Dukes Plan To Ink 13 In Early Signing Period

HARRISONBURG — For college football programs across the country, the month of December no longer only signifies postseason football.

The NCAA’s new early signing period, which begins on Dec. 20, has forced coaches to balance preparing their current players for the most important games they’ll play all season while also solidifying the majority of the cycle’s recruiting class.

Top-ranked JMU hosts Stony Brook on Saturday in the second round of the FCS playoffs and second-year coach Mike Houston said the program plans on inking all 13 of its commits on the early signing date.

Should the Dukes make a playoff run to a national championship like they did last year, the national semifinal contest will be held either Dec. 15 or 16, less than a week before the signing period begins.

“We’ve had a lot of official visits during the regular season,” Houston said. “The challenging part is that you have a kid come in on Friday and you’re trying to get your team ready. You want to show the kid a good time, so you’re doing the Friday night meal and you’re entertaining a family and then Saturday morning you’re having meetings. But you also have to make time to meet with the parents and the kid, and you’re touring him around campus, but you also have pregame warm-ups.

“It’s hard to juggle the whole thing.”

Eight of the 13 current verbal pledges have been committed since the spring or summer, and five have committed during the last two months.

So far the class includes eight offensive players — running back Dante Miller (Rockingham, N.C.), wide receivers Reggie Brown (Lakeland, Fla.), Rakeem Davis (Charlottesville) and Devin Ravenel (Stafford), tight end Drew Painter (Hershey, Pa.) and offensive linemen Nick Kidwell (Boonsboro, Md.), Amelio Moran (Virginia Beach) and Henry Schroeder (Richmond).

Three defensive players — linebacker Mateo Jackson (Richmond) and cornerbacks Jamari Currence (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Willie Drew (Smithfield) — plus kicker/punter Camden Wise (Blacksburg) and athlete Hayden Mann (Mebane, N.C.) are also part of the haul.

“We’ve got a good crew of commits and we feel like we’re going to get one or two more before the early signing day,” Houston said. “The big thing is that we don’t want to make any mistakes. You don’t want to take any close guys on the early signing day because I think there’s going to be some good players left over after.

“But I do think moving forward, with having a full year to recruit, I think it’s going to change the way we spring recruit, it’s going to change what we do in the summer and maybe we’ll do some official visits in the summer. The whole thing is going to speed up the recruiting process and I think we’re seeing that so far as well.

“The positive is that it’ll clean up a lot of stuff with the FBS kids with people trying to play games and things like that. To me, it’s going to be a good thing in time, just in the first year everybody’s trying to tweak and change and make adjustments.”

One decision that could play a part in how many prospects JMU signs for its 2018 class, has to do with senior running back Cardon Johnson.

Houston said he thinks Johnson would qualify for a medical-hardship waiver and sixth year of eligibility if he wanted to pursue it.

The Newport News native went down with a season-ending Achilles injury for a second straight year when he hobbled off the field during the Dukes’ win over Norfolk State in September.

Houston said if Johnson wants to return to the team, the door is open.

“We’ve talked about it,” Houston said. “Cardon and I are discussing what’s best for him.

“For us, we’re handling things as if he’s not coming back, but I’ve given him the option. I want him to do what’s best for Cardon Johnson and if he feels like he wants to try and play one more year, we feel confident that he can get the hardship waiver.”

Johnson starred in the season opener when he rushed for a career-high 265 yards and two touchdowns to help JMU knock off East Carolina 34-14.

“That’s a life decision for him and his family,” Houston said. “That’s one he’s going to make. And he’ll make that in the next couple of weeks because I just told him I had to know before the middle of December because I’d have to save the scholarship for the spring semester.”