Dukes Elevate Moloney To Starting QB
His play off the bench in James Madison’s come-from-behind win this past Saturday has earned quarterback Gage Moloney a promotion.
Moloney was tabbed to start for the first time in his career this coming Saturday when the Dukes were previously slated to host William & Mary, second-year JMU coach Curt Cignetti said Monday morning during the Colonial Athletic Association coaches’ video conference.
Later Monday, the meeting between the Dukes and Tribe was postponed due to coronavirus protocols within the JMU program.
“We’re going to start Gage this week and have Cole [Johnson] ready to go,” Cignetti said before the game was called off. “And we’re looking to start better. We haven’t started very well in the first half the last two weeks and we’ve got to play better earlier in the game on offense to get some momentum going.”
Cignetti said he was impressed with Moloney, who replaced Johnson in the third quarter with the Dukes trailing Elon 17-6 on the road in North Carolina. Moloney sparked the offense and led JMU on two touchdown drives to propel the comeback victory.
Up until Moloney entered, the Dukes had mustered only two field goals. With Moloney behind center, JMU tallied seven first downs and two touchdowns over its final four possessions.
“He made some throws,” Elon coach Tony Trisciani said about Moloney. “Certainly, the touchdown pass [to Antwane Wells Jr.] on the sideline. But from a game-plan standpoint, it didn’t change what we were doing drastically. We knew we still needed to stop the running backs, so it didn’t change our game plan much, so [Moloney] came in and won the game for ‘em.”
Cignetti said Moloney has shown signs of improvement in practice.
“He’s a really good athlete and he’s got a good arm, too,” Cignetti said, “and you can run a quarterback run or two, if you desire. We’re not a quarterback-run team, but that’s always part of the package with him. He’s been throwing the ball really well in practice. He’s been throwing the deep ball really well in practice and I’ve seen his arm strength improve. And with his grasp of the offense, he’s not a young guy anymore. He’s starting to get the offense down.”
For his career, Moloney, now a fourth-year junior, has appeared in 11 games including last season’s FCS national championship contest as a running quarterback. He’s 12-of-20 for 202 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in his limited previous action.
The left-handed signal-caller, one of the marquee members of JMU’s 2017 recruiting class, will now just have to wait a little longer for his initial start.