LIVE BLOG: National Signing Day 2020 At JMU

James Madison’s commits didn’t waste anytime becoming signees Wednesday.

The Dukes entered National Signing Day with 12 verbal pledges and all 12 had inked their National Letters of Intent by 8:05 a.m.

The Daily News-Record kept a Live Blog below to track when those NLIs were sent from the prospects to JMU coaches inside the Athletic Performance Center at Bridgeforth Stadium. Cherokee (Marlton, N.J.) offensive lineman Josh Toner was the first to get his NLI in and Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) safety Kye Holmes wrapped up the group. Below is a look at how the class is constructed with bios and other important information for each player.

The DN-R will have continuing coverage today following Dukes coach Curt Cignetti’s video press conference.

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Lead recruiters: Damian Wroblewski, Corey Hetherman

About: Josh Toner was the only JMU commit to play his senior season this fall, and he made the most of it. The 6-foot-3, 315-pound guard was a first-team All-State pick by the USA Today Network and NJ.com while his team, Cherokee, finished ranked in the Top 25 of the Garden State. And because the pandemic impacted the state’s usual schedule, Toner, ranked the 34th best player in the state by Rivals.com, got to play against top-tier programs and other high-level recruits he wouldn’t have normally matched up with. He said he thinks it helped develop his game. Toner tallied 15 scholarship offers and chose the one from the Dukes over his other finalist, Army.

Quotable: “I’m definitely tough,” Toner said. “I like to knock people down. I’m a hard hitter. I love hitting people hard, knocking them on the ground and I’m tough guy on the football field. You could definitely say that. The number one thing for me is always, ‘kick the crap out of the guy in front of you, and make him want to go home.’ I want to do as much damage as I can to anybody on the field.”

NLI in at: 7:11 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Bryant Haines, Marcus Hall-Oliver

About: A mix of 25 schools from the FBS and the FCS offered Matt Binkowski, who had been waiting on the Dukes to do so. JMU was the 25th school to extend Binkowski, a versatile standout for Battlefield, an opportunity. Some of his other offers included Air Force, Army, Liberty, Navy, Old Dominion, Richmond, Temple and Towson. He was a 2019 All-Cedar Run District first-team choice as an all-purpose player on offense and a defensive end on defense. He’ll likely play middle linebacker once he arrives in Harrisonburg.

Quotable: “He’s a long-haired, jean-short-and-boot wearing, American-flag toting, playing music all the time and happy-go-lucky, blue-collar kid,” Battlefield coach Scott Girolmo said of Binkowski, “who will absolutely fit in [at JMU] and he’ll have the time of his life there. They’ll gravitate toward him. He’s no [former Dukes linebacker] Gage Steele, but he’s not bad.”

NLI in at: 7:13 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Shane Montgomery, Damian Wroblewski

About: His school played only one game this fall, but Billy Atkins was excellent in his lone opportunity as a senior. He threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns to help Mount St. Joseph pick up a win last month. And that performance was similar to the consistently terrific junior season he put together, in which the 6-foot-1½ smart, strong-armed signal-caller threw for 3,089 yards and 36 touchdowns to lead the Gaels to a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A state championship. Atkins netted 15 scholarship offers and elected for the one from the Dukes over others from FBS Buffalo and six fellow Colonial Athletic Association schools.

Quotable: “We put a lot on the quarterback,” said Rich Holzer, the former Mount St. Joseph coach who coached Atkins for three years. “There are times when Billy makes play calls and people are patting me on the back after the game, and they’re like, ‘That was a great call coach,’ but I’m like, ‘I wish I would’ve made it.’”

NLI in at: 7:16 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Shane Montgomery, Grant Cain

About: Before the pandemic, Zach Horton had been planning to enroll early with the Dukes. But once the VHSL season shifted from the fall to the spring, the 6-foot-4 tight end said he wanted to play out his senior year. And he’ll do that with a different prep program, having transferred from Northside in Roanoke to Lord Botetourt in Daleville. Last year, Horton was an All-Blue Ridge District first-team selection and a VHSL All-Region 3D second-team selection at tight end. Horton had 19 offers, which he narrowed down to a group of four finalists – JMU, Furman, Richmond and VMI – before pledging to the Dukes.

Quotable: “He’s a quiet leader,” Northside coach Scott Fisher said about Horton. “And he’s not a big rah-rah kind of guy, but he says, ‘Look. Just throw me the ball, let me make my play, and we’ll move on.’ He’s a blue-collar mentality football player.”

NLI in at: 7:18 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Marcus Hall-Oliver, Mike Shanahan

About: Matei Fitz holds the crown for the most-frequently offered signee in JMU’s 2021 recruiting class. Fitz picked up 31 total opportunities from across the FBS and the FCS, and eventually opted to take the Dukes up on their offer over ones from finalists Air Force, Appalachian State, Buffalo, Coastal Carolina and Kent State. The 6-foot-2, 263-pounder earned 28 of those offers between early March and late May as his recruiting ballooned. Last year, he was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Dulles District and a VHSL Class 4 All-State first-team choice for racking up 102 tackles, 28 tackles for loss and 13 sacks.

Quotable: “What sets me apart on the line is just being quicker than the offensive linemen,” Fitz said. “I feel like I really have much more speed than these guys with hand movements and my feet that it comes easy to me. I feel like my motor is another key part of my game and I try to go hard every single play, because I know on every play I’m being watched by somebody somewhere and people are looking at me.”

NLI in at: 7:25 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Matt Merritt, Eddie Whitley

About: Messiah Russell has great lineage. He’s got two cousins who recently finished college football careers and an uncle that played college football years ago. Russell is from the same prep program that produced former JMU star running back Cardon Johnson, too, so Russell should come to Harrisonburg fully equipped about what to expect when making the leap from high school football. At Warwick in 2019, he was used as a wide receiver on offense and a defensive back on the other side. On defense, he tallied 44 tackles, 22 pass breakups and six interceptions including one he returned for a touchdown while notching 36 catches for 710 yards and six scores on offense. Russell was an All-Peninsula District first-team selection on offense and on defense. His other scholarship offers were from Army, Delaware, Fordham and William & Mary.

Quotable: “Signing day has been something I’ve been looking forward to since I was a little kid,” Russell said. “So now that I am able to sign with JMU, it feels really good.”

NLI in at: 7:29 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Damian Wroblewski, Matt Merritt

About: To land the 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive lineman, JMU had to beat out its former coach and past assistants. Jaelin Montgomery racked up 15 scholarship offers, but he narrowed his final choices down to the Dukes and East Carolina – where former JMU coach Mike Houston is in charge now. Montgomery said his bonds with Merritt and Wroblewski were the difference. Last fall, Montgomery was a VHSL All-Region 5B second-team selection. His other scholarship offers included Liberty, Dartmouth, Maine, Richmond and Towson.

Quotable: “It was really just the relationships that it came down to,” Montgomery said about why he chose the Dukes. “And I had a better relationship with the JMU coaches and everybody I met there.”

NLI in at: 7:37 a.m.

Lead recruiter: Bryant Haines

About: Schools in the FBS and the FCS competed for Jailin Walker’s services. He tallied 17 scholarship offers including ones Air Force, Army, East Carolina, Elon, Old Dominion, Richmond and Temple before deciding on the Dukes. At Varina last fall, Walker was used as a versatile weapon, thriving at linebacker on defense and at running back on offense. In the 2019 VHSL Class 5 Region B championship against Manchester, Walker rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries.

Quotable: “Whatever you tell him he’s going to do it,” Varina coach Marcus Lewis said of Walker. “Everything he does, he’ll do it at 100 percent. You don’t have to get on him and say, ‘Oh you’re loafing,’ or anything like that. He just does everything 100 percent.”

NLI in at: 7:44 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Mike Shanahan, Bryant Haines

About: JMU won a recruiting battle against schools from the FBS to earn a verbal commitment from Skylar Martin. Before pledging to the Dukes, the standout Stone Bridge linebacker had a group of finalists that included Southeastern Conference member Vanderbilt and independent Connecticut. His other scholarship offers were from Akron, Buffalo, Louisville, Massachusetts and Virginia. In 2019, Martin tallied 79 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and two pass breakups while earning VHSL Class 5 All-State first-team honors. He’s a Rivals.com three-star prospect.

