This past Saturday, James Madison University (JMU) football held a mid-spring practice scrimmage to help gauge where this team is. The coaching staff had the offense versus defense scrimmage officiated, and Coach Mike Houston asked the officials to call the game tight so the team would understand the damage penalties could cause a team.

All 4 quarterbacks vying for the starting job, showed good things. Junior quarterback, Cole Johnson, showed good improvement in his first spring season without Bryan Schor being in front of him. Red-shirt junior transfer, Ben Dinucci, displayed he is developing a grasp of the offense as both quarterbacks moved the ball down the field. Red-shirt freshman, Gage Moloney, and red shirt senior, Hunter Etheridge, also made solid plays for the offense. Wide receiver Kyndel Dean was a primary target and sophomore Clayton Cheatham continued to show reliability.

Defensively, the Dukes also made some nice plays. Red-shirt freshman linebacker, Keshaun Moore, picked off Gage Moloney for what would have been a pick six. Red-shirt junior Ron’dell Carter displayed physical play by helping lead a youthful group on the d-line.

Coach Mike Houston said coming out of the scrimmage he was pleased with the effort of his team, but as a head coach, he’s never completely happy coming out of an intra-squad scrimmage. If one side of the ball had success, that means the other side did not.

The Dukes will continue to install the offensive and defensive game plans this week in practices on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.