greene, running back Percy Agyei-Obese, running back Jawon Hamilton, kicker Ethan Ratke, safety D’Angelo Amos and left guard Truvel Wilson were All-CAA picks. Quarterback Cole Johnson, defensive tackle Adeeb Atariwa and safety Wayne Davis are other notables due to graduate after this coming season.

“You’re always going to recruit one quarterback every year and then the decision is do you take a transfer or not?” Cignetti said. “We’ve got to make sure we bolster ourselves at defensive tackle and continue to build on the offensive line. And in the secondary, we’re going to lose some defensive backs, so we’re going to have to recruit some defensive backs. Then a WILL linebacker, a tight end or two, a receiver or two and a running back.

“But then a decision you’ve got to make is how many high school guys versus transfers you’re going to take. Depending on what the recruiting calendar looks like and how well we get to know these guys, it could change how many high school guys we take versus how many transfers we take.”

Cignetti said he prefers to build the program with high school recruits and because of strong connections to high school coaches in the Commonwealth and the neighboring state of Maryland, he believes JMU can do that. But that in this particular 2021 cycle, the Dukes may have to consider more transfers.

As part of the 2020 class, the Dukes have already officially added four FBS transfers to their roster – defensive back Joe Joe Norwood (Massachusetts), defensive lineman Abi N-Okonji (Minnesota), offensive lineman Stanley Hubbard (Connecticut) and wide receiver Scott Bracey (Duke) – and former North Carolina tight end Noah Turner is verbally committed. But those five FBS imports could be it for the Dukes in 2020, according to Cignetti, who said the transfer portal has slowed down due to the coronavirus.

“Normally this time of year, people would be finishing up with spring football and there’d be a lot of roster movement,” Cignetti explained. “There’d be another wave of transfers, but you’re not really seeing that right now in the portal and everything is just sort of status quo as is, so I do think it’s going to affect roster management in areas like that. Right now, patience is the name of the game.”