State of the Program: James Madison Dukes

Head Coach: Bob Chesney is entering his 2nd season as the head coach of the Dukes with a 9-4 record. In just 1 season he already maintains a bowl win and a 1-0 record vs ACC foes. He was previously successful as the head coach of Holy Cross at the FCS level and he looks to keep this program at an elite level.

Program Outlook: Moving up to FBS is supposed to be difficult, but this wasn’t the case for JMU. So far in their 3 FBS seasons they haven’t finished with a record worse than 8-4 and have reached a bowl in 2 of the 3 years. This is a program with a large alumni base and a lot of support. Already it’s clear they’re one of the elite programs in the Sun Belt and they are just getting started.

How does the 2025 Roster look?: James Madison ranks 67th in the country returning 55% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players for the Dukes starts with the QB, and it’s in an interesting spot. Alonza Barnett was fantastic at QB last year but suffered a leg injury late, and for most of the offseason it was expected that he would miss all of this year, but there’s been a little optimism lately. If he misses the season JMU still has good options in Richmond transfer Camden Coleman and UNLV Transfer Matthew Sluka. Sluka was with the coaching staff at Holy Cross and knows the offense but Coleman is the better passer, it’s possible they use both. Whoever is the QB has a great back to hand it to in George Pettaway who is one of the best in the Sun Belt. The receivers are made entirely from the portal, there’s the Richmond to JMU pipeline continuing with both Landon Ellis and Nick DeGennaro coming over, plus Villanova transfer Jaylan Sanchez in the slot. The offensive line lost a couple starters and replaced them utilizing the portal, but it’s a mystery who will step up if there’s injuries. The Dukes defense will once again be led by the Dline, and they have a monster in all-Sun Belt DT Immanuel Bush, and while they took some losses they brought in an intriguing transfer in Xavier Holmes from Maine. They have a great LB in Trent Hendrick who is a leader in the middle. The star of the defense might actually be safety Jacob Thomas and he’s got a helper in Curtis Harris-Lopez from Holy Cross at the other spot, corner Chauncey Logan is a good one as well.

Screenshot from FBSchedules.com

2025 Schedule Thoughts: James Madison has faces a pretty tough and interesting schedule. The non-conference includes a massive show down at Louisville, and an awesome home game against Washington State late in the year, but maybe the headliner is the game at Liberty, it’s been mostly off the field so far but this heated Rivalry takes the field this fall. JMU opens with Weber State who is coming off a down year, and this is only their 2nd meeting that’s not in the FCS playoffs. The Dukes get a tough draw from the West facing the two teams with the highest upside in Louisiana and Texas State, this is somehow JMU’s first game against Louisiana. If the Dukes only lose 1 game they earned a playoff spot against this schedule.

Final Thoughts: It’s James Madison, they’re going to be a top contender for the Sun Belt. They have a team built to contend once again but they have a lot of tests on the way. Critical piece for the Dukes will be playing better on the road, they stalled on offense in 3 of their 4 losses, all on the road. Another key will be turnover margin, James Madison led the nation with a ridiculous +20 margin last year. They did this by forcing lots of turnovers and taking care of the ball on offense so it’s clear good coaching helped for some of it.