They figured it out last year, and Curt Cignetti doesn’t anticipate divvying up carries to become a problem this fall.
James Madison returns four running backs that tallied at least 60 rushing attempts apiece in 2019 to its 2020 team.
“It’ll work out. It always does,” Cignetti, the Dukes coach, said. “Depth is a good thing and it’s never a problem. It’s not a bad thing. Depth is a very, very good thing and that’s a position where you’ve got to have great depth.”
Especially, when the identity of the offense is running the football in order to ultimately achieve balance.
JMU finished 10th nationally for rushing offense (242.9 yards per game) last year and led the Colonial Athletic Association in the category. The Dukes’ 43 rushing touchdowns a season ago were the most in the league, and 17 more than William & Mary (26 rushing touchdowns) — which had the next-most scores on the ground in the conference. JMU standout Percy Agyei-Obese, an All-CAA first-team choice, had 19 rushing touchdowns, which were more than Albany, Delaware, Elon, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Richmond each produced.
Here’s a closer look at what Agyei-Obese and the rest of the position unit could have in store for this fall:
Returning Starters: r-senior Jawon Hamilton
Other Returners On Roster: senior Percy Agyei-Obese, r-sophomore Solomon Vanhorse, sophomore Latrele Palmer, r-freshman Austin Douglas
Newcomers: freshman Kaelon Black
Position Coach: Matt Merritt (second season)
Synopsis: Though Agyei-Obese led JMU with 1,216 rushing yards last season he wasn’t the only productive running back on the roster.
Jawon Hamilton, who topped the position group in starts, racked up 919 rushing yards and generated impact games and moments. The former Central Florida transfer had a career-high 150 rushing yards in a win at Rhode Island and scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime to cap a 105-yard effort in a victory at Stony Brook.
JMU could survive the coming campaign with just the one-two punch of Agyei-Obese and Hamilton. But the Dukes don’t have to because Solomon Vanhorse, a little-known walk-on before last season, surprised many onlookers to be reliable early in the year. And bruising back Latrele Palmer proved to be taxing for opposing defenses to take down in the second half of games, including the national championship bout against North Dakota State, as he earned more playing time throughout his freshman season.
Palmer’s 69-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter against Villanova helped the Dukes bury the Wildcats for good.
Additionally, Austin Douglas, who appeared in only four contests a year ago to keep his redshirt intact, is well-rounded and can catch the ball out of the backfield just as he did on a 19-yard scoring grab against St. Francis. He also spent a few weeks practicing as a defensive back when JMU was decimated by injury to starters and backups at cornerback, but Douglas returned to running back later last year.
Kaelon Black is the newest member of the group after starring at Salem High School (Virginia Beach), where he earned Virginia High School League All-State honors and was the 2019 Beach District Offensive Player of the Year. He had scholarship offers from East Carolina, Toledo, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest before taking the Dukes up on their offer.
So Cignetti and running backs coach Matt Merritt have plenty of options to chose from. They can utilize the personnel they see fits best based on the down and distance, the score of the game, time left in the contest, or any other scenario they can think of.
They could even use multiple backs on the field at the same time if they wanted to, conceivably early in the season since JMU will be breaking in a first-year starting quarterback. Whoever wins the signal-caller job would certainly find comfort in seeing Agyei-Obese and Hamilton, or Hamilton and Palmer, or Agyei-Obese and Vanhorse or any combination of the bunch stand alongside of him when the ball is snapped for the first time in 2020.
