Offensive Breakdown: James Madison

The Dukes of James Madison will be traveling into what could be a fairly hostile environment on Saturday to play the Mountaineers. This will be the first game for the old gold and blue in the Neal Brown era, and after what seemed to be a very long offseason, fans will finally get to see what Brown brings to Morgantown.

It’s no secret that James Madison is a perennial powerhouse in the FCS. They’ve knocked off a fair amount of FBS teams in recent years. In 2017, they defeated East Carolina 34-14. Last season, they traveled to NC State and lost a close one by a score of 24-13.

The Dukes’ offense averaged just under 34 ppg with over 400 yards of total offense. They bring a balanced attack as they average 183 rushing yards and 224 passing yards. RS Senior Quarterback Ben DiNucci is a Pitt transfer that was named to the CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Watch List.

In 2018, DiNucci completed 211 of his 309 pass attempts for 2,275 yards and 16 touchdowns to go along with 12 interceptions. He also rushed for 433 yards and 9 touchdowns. He ranked third nationally with a 68.3% completion percentage.

His partner in the backfield is junior Percy Agyei-Obese, who is the featured back and will get a majority of the touches. He played mostly on special teams last year as a true sophomore, but has since emerged as their best horse in the stable.  Agyei-Obese only ran the ball 18 times last season, but he did the most with that small amount of touches. He gathered 168 yards on the ground and a touchdown, also reeling in three receptions for 47 yards.

A receiver that the Mountaineer secondary will have to keep an eye on is Penn State transfer, Brandon Polk. The 5’9″ 175 pound Polk doesn’t stand out physically, but he did have nine catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns in 2018 while starting in seven games for the Nittany Lions.

The weapon that should be expected to be targeted the most is 6’5″ 230 pound redshirt Senior Riley Stapleton. He started all 13 games for the Dukes in 2018, led the team with 62 receptions for 710 yards and seven touchdowns. Last year in the season opener against NC State, Stapleton recorded nine catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.

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