mat1992

Going to keep track of Shane and Virginia this season. The Cavs play on September 19 at Virginia Tech on ABC. Will be at 3:30 or 7:30pm

There are many reasons why JMU is the best football program by far in the CAA at this point and it's not close. It starts with facilities. They have a beautiful stadium that seats over 20,000, practice facilities, powerful alums with cash, etc. They are also the only thing that matters in a small town like Harrisonburg (until softball). Delaware was the king and they are attempting to get back there with a renovated stadium. They already had the indoor facility, the tradition, the fans (though old), etc. https://richmond.com/sports/college/schools/james-madison/as-jmu-and-w-m-are-establishing-cost-of-attendance-has-become-the-new-ante/article_1c9a7488-8ffa-5f62-81c4-27017de0c9eb.html#:~:text=Cost of attendance generally runs between %242%2C500 and %244%2C000 per scholarship recipient. At this point, we don't have those facilities outside the new outdoor practice field. We don't have an indoor practice facility or a football-only Field House. We are trying to work and renovate an outdated (yes it's been 20 years) spring sports facility with no weight room. Our weight room, while very good, is still located in the Towson Center. Why is there none in the Field House? Money. We wouldn't spend the extra cash when that was built along with the renovated stadium back in 2000. We also don't offer Cost of Attendance. That's the link above where Delaware and JMU along with a few other schools offer a stipend from 2,500-3,000+ for football players for the year. We do offer that in Men's and Women's basketball. So when some complain that we rely too much on transfers, I go back to the 2017 roster. In that year, we went 5-6 and a big reason was the fact we lost starting quarterback Morgan Mahalak in the first game of the year to a concussion and never saw him again. Mahalak, to those new to the board, was a dual-threat QB from Oregon with a decent arm and good size. Was a pretty good runner. But he just couldn't stay healthy. Ryan Stover, a r-freshman had to take over and he struggled as most of the offense did. Stover had a chance to be the guy, but never had IT. The defense did a solid job considering they were on the field a lot. When I looked back at the defensive transfers, the best was Kaniya Anderson from ODU. We had transfers from Dean College and Davidson. We had some good players who grew up in the system such as Diondre Wallace, Keon Paye, Monty Fenner and Lyrics Klugh. Paye and Klugh were three-star recruits. Paye had a solid if unspectacular career and Klugh showed promise early and fade away before transferring. The bottom line is that winning matters, but tradition and facilities mean more to getting more blue-chip players. So the transfer portal is getting nearly as crazy as basketball. Why not take a chance on players from FBS schools who needed a change of atmosphere. In 2019, we went 7-5 and we pretty much went for it with defensive transfers. DT Jesus Gibbs (South Carolina), DT Ron Johnson (Michigan), DE Marcus Bowman (juco), DE Quashon Alexander (Nebraska) were added to the defensive line and S Robert Topps III (Kansas) was supposed to make an impact. All were injured or nicked up. Add that to the season-ending or season-damaging injuries to starters: RB Shane Simpson, LB Ricky DeBerry, S Jamal Gay, CB Brandon Shuman, Johnson (ACL), WR Jabari Allen (knee cost him half the season), and OT Darrian Bryant (Temple transfer was hurt in camp) to name a few. So did we give up on