Defensive Backs To Headline Dukes' Early Signing Day

Even Xavier Cokley is stunned he’s part of the heralded group of defensive backs James Madison will officially welcome Wednesday as college football’s early signing period opens.

On Monday, Dukes coach Curt Cignetti said he expects all 14 of their verbal pledges to sign Letters of Intent on Wednesday, including the Franklin (Reisterstown, Md.) cornerback - Cokley - who began his prep career with no desire to play defense.

“I was good at wide receiver and that’s what I wanted to do,” Cokley, a JMU commit since late July, said with a laugh earlier this week. “I looked up to guys like Odell Beckham and DeAndre Hopkins, and I used to watch film, but I’d never look at defensive backs like that’d be me. And now that’s all I look at.”

Cokley, Life Christian Academy (Chester) cornerback AJ Webb, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (Cambridge, Mass.) defensive back Sam Malignaggi and University of Massachusetts transfer safety Joseph Norwood make up the squad of secondary defenders Cignetti’s staff pursued diligently.

JMU will ink more defensive backs than any other position this week.

Webb was a former Virginia commit, and both Webb and Malignaggi are two-star prospects by Rivals.com. Webb, Malignaggi and Cokley all received intense interest from FBS programs.

“I feel like we’re the next wave,” Webb, who will enroll in January, said about him and the other defensive backs in the class, “coming in and setting the tone early, having a good time, learning the playbook and that the sky is the limit for us. We’re just young, so it’s just a matter of time that we can show what we can do to the coaches and the fans. I’m pretty excited for all of us.”

Cokley said: “I’ve watched film of course of everybody that I’ll be playing alongside and I feel like we’re going to be a strong core. And JMU takes pride in the way their defensive backs play anyway, because they play a lot of press-man coverage. They don’t play much zone, so most often they always play press and that’s what they really like about me.”

Cokley had four interceptions and 20 pass deflections as a senior for Franklin and in only his second year roaming the defensive backfield.

His junior season, one that he transitioned from wide receiver to cornerback, was the one that drew the attention of college coaches.

“It’s very funny because starting out in the very beginning of my recruiting process everything started off slow,” he said. “I was on JV my freshman and sophomore year, so I only played two years on varsity, and my freshman and sophomore year I only played wide receiver strictly.

“But anyway, my defensive backs coach in high school always said that he would see it in me and that ‘you’ll go to the next level,’ if you play defensive back. So I tried it for the first time my junior year and I ended up with two picks and was leading our area in pass deflections and everything. My coach was like ‘I told you so,’ and then right after the season ended my head coach started bringing in schools and they started liking my film.”

One of the coaches Cokley met was Dukes offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski, the area recruiter, according to the cornerback.

Cokley said he earned other scholarship offers from Fordham, Howard, Maine, Morgan State and New Hampshire, and that he believed Army, Connecticut, Delaware and Temple would’ve offered had he not created a strong relationship with Wroblewski and committed to the Dukes during a summer visit to Harrisonburg.

“I just liked Coach Wrobo’s attitude,” Cokley said. “And he just always stood out to me because every coach that came to my school was the same. They were all excited and they wanted to meet me, but there was just something about him to where it just seemed like he wanted to win. And [JMU coaches] only like people that are on the same page as them. They like a certain energy at their school and that stood out.”

In addition to the four defensive backs, other standouts in the class include West Lafayette (Ind.) quarterback Kyle Adams and University of Connecticut transfer offensive lineman Stanley Hubbard.

“I’ve been waiting for this day to really sign my name and make it official,” Cokley said. “There’s nothing like it.”

Webb agreed.

“I’m pretty excited,” Webb said. “My family is pretty excited for me too. It’s just a matter of time until it’s a done deal.”