HARRISONBURG — James Madison brings back more players than it lost from its national championship-winning team, which means the team’s roster features more depth compared to a year ago.
Over the three-week training camp, which begins Wednesday, JMU coach Mike Houston will be tasked with evaluating key position battles.
Here are three positional competitions to watch leading into the Dukes’ Sept. 2 opener at East Carolina:
Running Back
JMU lost 2016 leading rusher Khalid Abdullah, now with the New York Giants, yet still has a five-man competition at the position. Senior Cardon Johnson, senior Taylor Woods, junior Marcus Marshall, junior Trai Sharp and freshman Percy Agyei-Obese will be battling for carries.
“I like our room and I think they’ve got a chance to be pretty special,” Houston said. “Even the freshman, Percy. Obviously, we’ll try to redshirt him, but he’s been impressive during the summer.”
Johnson is coming off an Achilles injury that sidelined him for JMU’s postseason run last season. Sharp, who took carries behind Abdullah and in place of Johnson, played in all 15 games and racked up 617 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 111 carries.
Marshall, a Georgia Tech transfer, led the Yellow Jackets in rushing in each of the past two seasons.
“Everyone is a competitor and the best player is going to play,” Sharp said.
“It’s something where I’m going to let them figure it out,” Houston said. “I’m going to let the kids figure it out. I’m going to let the kids decide how we’re splitting the carries and what the order is based on their performance.”
Cornerback
At times, like in the quarterfinal romp of Sam Houston State, JMU used as many as five cornerbacks on the field at the same time.
Against Sam Houston State, the Dukes did it to match up with the Bearkats’ pass-happy offense. This season, JMU could see some pass-oriented sets from East Carolina and Richmond, but more often than not the team will not have to use five corners simultaneously, so the battles for the two true starting corner spots and the nickel corner spot are important.
Jimmy Moreland, Curtis Oliver, Rashad Robinson and Charles Tutt are all back and all saw significant playing time last season. The team also added true freshmen Taurus Carroll and Wesley McCormick to the mix.
Defensive Line
One area coaches typically feel they don’t have enough depth is on the defensive line. JMU is different.
“If you would have told me last year that we’d be sitting here this way going into this year, I would have really questioned you knowing what you’re talking about,” Houston said of his defensive line. “It’s been a great transformation in a year.”
Across the front, the team returns Andrew Ankrah, Simeyon Robinson, Cornell Urquhart and Darrious Carter. Others who saw action in 2016 include John Daka and David Ezeagwu, and the team added Rutgers transfer Ron’Dell Carter after the spring.
“I’m excited to see Ron’Dell in pads,” Houston said. “Then we’ve got some young kids I’m excited to see like Rondre [Knowles-Tener] and Adeeb [Atariwa], and is David Ezeagwu ready to step into a prominent role? And then, how are those freshmen going to step in? Because we have a couple of really talented freshman defensive linemen.”