Quotable: “It’s very similar to the defense we run at Stone Bridge,” Martin said of JMU’s 4-2-5 system. “And [Haines] said they can fit me in at middle linebacker and outside linebacker, and with the way I can rush off the edge and also the way I play in the middle that I can be a really big piece as soon as I get there.”

NLI in at: 7:45 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Damian Wroblewski, Mike Shanahan

About: Offensive lineman Scott Hummel was the first verbal pledge of the class when he committed to the Dukes in April. He earned 11 scholarship offers and chose the Dukes over finalist Villanova in part because of his strong family ties to JMU. His parents, his aunt and his uncle went to JMU and he regularly attended the Dukes’ annual matchup with Richmond while he was growing up. The 6-foot-4, 285-pounder was a Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association All-State second-team selection in 2019. The MPSSAA, like the VHSL, is playing an abbreviated football season this coming spring. Hummel is also an accomplished wrestler, placing third in last year’s state tournament.

Quotable: “It’s been a long time coming,” Hummel said about National Signing Day, “and I can’t wait. I can’t believe that I’ve been waiting since April to finally sign.”

NLI in at: 7:51 a.m.

Lead recruiter: Mike Shanahan

About: The 6-foot-3 pass catcher is the only wide receiver in the Dukes’ 2021 recruiting class, and JMU was in early on James. The staff noticed Maxwell James, according to him, during the spring of his sophomore year at Lake Braddock. JMU coaches were at the school, watching Wake Forest quarterback pledge Billy Edwards and Michigan freshman tight end Matthew Hibner when James was there hauling in throws from Edwards and running routes alongside Hibner. James earned 18 scholarship offers in total including others from Chattanooga, Elon, Monmouth and William & Mary. As a junior James was an All-Patriot District first-team selection.

Quotable: “I really wanted to be at a great football environment and football is really important at the school,” James said about JMU. “That was a very important thing to me in the recruiting, especially since I didn’t have to wait to go see a game there. I had a real feel for the environment.”

NLI in at: 7:55 a.m.

Lead recruiters: Damian Wroblewski, Eddie Whitley

About: The strong connections Kye Holmes has with players on the Dukes’ current rosters aided him in his decision to elect to sign with JMU. Holmes was a high school teammate of defensive lineman Sean Johns, and on the prep level played against running back Latrele Palmer, defensive end Jalen Green and linebacker Julio Ayamael. Holmes, like many other players in this class, had the option to go to an FBS program, with Army and Buffalo being his other top choices. According to Holmes, JMU coaches have told him he can play any of the three safety spots – free, strong or spur – once he arrives on campus.

Quotable: “Quite simply it’s the winning culture,” Holmes said about how JMU edged other schools in the running for him. “I’m a competitor. I love to win. And I’m quite sure that JMU is the place to do that. I have full confidence in Coach Cignetti and the rest of the coaching staff to help us continue to win during my four years at JMU.”

NLI in at: 8:05 a.m.

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In case you missed coverage from this past week, I previewed National Signing Day on the latest edition of The Walkthrough Podcast. Interviews are with James Madison commits Josh Toner, an offensive lineman from Cherokee High School (N.J.), and Kye Holmes, a safety from Gonzaga High School (D.C.).

The Dukes also already announced transfer additions to the roster earlier this month. Former Central Florida defensive tackle Mason Cholewa and ex-North Carolina defensive back Greg Ross are joining JMU. Read what Curt Cignetti had to say about each of those players.

To learn about each pledge in the class, click below to read stories from when they committed.

- Mount St. Joseph (Baltimore) quarterback Billy Atkins

- Battlefield (Haymarket) linebacker Matt Binkoswki

- Tuscarora (Leesburg) defensive end Matei Fitz

- Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) safety Kye Holmes

- Lord Botetourt (Daleville) tight end Zach Horton

- Linganore (Frederick, Md.) offensive lineman Scott Hummel

- Lake Braddock (Burke) wide receiver Maxwell James

- Stone Bridge (Ashburn) linebacker Skylar Martin

- Prince George (Prince George) offensive lineman Jaelin Montgomery

- Warwick (Newport News) safety Messiah Russell

- Cherokee (Marlton, N.J.) offensive lineman Josh Toner

- Varina (Henrico) linebacker Jailin Walker