FIELD NOTES: The All-American Encounter

But Dukes offensive lineman Liam Fornadel and defensive lineman Mike Greene have taken reps versus each other long before earning top status. Both Fornadel and Greene were named STATS FCS preseason All-Americans this past fall prior to the campaign being postponed to the spring.

“When I was playing guard my freshman year I went up against him quite a bit,” Fornadel said Friday following JMU’s practice. “It’s how it goes, I guess. Two young guys on the inside. We used to go against each other a lot, but it’s been a while and his game has definitely changed.”

Fornadel moved from guard to right tackle as a sophomore and has started the program’s last 29 games at the position since, all while stabilizing the Dukes’ offensive line.

Greene, though, was used on the interior of the defensive front and avoided those training camp grudge matches and practice tilts with Fornadel only up until this past November when JMU coaches decided Greene could help the team by transitioning to defensive end. Greene played more defensive end than defensive tackle as a standout at Highland Springs High School, he said.

“I’m getting real comfortable out there,” Greene said. “It’s been good. I think I know the whole defense, so I’m pretty comfortable out there right now.”

Fornadel said from his point of view, Greene’s switch has worked. In preseason practices, JMU will have its first-team offense play against its first-team defense at times and linemen go one-on-one during individual periods.

“He’s a stout defender as most people know,” Fornadel said, “and he does a great job in what he does. He’s a solid run defender. Pass rush, he’s strong on that, too, but obviously the weight is there so he’s not one of the quicker guys like a [former JMU defensive ends John] Daka or even a Ron’Dell [Carter]. But he still does a great job of bringing pressure on that outside edge.”

Greene registered 7.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss as a defensive tackle in 2019. Those marks were best in the Colonial Athletic Association for any interior defensive linemen.

He said his new position requires some varied technique he’s in the process of learning.

“With the amount of space you get, it’s way different,” Greene said. “Having no one outside of you, where you could possibly trip up or run into the tackle, so having that space allows you to bring a lot more different moves and for you to have a lot of different rushes. So I love it. It’s been great out there.”

The 6-foot-3, 285-pounder said there is a benefit to testing those moves against Fornadel and senior left tackle Raymond Gillespie, another multi-year starter.

“They’re some of the best in the nation, going against Liam and Raymond,” Greene said. “You get different looks. You get Liam, who is a little bit shorter, but moves a lot. Then Raymond with his long arms is really tall, so you get a lot out there with our O-Line. It’s been good getting a lot of different looks.”

Fornadel said that’s the whole point of practice and hopefully it will prep him and Greene to be ready for the Dukes’ Feb. 20 season-opening contest against Morehead State.

“I think that’s what our main goal is,” Fornadel said. “And it’s not just me and Mike, it’s the entire team whether it be Tony [Thurston] going against J.T. [Timming] or any of the defensive ends going against offensive tackles. Even outside of our own position, the wide receivers and cornerbacks. We go out there and push ourselves to make not only ourselves better, but the people who we go up against better. I think that’s just one of the things we emphasize.”

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- Greene said him and his fellow defensive linemen, “are all getting better out there.”

It’s a new-look group for the Dukes, who aside from Greene, don’t have any returning starters back. Additionally, two candidates for starting roles, defensive ends Isaac Ukwu and Jalen Green, got hurt during fall practice, so the unit is totally revamped.

Friday’s practice was the first workout to have a portion open to reporters, and on the first-team defensive line with Greene were defensive end Abi N-Okonji, defensive tackle Tony Thurston and defensive tackle James Carpenter. Central Florida transfer defensive tackle Mason Cholewa was with the second-team defense.

Cholewa towers over his teammates, standing at 6-foot-7, 305 pounds.

“He’s definitely a big guy,” Greene said about Cholewa. “But he’s bringing a lot of energy and he’s flying around out there. I like him a lot and I think he’s going to be a good addition to our D-Line.”

- During a special-teams period, running backs Jawon Hamilton, Percy Agyei-Obese and Solomon Vanhorse as well as wide receiver Kris Thornton were taking reps as kick returners.

Of those four, Hamilton has the most significant experience returning kicks. In his two previous seasons with the Dukes, Hamilton had 24 kick-return attempts for 680 yards and one touchdown.

Thornton was a successful kick returner in high school, totaling three kick-return scores over his junior and senior seasons with Osbourn before beginning his college career at VMI.

- Quarterback Cole Johnson took reps with the first-team offense on Friday. Johnson and Gage Moloney are alternating practices in which they get to run the first-team offense.

- Sophomore safety Chris Chukwuneke was back on the field Friday. Chukwuneke tallied 16 tackles and an interception in 2019, but missed fall practice after undergoing labrum surgery.

- Fornadel said what’s really different about this preseason is practicing in the frigid temperatures with the wind whipping through Bridgeforth Stadium instead of in August when it’s uncomfortably warm.

“I wouldn’t be wearing one of these,” Fornadel said as he laughed and pointed to his hooded sweatshirt. “I’d probably get dehydrated out there. … But it’s interesting. You’ve got to be prepared for [the cold] more than [the heat].”

Greene said he wore a long-sleeve shirt and an Under Armour shirt underneath his pads to stay warm on Friday.