Jersey OL Toner Finds Next Home With JMU
He’ll tell you he hasn’t slowed down at all.
Cherokee High School (Marlton, N.J.) offensive lineman Josh Toner could play a few snaps now if he had to.
“I’m more ready than a lot of guys in Jersey,” Toner, who committed to James Madison late last month, told the Daily News-Record on Monday. “And I’m down the shore right now in Ocean City, New Jersey, and there’s a private gym I’m working out at there, so I haven’t skipped a beat.”
The 6-foot-3, 320-pounder said he’s had access to weights since the pandemic hit and hasn’t taken a day off in order to be ready for whenever high school football in the Garden State can resume.
And just like he’s handled the preparation for his senior season, Toner made sure he could decide on where to play his college football even in the midst of the coronavirus when no on-campus recruiting or in-person player-coach contact is allowed.
“So I actually drove down there to check it out myself,” Toner said of the trek to Harrisonburg him and his parents took in order to explore JMU all on his own.
“And that was a huge thing,” he said. “You got to love it because you’ve got to live there.”
He said prior to his self-guided tour at the school, he was already enamored with the Dukes for various reasons – the strong connections he created with lead recruiters offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski and defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, the powerful rushing attack Toner could eventually help pave the way for and the ability to contend regularly for FCS titles.
Toner has started the past three seasons at guard for Cherokee and last fall he was an NJ.com third-team All-State offensive line choice while helping the Chiefs to a New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Central Group Five sectional title.
“That was the biggest thing – playing for a national championship,” Toner said. “They play for it a lot. That was one of the biggest pitches [Wroblewski and Hetherman] had for me. … And then you look at the [JMU] recruiting class. My class is great. We’ve got a lot of great players and we’re ahead of a lot of big-time programs from the FBS and it’s just been a great decision to be part of this great class. I think we’ll do great things the next four, five years we’ll be there. It’s just a great opportunity to win.”
Rivals.com lists Toner as a three-star prospect and the 28th best player in this cycle from New Jersey.
The guard earned scholarship offers from 15 different programs including three in the FBS, and said that his decision came down to JMU or Army.
“Army was definitely up there next to JMU,” Toner said, “because when you come out of Army you’ve got a great job and lifestyle ahead of you. They play FBS ball and against great opponents, but it came down to the lifestyle you’ve got to live while you’re there.”
JMU has signed at least one prospect from New Jersey in each of its last six recruiting classes, and assuming Toner signs he’ll make it seven consecutive classes.
Former Don Bosco (Ramsey, N.J.) offensive lineman Liam Fornadel enters his senior year with the Dukes having already earned All-American honors and ex-DePaul Catholic (Wayne, N.J.) offensive lineman Zaire Bethea enters his redshirt senior year with 19 career starts under his belt.
“[JMU] didn’t say much about like ‘We want a guy from Jersey,’” Toner said. “But I guess they just came across my film and liked me.”