2011 JMU Football Preview by The Breeze

2011 Football Overview Justin Thorpeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comeback

Do FBS games really matter?

Athletic trainers in action

theSTAGEisSET

Thursday, September 8, 2011

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Index ............................

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Thorpeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recovery First game analysis Starting lineup

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Stadium photo tour Athletic trainers Football photo collage

ROBERT BOAG / THE BREEZE

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Thursday, September 8, 2011

comeback kid

Robert Boag / the breeze

During preseason practice, redshirt junior quarterback Justin Thorpe analyzes the progress of the offense. Thorpe said he hopes to improve his passing accuracy and that his injury actually helped with this.

A year after injuring his knee, Justin Thorpe is ready to lead JMU as starting quarterback By Carleigh Davis The Breeze

Though injuring his knee in the second quarter of last year’s opening game against Morehead State University, redshirt junior quarterback Justin Thorpe is JMU’s own comeback kid. Earlier this month, Thorpe was introduced as JMU’s starting quarterback. Despite hyper-extension and severe bone bruising to his knee, Thorpe said he has had no difficulties or pains. “I just hyper-extended my knee,” Thorpe said. “I went to do a move and unfortunately my leg got caught in the ground and my body went forward.” Head coach Mickey Matthews isn’t concerned about

the hit this will have on Thorpe’s performance. “He’s going to take some shots; anyone is,” Matthews said. “But his knee is fine, and we’ll just have to take it one game at a time.” During his rehabilitation period, Thorpe could not focus on his speed or agility, so he turned his attention toward increasing his precision in his passing game. With the Dukes passing for roughly only 120 yards a game in 2010, Thorpe’s focus on the strength of his arm could greatly improve JMU’s offense. “When I couldn’t walk or run I started throwing more … so my arm got better,” Thorpe said. Although a stronger arm will help JMU produce a

better game offensively, Thorpe is better known for his ability to make plays by running the ball. “As far as running, that’s what I’ve done my whole life and that’s the easy part of football,” Thorpe said. In last year’s game against the Eagles and shortly before his injury, Thorpe ran the ball three times for 31 yards, an average of 10.3 yards per rush. That was the highest average with more than one carry during that game. What fans can expect from Thorpe this year is a more experienced game, one that comes with maturity and seniority on the team. “It’s my third year I’ve been here and the guys look up to me, the guys respect me,” Thorpe said. “I’m just going

to try and lead the team.” After changes in the coaching staff, Thorpe will now be receiving play calls from Matthews, a switch from previous years when offensive coordinator Jeff Durden made the decisions. “I just want to make plays,” Thorpe said. “I don’t have to win the game; I just want to conduct the game and manage the game.” Redshirt freshman quarterback Jace Edwards has full confidence in his teammate. “He wouldn’t be out here if he wasn’t 100 percent,” Edwards said. “He’s running strong and throwing the ball well, and I definitely think he’s ready to play.” In the season opener last weekend against the University of North Carolina, Thorpe

threw for 152 yards and completed 11 of 15 passes, but was sacked five times. “Hopefully [I] get in the end-zone and [we] can take down some of the sacks, which can take away from our rushing yards.” In regards to these five sacks, Thorpe did not express doubts about the improvement of the offensive line. “It was just it being our first game, and we have two new tackles, and they will get better every week, just as well as I will — and everybody else on the team,” Thorpe said. For Saturday’s game, Thorpe hopes to have a defense that blitzes, allowing him to gain yards on option plays. “UNC played a defense where they didn’t crash their defense in, so I didn’t get a lot

of pull-reads on the option plays,” Thorpe said. In this weekend’s home opener against Central Connecticut State, Thorpe hopes to show fans his leadership in the newly renovated Bridgeforth Stadium. He is also anticipating seeing some school spirit to back up the team. “It’s going to be pretty exciting,” Thorpe said. “I can’t wait to see the stadium filled up with purple shirts.” Hopefully this atmosphere can lead the Dukes to a win and put them one step closer towards the team goal: the Colonial Athletic Association championship. Contact Carleigh Davis at breezesports@ gmail.com.

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commentary

Learning to forget the Tar Heel tarnish Saturday’s 42-10 loss to the University of North Carolina won’t determine the Dukes’ success this season

