HARRISONBURG — The connection was made shortly after Brandon Polk opted to leave Penn State.

On Wednesday, Polk announced his decision to transfer to James Madison.

“I helped Brandon out and made some phone calls to coaches I knew all across the country to see if there was any interest,” said Charlie Pierce, the former coach at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, where Polk starred as a wide receiver and all-purpose threat for the Falcons.

Polk made his decision to depart State College, Pa., in January, and Pierce said before the month ended, he spoke with Dukes safeties coach Ryan Smith. The three-time Virginia High School League 4A state championship winning headman and young JMU assistant had crossed paths before when Smith recruited northern Virginia during his previous stop at Elon.

“And that was his first paid job after being a grad assistant at Penn State,” Pierce said. “So he knew all about Brandon.”

And Smith wasn’t the only current Dukes assistant on staff at Penn State at that time. Another Nittany Lions defensive grad assistant in 2015 and 2016 — when Smith had his stint there — was JMU defensive tackles coach Andrew Jackson.

“I think it’s a great spot for Brandon,” Pierce said. “And I know in talking with some of the [JMU] coaches when I heard it was a possibility, they were saying that they were a couple of good players away from making another run and I think Brandon can help them because he’s got some top-end speed.”

Polk was a VHSL state champion in the 200 and also ran the 100 for the Falcons track team.

For Pierce at Briar Woods, Polk had 13 total touchdowns between his junior and senior seasons, and his 91-yard touchdown run is the longest scoring trot in school history.

Then over his four seasons with Penn State, he tallied 27 catches for 367 yards and four touchdowns and carried the ball 18 times for 159 yards and a score.

“They’re getting someone with breakaway speed that can get out in the open,” Pierce said. “You can get the ball quick to him and he has the ability to escape and pull away from defensive backs.

“And when he was at Penn State, he had a real good freshman year. He played as a true freshman and caught a couple of touchdown passes from [Christian] Hackenberg. But then he got injured, lost in the shuffle a little bit and was trying to make his way back into it. So he was playing a lot and then things just kind of filtered away, but I think this will really be a good deal for him. He’ll be able to show his skills.”

Pierce said the 5-foot-9 receiver, Polk, fits in the slot, but can play out wide, carry the ball or return kicks or punts if JMU needs him to.

In those spots, the Dukes likely want to bolster their depth at inside receiver the most. Junior Jake Brown emerged in the second half of last season and caught 38 passes for 455 yards and two touchdowns. Brown followed his 2018 campaign up with a strong spring, but behind him JMU lacks experience. Jamir Hudson, though he impressed during the spring, hasn’t registered a catch in a game, and both Josh Sims and EJ Morgan have dealt with injuries since arriving in Harrisonburg.

“He’s got great hands, soft hands,” Pierce said of Polk. “So I think the fact that they have somebody who can get a lot of yards after the catch, I think it’s something real big that they can use.”

Pierce said Polk’s speed allows an offense to hand the ball off to him on occasion.

“His carries with the jet sweep and stuff like that they used early on [at Penn State],” Pierce said. “He’d come in motion behind the quarterback and the quarterback would fake or give it to him, so his freshman year, especially, he got a lot of those balls. But then they changed offensive coordinators and went to [Joe] Moorhead, so those plays kind of came out of the playbook. But he can carry the ball in that regard and he can come on a deep-pitch relationship for options.

“So he can contribute in the slot, as an X and a Z on the outside, as a runner, a return guy. There’s a lot of things he can bring to the table to help JMU out.”