JMU football has played three games this season, and the Dukes are a perfect 3-0 in the Billy Napier era.

With one quarter of the season over, let’s share our JMU football stock report. 

Stock up

The quarterback position

JC Evans started the Dukes’ Week 1 contest against Liberty and went 7-for-9 for 61 yards and a touchdown, plus 69 rushing yards on nine carries. He rotated with Camden Coleman and hasn’t played since, after suffering an injury in the win over the Flames. Evans flashed in limited action, leaving me wanting to see more.

Since Evans stepped out, Coleman has been highly efficient. He started against Wagner and San Diego State, leading the Dukes to wins and completing 31 of his 44 passes. He’s thrown for over 400 yards across the two wins, tossing three touchdowns with no interceptions. He also added a rushing score against the Aztecs.

Oh, and QB3 looks impressive, too. Arrington Maiden completed seven of his eight throws against Wagner, going over 100 passing yards and tossing two touchdown passes.

After losing Alonza Barnett to UCF and Matthew Sluka to graduation, the Dukes might’ve actually improved at the position this offseason.

Billy Napier

It’s only three games, but JMU’s head coach has quickly washed away much of the stain of his Florida failures and shown why he dominated the Sun Belt at Louisiana.

Napier brought in a recruiting staff that helped bring in a bunch of meaningful portal additions from lower levels, including early standouts like wide receiver Corey Scott, left tackle DJ Fox, linebacker JT Hooten and safety Jayon Harvey. The Dukes look like one of the Sun Belt’s most talented teams, even with UCLA racing out to a 3-0 start this season behind Wayne Knight and a few other former Dukes.

Napier seems to be thriving in a CEO role.

Rob Wenger has the Dukes’ special teams unit ranking first nationally in ESPN’s efficiency metrics. Robert Bala’s defense is allowing less than 10 points per game. Cam Aiken’s offense is averaging 432 yards and 44.3 points per contest (although the Wagner game accounts for much of that success).

ESPN’s SP+ has Dukes favored by at least 8.9 points in every remaining game this season. A 10-win season is quite possible, and another playoff berth can’t be ruled out.

D2 transfers

Scott leads the Dukes with 12 catches and 128 receiving yards. In a crowded room of pass-catchers, he quickly emerged.

Hooten has 13 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack and an interception through three games, as he’s seamlessly transitioned into a big role alongside Nakian Jackson as Gannon Weathersby works back from injury.

Harvey has 24 tackles to go with a forced fumble. He’s been one of the team’s steadiest defenders.

Defensive tackle Kevin Roberts has 10 tackles, and fellow defensive tackle Jakolbi Wilson has six of his own. Both seem to be improving weekly.

All five first-year Dukes came from the Division II level. JMU’s recruiting staff deserves credit for uncovering hidden gems and convincing them to join the Dukes.

Stock down

Preseason metrics

JMU began the season ranked 70th in ESPN’s SP+. The Dukes have climbed to 50th after just three wins, including a sloppy victory over Liberty. In ESPN’s FPI, the Dukes started the year 76th. They’re now 59th.

The Dukes haven’t played all that well yet, but they’ve rocketed up various advanced rankings. Those preseason metrics were deeply underrating JMU.

The preseason metrics seemingly struggle to account for transfer portal production that comes from places other than the FBS level. Meanwhile, JMU has essentially added dozens of FCS, Division II and Division III stars. Sadly, it takes several weeks for the computers — and the national media, which relies heavily on those numbers for G6 understanding — to catch up to what we all knew over the offseason.

Computers might not have known that West Florida’s Corey Scott and Kevin Roberts were going to be problems, but our eyes (and each player’s posted scholarship offers) told us they were big-time offseason additions.

Tackling

JMU ranks 64th nationally in tackling grade, according to Pro Football Focus. Last year, the Dukes ranked 23rd. In 2024, they ranked 86th. Tackling was a large reason why they lost four games in 2024 and won 12 games last season.

PFF numbers say JMU missed 107 tackles across 14 games last season. This fall, JMU is on pace to miss 148 tackles in 12 games. Some of that is because this year’s offense plays faster, which means the defense is on the field for more plays, which means there are more opportunities for missed tackles. But the Dukes have also been sloppy when wrapping up and need to clean up their tackling.

It’s a top priority entering league play.

Offensive consistency

The Dukes dropped 87 points on Wagner — the special teams deserves credit for that outburst — and put up over 500 yards of offense. But in wins over Liberty and San Diego State, JMU is averaging just 23 points per game.

In each win, JMU started hot. Of the 46 points scored against Liberty and SDSU, 36 came in the opening half. For the Dukes to reach their goals of winning the Sun Belt, the offense needs to put together a complete showing. Since joining the Sun Belt in 2022, JMU has averaged at least 28.8 points per game in league games in all four seasons. Last year, the Dukes put up an incredible 42.5 points per game against Sun Belt foes.

Anything less than 30 points per game, especially with a defense that’s still inconsistent at tackling, could mean a few losses are on their way.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications