Football is now nearly two weeks into its spring practice season, with three full-pad practices this week before its second scrimmage on Saturday. The culmination of the spring session comes with the Spring Game on April 19, after more than three weeks of on-field training.
The Dukes will have 15 practices this spring, the max number allowed by NCAA rules. On March 27 they began with two straight days of no-pad practices. Four contact sessions followed leading to the first scrimmage last Saturday.
Just eight practices and one scrimmage into the spring, Coach Mickey Matthews was able to name his most impressive unit thus far.
“Our entire defensive line has really played well this spring,” he said after practice Monday. “They should because they’re very experienced and many of our guys have been playing on the defensive line here for a long time.”
JMU will graduate only two of its defensive linemen from 2007, but both losses are key for the Dukes.
Hassan Abdul-Wahid was fourth on the team in sacks last season, starting every game at defensive end for Madison. The presence of the 6-foot-5, 240 pound pass rusher will be a tough one to replace.
Leaving an even bigger hole on the line is the departure of defensive tackle John Baranowsky. Baranowsky had only 12 solo tackles, but ranked third on the team with 4.5 sacks. His massive 6-foot-3, 290-pound frame played a huge role stopping the run and plugging up the line of scrimmage.
“Baranowsky played a ton for us,” Matthews said. “He was our bell cow on defense, probably the best defensive lineman in the country [in the Football Championship Subdivision]. To really replace John, after the 12 games he played magnificently last season, will be tough.”
Looking toward next season, Madison entered its spring with the goal of improving upon what it has for 2008, as opposed to dwelling on what it lost.
“Our first goal was to make sure we had a really good winter conditioning program, from January until the time spring training started,” Matthews said. “Everyone came in in really good shape.”
The NCAA allows players to work out eight hours per week with their team during the offseason.
“I’m sure we get close to that,” said the 10-year coach, who just signed a three-year contract extension with JMU in February. “We’re lifting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.”
Matthews’ quarterback Rodney Landers will be entering his senior season with the Dukes. Last year he led the team in both passing and rushing, with 1,678 and 1,273 yards, respectively.
Matthews said one of his goals of spring training was to improve Landers’ abilities prior to the upcoming season. He hit nearly all of his targets on Monday’s practice, finding his receivers in routes across the field, including two notable long-field completions.
For Matthews, the goal of the spring session is to improve each individual player and build chemistry that will hopefully carry over into August.
“It’s a team sport and you are working on chemistry,” Matthews said. “But in order to improve as a team each player has to improve individually.”
The number of returning players has Matthews optimistic about having a valuable spring.
“Now our goal is to get better as a football team,” Matthews said. “When you have as many guys returning as we do, we expect to have a good spring training.”
