Dukes' Defense Prepares For Rams' QB Lawson
HARRISONBURG — It took a quarterback from California that started his college career at the University of New Mexico to give Rhode Island’s football program a much-needed boost.
Well-traveled signal-caller JaJuan Lawson has emerged from FBS castoff to starting quarterback of an improving FCS squad.
“He’s got a great attitude and he’s a great competitor,” Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming said. “He’s very talented to do the run and the pass and extend plays.
“I’m thrilled about him as a player and a person.”
Lawson has appeared in each game and started the last two for Rhode Island, which is set to host top-ranked James Madison on Saturday at noon.
The Dukes slaughtered the Rams 84-7 last year in Harrisonburg. That day, then-Rhode Island quarterback Jordan Vazzano was limited to 12 passing yards and was intercepted five times by JMU.
Before the new season started, Vazzano left the team and Fleming imported Lawson from New Mexico and Tyler Harris from the University of Central Florida to battle for the starting quarterback job.
Harris initially beat out Lawson, but Lawson still saw action in a reserve role, and when Harris got hurt, the former Lobo was ready to step in.
“It took him really five games to get it, but he’s given us a big boost and moving the ball effectively, scoring more points over the last two football games,” Fleming said. “Hopefully we can keep that going.”
JMU coach Mike Houston said Lawson has thrived and allowed Rhode Island’s playmakers on the perimeter like sophomore wide receiver Aaron Parker to find more success.
In his two games as a starter, Lawson has thrown for 370 yards and four touchdowns compared to just one interception. Additionally, he’s run for 137 yards. This past Saturday, Rhode Island picked up its first league win of the year, downing Albany 31-14.
“They run the quarterback stretch. They’ll run a lot of quarterback draw stuff, so they have some designed-quarterback run in their offense,” Houston said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re sound against it because he is a legitimate threat.”
To get Lawson to move all the way across the country to Rhode Island, he needed the opportunity to play quarterback, Fleming said, although several FBS schools looked at the junior to play other positions.
New Mexico runs coach Bob Davie’s option offense, and even though Lawson had a rushing touchdown in his redshirt sophomore season last year, he only attempted five passes.
“He was working the option game out there at New Mexico and hadn’t really had a good opportunity to show what he could do,” Fleming said. “He was an extremely efficient passer out of high school, went to New Mexico, got his education and wanted the opportunity to play quarterback for two years.
“His options became transferring really anywhere to looking at FCS level football programs to see if he’d have a chance to play quarterback.”
Lawson took a summertime recruiting visit to Kingston, R.I., and understood his own situation. Fleming said the graduate transfer knew exactly what he was looking for in his next destination.
“He fell in love with the school,” Fleming said. “The only question was if we were going to give him a shot at quarterback or not, and as soon as our starter from the previous year, Jordan Vazzano, determined that this was not for him anymore, I called JaJuan and said quarterback is the spot we want to bring you in at.
“He jumped right on it and went to work to battle for the starting job.”
JMU senior safety Raven Greene said Lawson is an upgrade from Vazzano at quarterback for the Rams.
“Every week is a new week in a sense of knowing the opponent’s athletic ability,” Greene said. “But I know we’re going to have to come out and a get a feel for [Lawson].”
Since CAA play began, JMU has rattled opposing quarterbacks, recording 24 sacks and 12 interceptions in five league games.