transfers after that 7-5 injury-plagued season? An overtime loss to Villanova at home and home losses to Albany and Elon proved costly. Win just one of those games and you probably make the playoffs at 8-4 considering we played four non-conference games. I think, on paper, this is the best group of transfers we've ever gotten because they are a good mixture of players with experience and potential. Gibbs was a guy you could take a chance on. He came from South Carolina as a 4* OL and moved to DL. He didn't have the experience but at 6-4, 290 with athletic ability and four years, he was worth taking a shot on. Unfortunately, he had two separate injuries in 2019 that forced him to play about 1/3 of the snaps. He could be a star with all these big bodies around him, but he doesn't have to be. You add Darrien Reynolds (Gardner Webb), who had 128 tackles last season and Elorm Lumor started most of his career at Rutgers. That's an instant boost to the linebackers. Reynolds will be a tackling machine and has several huge DL up front including 6-7 Mason Cholewa from JMU/UCF. Again, Cholewa has some FBS experienced and played a lot at JMU last season. The point is that even if one player doesn't work out or we have several key injuries, we have bodies to replace them. Unlike in 2019, when CB Brandon Shuman went down, we were left with several young corners who couldn't fit the bill. Now, we have Shuman back along with a plethora of talented FBS transfers (Makai Self, DJ Pratt, Robert Topps, Keyvone Bruton, Mark Collins Jr.) and a talented juco in Charles Peoples who has good size and length at 6-0, 185 with 4.52 speed. Then we added a 3* recruit in Shafeek Smith from PA, who is a big-time talent and may play some this season (can play 4 games before you lose your redshirt). I didn't mention the offense because it has few transfers because we were set on the OLine and pretty set at WR. The only thing we needed was a running back with some experience and we got one in Jordan Howard. Now, we need a change-of-pace back to help along with Kobe Young, who is talented, but has some injury concerns. Chris Ferguson isn't a glossy pick up. He's not Puma Pass. I wanted a guy who could run and throw. Apparently, Pass was inconsistent as a thrower so he didn't really live up to his name. We need Ferguson to make the right pass and hit the open receivers. He should have plenty of time to throw behind this monstrous line that averages around 325. We'll probably use the fullback more this season so establishing the run with Howard or Young or another back will be the focus. That means play-action should work and you have a bigger and healthier Jabari Allen to catch a few back shoulder throws from Ferguson (Fergie? CF3 if he takes Pass' number?). I'm not a predictor of Towson teams so I'm not going to predict a record. I like this defense but I know the history and it's been mediocre-at-best under Ambrose. There are no excuses. The defensive staff needs to use everybody that can make an impact and I think we have more impact players on D since we had Jordan Dangerfield, Tye Smith, Telvion Clark, Ryan Delaire and Monte Gaddis (and slightly underachieve). Lumor, Tramar Reece from Indiana, Cholwa, Ole Okombi and Gibbs. The possibilities are endless and it should continue as most will return in 2022. The talent is something we're not used to seeing on the defensive side. Barring ineptness on the offensive end, it should mean postseason and more for 2021. The bigger question is whether it will be enough to snag an upset over JMU, San Diego State or ND State.

