HARRISONBURG – The undersized, little-known running back first-year coach Curt Cignetti kept praising over the last five weeks set the pace for James Madison’s offense in Saturday’s spring showcase.

When 5-foot-8, 171-pound Solomon Vanhorse snuck into the secondary, quarterback Ben DiNucci found him. Vanhorse’s 62-yard catch late in the opening quarter was the first explosive play during the offense’s 30-7 win over the defense in the team’s spring game at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg.

The game consisted of two 15-minute quarters.

“I saw [linebacker] Tabb Patrick,” Vanhorse said. “I had to shake him and I knew DiNucci saw me and was going to throw me the ball. I knew I had to go.”

Vanhorse added a touchdown in the second quarter on a 1-yard run and finished with eight carries for 41 yards and the score to go along with the 62-yard reception. He had a game-best 103 all-purpose yards and a game-long 20-yard run.

“He continues to do it one play at a time,” Cignetti said. “He can run it, he can catch it and does what he’s supposed to do.”

Vanhorse, a redshirt freshman who walked on at JMU before last season, said he believes his versatility helped himself earn reps alongside scholarship running backs Percy Agyei-Obese and Jawon Hamilton this spring.

Agyei-Obese and Hamilton took most first-team snaps, but Vanhorse lined up for some and took the majority of second-team touches.

“That’s what I bring to the table,” Vanhorse said. “Being fast, being able to catch and being able to run hard. I try to bring everything to the table.”

In the second quarter, the offense pushed the ball across the field with ease.

Quarterback Cole Johnson connected with wide receiver Jamir Hudson for a 77-yard touchdown, which was the first one of the game. And later on, DiNucci threw a 20-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Davis Patterson on the series immediately following Vanhorse’s rushing touchdown.

Johnson finished 9-of-17 for 145 yards and the touchdown, and led two of three touchdown drives.

“It seemed like when [Johnson] was in there, we were completing passes,” Cignetti said. “He had a couple of runs also. I thought he had a nice day, and I thought Ben did a few nice things, too, and I thought [quarterback] Gage Moloney had a nice spring, but today was just OK. And so, this battle will continue on.”

DiNucci was 14-of-17 for 177 yards and a touchdown while Moloney was 9-of-16 for 85 yards, but committed the lone turnover of the afternoon. Late in the scrimmage, Moloney’s pass was picked off and returned for a 65-yard touchdown by safety D’Angelo Amos for the defense’s only score of the game.

Amos, defensive end John Daka and linebackers Dimitri Holloway and Landan Word were the only returning starters that played on defense on Saturday.

Daka had 1.5 sacks and fellow defensive Isaac Ukwu had two.

“The tempo was faster than usual,” Daka said. “The offense came out very fast and we had to respond a couple of times, but I felt like we had a couple of good fourth-down stops. But we had to do better with three-and-outs. Defensive line-wise, we had to do better getting off blocks and with our rush lanes because we have quarterbacks that can take off, so as a d-line we have to work on that.

“But I feel like the progression of learning a new defense from start to finish has been pretty good.”

In addition to Vanhorse’s 20-yard run, Agyei-Obese added a 19-yard carry and Johnson converted a first down on a 13-yard scramble.

But it was Vanhorse’s energy that ignited the offense.

Of his college choices coming out of Milton High School in Georgia, Vanhorse had a partial scholarship offer from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, interest from Jacksonville University of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League and preferred walk-on opportunities at Georgia State, Liberty and JMU, he said.

Former Dukes running backs coach De’Rail Sims recruited Vanhorse.

“I feel like my size hurt me,” Vanhorse said. “I didn’t have the real stature. I was 5-[foot]-7 and underweight, but that didn’t matter to me. I just balled out like I was 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds.”

And that’s what Cignetti noticed about Vanhorse. The coach even referred to the running back midway through the spring as the Energizer Bunny.

“I feel like I ran the ball well,” Vanhorse said. “I feel like I proved to everybody that I could play on this level and that I made the plays I had to make and took advantage of my opportunities.”