There were four standout running backs, and James Madison’s best player at the position didn’t even suit up for Friday night’s scrimmage.

The intrasquad matchup was the first for the Dukes during this preseason.

“Kaelon Black has been really impressive and [Solomon] Vanhorse made a lot of plays,” JMU coach Curt Cignetti said as he rattled through his takeaways after the scrimmage. “[Latrele] Palmer ran well tonight. Rhode Island [transfer Lorenzo Bryant Jr.] ran pretty well tonight.”

All four of those runners have past game experience. Black, a redshirt freshman, ran for 141 yards and a touchdown this past spring in JMU’s win at William & Mary. Palmer and Vanhorse were each previously featured at different times over the last two seasons for the Dukes, and Bryant Jr. previously started for the Rams.

Now, they’re all competing for carries to play in a complementary role to starter Percy Agyei-Obese, an All-American, who was one of a few veterans held out of the scrimmage.

Cignetti said the group of running backs has performed well during the first week of preseason practice, which concluded Friday.

“Our running backs have really caught the ball and significantly improved their receiving skills,” Cignetti said.

In the spring, JMU running backs combined for only 14 catches of the team’s 116 total receptions. But Cignetti noted, there are still strides the offense needs to make in order incorporate running backs more often in the passing game.

“It spreads [the defense] out a lot more,” Cignetti said, “but first we’ve got to protect it, because in the last half of the spring we kept the [running back] back in protection to keep the quarterback off his rear end. All this stuff looks good in practice, but you’ve got to protect the quarterback.”

Cignetti said the one area the offense struggled in Friday was its pass protection with senior left tackle Liam Fornadel and senior center J.T. Timming – like Agyei-Obese – held out of the scrimmage for precautionary reasons.

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- Wide receiver Kyndel Dean, who spent the spring season as a backup, has a knee injury, Cignetti said, and “there’s a good chance he’ll miss the season.” In his career, Dean has 70 catches for 922 yards and six touchdowns.

- The battle for the backup quarterback job is shaping up as a race between veteran Patrick Bentley and redshirt freshman Kyle Adams.

“It’s pretty even right now,” Cignetti said. “They both make plays at times, and there’s things they can do better. Pat probably has a little better grasp of the offense right now than Kyle does, which you’d expect, but they’ve both flashed and had their moments.”

- Black and Vanhorse are in line to be the primary kickoff returners, according to Cignetti. Vanhorse, cornerback Jordan Swann, wide receiver Kris Thornton and cornerback Jack Sroba are competing for the punt-return duties.

- One wide receiver looking to earn more playing time is Reggie Brown, and Cignetti noted Brown has stepped up recently. In his career, the Lakeland, Fla., native has two catches for 12 yards. He’s a redshirt sophomore.