Jamal Gay tore his ACL in 2019. The staff loves him. Keyvon Bruton from Temple is that hybrid type of safety who can play some linebacker. SJ Brown started in 2019 and was solid. We also have 6-3 Robert Topps from Kansas who played mainly special teams in 2019 and was hampered by injuries. We have some talent there. Just a matter of finding the right combo.

So, we finally know who the elusive transfer quarterback of 2021 will be. There could be another addition or two, but I think this team is pretty well-set in terms of starters. Sure, there will be competition at running back, on the defensive line, maybe on the right side of the offensive line, at safety. Ok, so we're not completely set and nothing is etched in stone, but I have a pretty good idea. I know I'm off on the heights and weights, but going by the internet roster mixed with what I heard. Also wasn’t there this spring so I did the best I could. That broke a string of nearly 20 straight years of watching spring practice. QB 1 Chris Ferguson (6-3, 235)-Liberty/Maine transfer, Grad transfer Backups R-Fr. Vincent Amendola (6-3, 240)-North Carolina transfer, R-Soph Jeff Miller (6-6, 250), frosh Nathan Kent (6-2, 190), frosh Scott Smith (6-4, 210). RB Jerry Howard (6-0, 230)-Grad transfer GTech RB2 R-Jr. Kobe Young (6-0, 210), Fr. Sabias Folley (6-0, 235) FB Luke Hamilton-R-soph. (6-0, 245) TE Sr. Jason Epps (6-3, 235), Sr. Marcus Joyner (6-2, 245)-ODU transfer, Rr-Jr. Robert Schwob (6-7, 240)-Md. transfer LT Sr. Andrew Garnett (6-5, 325), R-freshman Rick Santiago Espinal (6-6, 345) LG Sr. Aaron Grzymkowski (6-3, 300), R-freshman Jean Germain (6-6, 355) C - Jr. Cole Cheripko (6-4, 300), Sr. Brendan Cassels (6-3, 300) RT-Grad transfer Darian Bryant (6-6, 330)-Temple transfer, Jr. Roman Warheit (6-6, 335) RG-Sr. DeMarcus Gilmore (6-4, 360), Soph. Alex Desire (6-4, 310) WR1 -Jr. Jabari Allen (6-4, 210), Sr. Ryan Rutkowski (6-2, 200), Sr. Caleb Smith (6-1, 195). WR1-Jr. Darian Street (6-2, 190), Soph. Daniel Thompson (6-3, 210), R-Fr. Charles Murphy (6-2, 175) (there are several other good young receivers that could make their mark in summer camp) DL R-Soph Jesus Gibbs (6-4, 290)-South Carolina transfer, R-Soph. Bryce Lauer (6-3, 290), Sr. Marcus Bowman (6-1, 260)-juco transfer NG R-Jr. Mason Cholewa (6-7, 305) -JMU transfer, Sam Gyeni (6-0, 285), Jr. Vinnie Shaffer (5-11, 305) DT Grad Tramar Reece (6-4, 265)-Indiana transfer, R-freshman Oly Okombi (6-2, 260)-Kent State transfer ILB Sr. Darien Reynolds (6-0, 230)-Gardner-Webb transfer, soph Ryan Kearney (6-1, 230) ILB R-Jr. Christian Dixon (6-0, 225), Junior Amir Murray (5-11, 230), juco transfer, R-fr Marcellus Gaines (6-0, 225) OLB R-Jr. Michael Robinson (6-1, 225)-Ball State transfer, R-Fr. Stefan Hackshaw (6-3, 240) OLB Grad transfer Elorm Lumor (6-3, 245), Rutgers transfer, Jr. Nygil Johnson (6-3, 230)-Nevada transfer S R-Soph. Jamal Gay (6-1, 200), Sr. Keyvone Bruton (5-11, 210)-Temple transfer could play some Bandit/hybrid LB S Sr. S.J. Brown (5-11, 200), Jr. Robert Topps III (6-3, 205)-Kansas transfer CB Jr. Charles Peoples (6-0, 185)-juco transfer, SR. Mark Collins Jr. (5-11, 190) South Dakota transfer led nation in PBU in 2018 CB Sr. Brandon Shuman (6-0, 180), Soph. Makai Self (5-9, 170)-Penn State transfer, Jr. D.J. Pratt (6-3, 185)-Virginia transfer could move to safety (also depth at corner with Soph. Robert Javier (6-1, 195), Jr. Jirhe Love (6-0, 195)). KR/PR D/Ago Hunter (5-8, 160) P Shane McDonough Kickers? Competition between Arizona State transfer Gabriel Gomez and three freshmen in Eric Bernstein, Keegan Vaughn and Josh Cupitt.

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/6/9/towson-football-caa-announces-2021-home-game-times.aspx

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/6/10/womens-basketball-to-compete-in-preseason-wnit-classic.aspx

https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Football/TransferPortal/ Personally, I prefer a dual-threat QB with some experience like Pass had.

Getting pressure on the quarterback is nearly as important as getting sacks. If Cholewa and Gibbs, who are strong and huge, can command double teams, that will allow Lumor and Reese or Okombi to get loose. Lumor is capable of getting six or seven sacks to be conservative. Too much talent in the back end to play soft coverages. We had to in 2019 when Shuman got hurt. We had no pass rush and they didn’t trust the young corners enough to blitz a lot.

https://saturdaytradition.com/indiana-football/towson-officially-welcomes-former-indiana-dl-to-program/

http://webapps.towson.edu/ec/tigerClubTemplates/FY21/June21_AD_Update.html

I’m sure we’ll add one more. Freshman Sabias Folley is another big back like Howard with some speed and agility. The rest from what I gather are walk ons.

https://247sports.com/college/rutgers/Article/Elorm-Lumor-Rutgers-Football-NFL-Draft-152883948/ https://scarletknights.com/sports/football/roster/elorm-lumor/9075 https://247sports.com/Player/Elorm-Lumor-75750/https://saturdaytradition.com/rutgers-football/rutgers-dl-with-27-career-starts-enters-transfer-portal/ https://247sports.com/college/rutgers/Article/Ruters-football-Elorm-Lumor-transfer-portal-160010796/ https://saturdaytradition.com/rutgers-football/rutgers-dl-with-27-career-starts-enters-transfer-portal/