Dukes Land UCF D-Line Transfer Cholewa

It’s always reassuring to have the vote of approval from a familiar face.

Especially one that’s already made the decision being considered.

On Thursday, Central Florida transfer nose guard/defensive tackle Mason Cholewa announced his commitment to James Madison and that choice came on the heels of his conversation with Dukes senior running back Jawon Hamilton, who left UCF for JMU ahead of the 2018 season.

Cholewa said the two former Knights spoke late Wednesday.

“Jawon said he loves [JMU],” Cholewa said. “He said it took him a little bit to get used to the weather, but I’m a northern boy. I was born in Buffalo and raised in Pittsburgh, so not really too worried about the cold or the snow, but me and Jawon had a really good talk about the school and life outside of football. He said he really liked it there, felt like it was home and that he couldn’t have made a better decision.”

The pair of soon-to-be-reunited teammates met initially in 2017 when Hamilton was in his second season at UCF and Cholewa was in first.

In his last two years with the Knights, Cholewa appeared in 21 games, started once and racked up 19 tackles to go along with 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a pass breakup.

He said he opted to sit out of this fall season with UCF due to a combination of coronavirus concerns and personal reasons, and then ultimately decided to enter the transfer portal. While in the transfer portal, he heard from Duquesne, Kent State, Texas State and Youngstown State in addition to JMU.

“But after talking with all the [JMU] coaches,” Cholewa said, “the D-coordinator, the D-Line coach and coach [Curt Cignetti], I felt like it’s going to be a really good fit for me. I feel like I can play really good in that defense and that their D-Line has had so much success over the past three or four years.”

Three JMU defensive linemen in the last three seasons – Ron’Dell Carter, John Daka and Andrew Ankrah – have earned All-American status. Carter, now a member of the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad, was a transfer like Cholewa, too. Carter spent the first two years of his career at Rutgers ahead of joining the Dukes.

According to Cholewa, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, JMU coaches have told him he’ll have an opportunity to play right away as long as he’s eligible for the coming spring campaign.

JMU unlike UCF, isn’t playing this fall and instead will hold its 2020 season in the spring.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out right now,” Cholewa said. “I graduate this semester and I’ll be considered a grad transfer, but the coaches are having a meeting Friday with their compliance office and they’re trying to figure out if transfer guys can play this spring. But technically I didn’t play this [fall] season, so that’s the question right now.”

He said if he can join the Dukes in game action for their spring campaign, he’s a candidate to fill the void left behind by former JMU defensive tackle Adeeb Atariwa. Last month, Atariwa transferred from JMU to Virginia in order to play his senior season in the fall.

Cholewa, a 6-foot-7, 305-pounder, said the role is one he can handle.

“They said, ‘We’ve never told a kid that he’s going to come here and start,’” Cholewa said, “but they said, ‘We really need you to fill that spot.’ They said they feel like I can dominate this league and they said we would make another run for the [national championship].”

And playing for a national championship is another reason why Cholewa said JMU was the best destination for him.

UCF went 35-4 and earned bids to the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl while Cholewa was at the school, and he didn’t want to go to a team that wasn’t capable of winning consistently.

“What they’re doing at JMU is something special,” he said. “They’ve been to the national championship countless times over the last few years, and championships run in that program and that’s what was happening at UCF. I think, it’s not only the coaches leading the program, but the players leading it too and that’s what I was looking for. And when everyone is on the same page it makes it a lot easier and a lot of fun.”