In the FCS Huddle: Best class? Put up your Dukes

NCAA Football Betting Lines

02/01/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The axiom for college recruiting is for a particular university to keep the top high school players from its state at home in its signing class.

The Virginia-laden roster of James Madison University football speaks a lot toward veteran head coach Mickey Matthews and his assistants annually delivering on this notion.

But when the Dukes reach outside the state, they reach with big intentions.

This year's recruiting success both in and out of Virginia has given JMU arguably the best class in the Football Championship Subdivision. The CAA Football program has secured the highest number of two- and three-star recruits according to the nation's three main recruiting web sites, ESPN, Rivals and Scout.

"We're really doing a nice job," Matthews said in announcing the recruiting class Wednesday.

"We have a great group of salesmen in our assistant football coaches. These guys have been with me for a while, they know what I'm looking for, they know what our schemes are offensively and defensively. So we feel very good about this year's group."

Evaluating recruiting classes is an inexact science because it's all on paper. It could be four, five years before we will get the true answer of who has come up biggest this year.

Still, there's no disputing JMU has enjoyed recruiting success not just against the old CAA guard, but Old Dominion's rising program, which also is having a banner recruiting year.

The Dukes' 14-member class includes Virginia recruits Dylan Stallings, a 6- foot-4, 210-pound defensive end out of Yorktown and Grafton High; Justin Baker, a 6-foot, 255-pound defensive end out of Ashburn and Briar Woods High; and Rhakeem Stallings, a 6-foot, 210-pound outside linebacker out of Chesapeake and Oscar Smith High.

Matthews and his staff, whose team went 8-5 and reached the second round of the FCS playoffs this past season, rolled into Maryland to get 6-6, 245-pound quarterback Ian Fisher from Brunswick High and yet another defensive end, 6-4, 240-pound Silas Ademola from Bladensburg High.

The Dukes even went into CAA rival Delaware's hometown and grabbed 6-1, 185- pound quarterback Taylor Reynolds from Newark High.

In addition, Maryland transfers Titus Till, a 6-2, 200-pound safety, and Jeremiah Wilson, a 5-10, 185-pound cornerback - both redshirt sophomores - are enrolled already and will be a part of spring practices.

Oh, yes, they're celebrating in Harrisonburg.

James Madison 2012 Recruiting Class

Player (Pos) HT WT Hometown (High School) ------------ -- -- ----------------------

Silas Ademola DL 6-4 240 Bladensburg, MD (Bladensburg)

Justin Baker DL 6-0 255 Ashburn, VA (Briar Woods)

John Barillo LB 6-1 215 Ventnor, NJ (St. Augustine Prep)

Michael Birdsong QB 6-4 220 Matoaca, VA (Matoaca)

Xavier Crocker CB 5-10 175 Mechanicsville, VA (Hanover)

Ian Fisher QB 6-6 245 Brunswick, MD (Brunswick)

Mitchell Kirsch OL 6-5 265 Kensington, MD (St. John's College)

Taylor Reynolds QB 6-1 185 Newark, DE (Newark)

Dylan Stallings TE/DL 6-4 210 Yorktown, VA (Grafton)

Rhakeem Stallings LB 6-0 210 Chesapeake, VA (Oscar Smith)

Gage Steele LB 6-0 210 Front Royal, VA (Warren)

*Titus Till S 6-2 200 Upper Marlboro, MD (Wise/Maryland)

Kwe'shon Williams ATH 5-10 160 Norfolk, VA (Norview)

Jeremiah Wilson* DB 5-10 185 Winchester, VA (Handley/Maryland)

* - denotes transfer

OTHER TOP CLASSES

At Portland State, head coach Nigel Burton's recruiting class doesn't feature only key players from Oregon, it has some of the best within the city.

Portland's larger size helps increase the talent pool, but Burton clearly has been the man with a plan since arriving at the Big Sky school after the 2009 season. After a competitive first season with some tight losses in 2010, he led the Vikings to their first winning record since 2006 with a 7-4 mark this past season.

Portland State has done an excellent job of marketing itself within the city and the payoff includes this year's recruiting haul led by 6-1, 230-pound linebacker Daniel Halverson from Grant High. He's come aboard with high school teammate Jamarr Graves, a 6-3, 190-pound wide receiver.

Another Portland standout, 5-11, 205-pound wide receiver/defensive back Nicholas Rothstein from Jesuit High also is part of the class.

The Vikings' announced class didn't include, as expected, stud defensive tackle Tyrone Holmes from Eagle Point, Ore., but they should get an impact from seven transfers, including five from junior colleges.

Appalachian State has put together an outstanding class as it tries to reload following an 8-4 campaign that saw the end of a six-year run as Southern Conference champion. Since then, there has been a big turnover on head coach Jerry Moore's staff.

ASU added one of this year's top FCS running back recruits in 6-foot, 190- pound running back Tysean Holloway out of Asheville, N.C. He's enrolled already.

The Mountaineers also stayed in-state for 5-11, 175-pound cornerback Aaron Krah out of Durham and Hillside High.

Moore and Co., though, did some of their best recruiting in Georgia - sorry, Georgia Southern fans - with a haul that includes cornerback Dante Blackmon (5-11, 185) from Covington Eastside; defensive tackle Darian Small (6-2, 285) from Hampton Dutchtown; wide receiver Malachi Jones (6-1, 180) from Lawrenceville Central Gwinnett; and tight end Barrett Burns (6-4, 220) from Woodstock Etowah.

Villanova always does some of the best recruiting in the FCS, and despite suffering through their first losing season since 2005 - a 2-9 record - veteran coach Andy Talley should have another top group of newcomers.

The Wildcats had yet to announce their class by mid-afternoon Wednesday, but the talent is expected to be particularly widespread, including two key linebackers from Pennsylvania, Langhorne's Corey Majors (6-1, 230), who is spending a prep year at Worcester (Mass.) Academy, and West Chester Henderson's Ted White (6-2, 221), as well as wide receiver Mike Burke (6-3, 205) from Columbia (Pa.) Columbia Junior/Senior.

The Wildcats' recruiting reached into New Jersey for cornerback Mark Clements, a 5-10, 170-pounder out of Mays Landing and Oakcrest High. They also went north to Connecticut for Danbury linebacker Austin Calitro (6-2, 220) and south to Maryland for Clarksville River Hill running back Aaron Wells (5-9, 178) and to Florida for Orange Park Fleming Island linebacker Cameron McCurry (5-11, 215).

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds

Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it. Work left to do: Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney. Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson. Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable. Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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