By Matt Sutherland The Breeze

Lightning rarely strikes twice in the same place — especially if that place is a JMU Dukes game against a Football Bowl Subdivision team. As the final score was plastered on Kenan Memorial Stadium’s scoreboard and the players walked back to their locker rooms, Dukes fans finally got their first glimpse of this year’s talent. And, hopefully, the Dukes got a glimpse of reality after the 42-10 loss to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The reality is it doesn’t really matter. In fact, the matchups against FBS teams have never actually mattered. I know this is practically blasphemy after last year’s triumphant 21-16 win over the Virginia Tech Hokies. But that was last year, and last year didn’t turn out to be as hopeful as the VT win led us to believe. After starting 2-0 in 2010, the Dukes lost their step and eked out a win against Liberty University two weeks later. That next Saturday, JMU would suffer a nail-biting 13-10 loss to the University of Delaware, the first of five Colonial Athletic Conference losses. The playoffs, a typical goal and expectation of this football program, were just out of reach. Now, many of you probably don’t need a history lesson, but let’s look at what happened three years ago. JMU suffered an embarrassing 31-7 loss to the Duke University Blue Devils, a 4-8 (1-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference play) joke in their

Previous Football Bowl Subdivision matchups 2011 University of North Carolina, 42-10 loss

2010 No. 13 Virginia Tech, 21-17 win The Dukes’ secondary allowed for two passing touchdowns and 277 yards at Saturday’s game against the University of North Carolina.

own division. The Dukes would reach the FCS semi-finals. The Blue Devils couldn’t even make a pre-Christmas bowl. Or how about seven years ago? After three great opening matchups against East Carolina University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Maryland, the then-No. 6 West Virginia University Mountaineers hammered JMU in a 45-10 win. That was 2004. JMU would finish the postseason with a 13-2 record (7-1 in regualr season CAA play) and a FCS national championship. That is nothing to sneeze at. Meanwhile, WVU lost to the Seminoles in the Gator Bowl. What’s my point? As Mickey Matthews said perfectly in an Aug. 29 press conference, “If they had asked me five minutes after the Virginia Tech game last year, I would have told them I

don’t want to play a Division I game. I have no interest in playing them. Zero.” Although Matthews probably felt a tad different after the game (he compared the win over Tech to the ’04 championship on Sept. 13, 2010), the truth is these games rarely — if ever — predict a team’s subsequent success for that season. However, many might argue that “The Horror,” Appalachian State University’s 34-32 win over the University of Michigan Wolverines in 2007, was a decisive moment for FCS football. It was a win that would later determine that truly anybody can win on any given Saturday. These critics would be right, but they might fail to recognize hard, consistent evidence that App. State won two consecutive championships before that game and would go on to

2009 University of Maryland, 35-38 loss in overtime

2008 Duke University, 31-7 loss

2007 Photos by Robert Boag / The Breeze

UNC, 37-14 loss

JMU starting quarterback Justin Thorpe threw for 152 yards Saturday.

win a third that season by mortifying UD in a onesided 49-21 win. For three years, this team was playing in a league with little-tono challenge. That school is practically part of the FBS already, as evidenced by its Aug. 23 vote to recommend a move to that subdivision. The facts are there; instead of expecting a win over our FBS opponent every year, maybe fans should

reconsider history and the Sept. 11, 2010 anomaly as just that — a completely unexpected occurrence. So, if any JMU fanboy is hugging their purple-andgold comforter late at night, fretting over the success of the pride of Madison, I bring good tidings: They’ll probably do just fine. Contact Matt at breezecopy@gmail.com.

2004 No. 6 West Virginia University, 45-10 loss

2003 No. 9 Va. Tech, 43-0 loss

breezejmu.org FOOTBALL

Thursday, September 8, 2011

GAMEDAY GUIDE FS

Jakarie Jackson #15

Dean Marlowe #16

MLB

WLB

0 0 0

Vidal Nelson Stephon Robertson #27 #6

Tyler Snow #95

Sean O’Neill #98

Nick Emmons #49

D.J. Bryant #13

Kerby Long #23

0 0 0 0

Mike Allen #1

Pat Williams #24

Leavander Jones #8

A.J. Scott #76

Earl Watford #70

Roane Babington #55

Matt Krout #74

Josh Wells #71

Brian Barlow #84

X X X X X X QB

Justin Thorpe #7

Arlandis Harvey #18

Daniel Brown #10

Dae’Quan Scott #11

JENA THIELGES / THE BREEZE

Thursday, September 8, 2011

breezejmu.org FOOTBALL PREVIEW

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Just the facts: Touring the new stadium Bridgeforth Stadium was built in

1975.

The stadiumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total area is

268,888 square feet. The scoreboard is now an

HD videoboard, which will play a

60-minute pregame show before every game. The two concourses have identical

firstaid, concessions, bathrooms and a team store. New food will be offered, such as hot wings and barbecue sandwiches. facilities including

Photos by James Moore / the breeze

The stadium, a $62.5 million project, was completed two weeks ahead of schedule, according to John Martin, assistant athletic director.

fireworks at the first game on Saturday.

There will be

On Oct.

4, there will be a

movie night.

The club lounge is

8,000 square feet.

elevator which moves at 300 feet per second. There is an

The club lounge will feature a dining area and big-screen TVs.

In the expanded Bridgeforth Stadium, 1,006 club seats were installed.

breezejmu.org football

Thursday, September 8, 2011

More than spectators

Athletic trainers keep eye out for football injuries By Scott Nickley contributing writer

The center snaps the ball. The quarterback drops back and looks for a receiver. He finds an open man and connects at the back of the end zone before an opposing cornerback brutally tackles the receiver on his way to the ground. But for one group of people at the game, the play hasn’t ended yet. The athletic trainers can’t celebrate until all the players have come safely back to the sideline. “I don’t watch the game like a normal spectator does,” said Scott Cook, a JMU football athletic trainer. Cook is in his ninth season as an athletic trainer at JMU. Before coming to Harrisonburg, he worked with the University of Illinois. During his extensive education and career, Cook has learned to watch football games with a more watchful eye than most fans. With a number of important responsibilities, he and the rest of the athletic training staff must be at the top of their game — no matter how the team performs. Almost any type of injury can occur during a game, so athletic trainers need to be ready for anything. “We see anything from muscle strains to ankle sprains, shoulder injuries, concussions,” Cook said. “A wide variety — that’s what makes football so unique.” This wide variety of injuries requires much preparation and constant addition of new knowledge. Students in the Athletic Training Education Program at JMU must complete at least 800 clinical hours, a large number of practical exams and pass a national test to become a certified athletic trainer,

according to Cook. Not to mention they’re taking a full course load. Three certified athletic trainers, two physicians, an orthopedic specialist and six athletic trainers line the side of the field during every football game. Junior Jessica Colborne and senior Craig Mason are both ATEP students who are doing their clinical hours with the football team. “We spend between six and seven hours a day here,” Colborne said during practice. Students training for this career can’t be on the sideline until they have passed preliminary exams and been accepted into the program. “Classes are mostly practical,” Mason said. “We have practical tests, too. We have to show our skills in order to actually do them.” The students will be highly involved in the sideline routine and in any emergency situations during the game, so there is no room for students who are unsure or not ready, Cook said. Dr. Kent Diduch and Dr. Mark Miller oversee both Cook and the students on the sideline and make the final call about players’ ability to get back in the game after an injury. The decision to continue playing is also up to the player, but generally, Cook said, the doctors are more conservative than the players. The football staff places a strong emphasis on concussion recognition. And athletic trainers aren’t the only people watching for concussions; so are coaches and even other players. “If we are suspecting a concussion,” Cook said, “they’re going to be out of the game until Dr. Diduch, who will make the call, feels that they

can return safely.” In an emergency situation, athletic trainers must have a specific emergency action plan and are responsible for crowd control, obtaining player medical history, performing first-aid and assisting Emergency Medical Services with getting players to the hospital, if necessary. They must also alert campus police to assist with the process. As busy as the athletic trainers are during the games and practices, their job doesn’t end when these do. Injury rehabilitation takes up a large portion of the time athletic trainers spend off the field. Some injuries require surgery either by a specialist or Miller, Cook said. After surgery, players receive a timeline of their projected recovery, and rehabilitation begins as soon as possible. Junior Sean O’Neill, a defensive tackle, sustained an injury to his left knee and immediately sought Dr. Diduch’s advice. “They’ve been great … most of the time I’m with the same trainer,” O’Neill said. “They like to do that so that they become familiar with the injury.” When injuries do arise, Cook said Coach Mickey Matthews remains involved with both the players and the athletic training staff. “C o a c h M a t t h e w s i s great,” Cook said. “He asks questions. He’s genuinely concerned about the wellbeing of the players.” Though thousands of people will watch the first home game on Saturday, some pairs of eyes will linger a little longer on every play. Contact Scott Nickley at nicklesf@ dukes.jmu.edu.

Meet the Athletic Trainers

Tom Kuster

Asst. Athletics Director for Sports Medicine

John Kaltenborn

Associate Athletic Trainer

Connie Peterson Athletic Training Faculty

Jackie Downar

Chris Smith

Jon Leonard

Scott Cook

Lisa Friesen

Paula Maxwell

Associate Athletic Trainer

Asst. Athletic Trainer

Jamie Frye

Athletic Training Faculty

Asst. Athletic Trainer

Athletic Training Faculty

Nell Morgan Asst. Athletic Trainer Photos courtesy of JMU Sports

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Thursday, September 8, 2011

breezejmu.org FOOTBALL PREVIEW

breezejmu.org football

Thursday, September 8, 2011

new stadium, new season

Photos By Robert Boag and Paul Jones / the breeze

Top Left Redshirt junior tailback Lee Reynolds returns a punt against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Top Right Redshirt freshman weak safety Eric Magruder (left), redshirt junior free safety Ryan Smith and junior weak safety Isaiah Wright take a knee during practice. Middle Right Senior quarterback Justin Thorpe discusses strategy with Jeff Durden, offensive coordinator and quarterback coach.

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