This was a battle of some real heavyweights (at least in the 1-AA ranks). New Hampshire entered the game as the #1 ranked 1-AA team, having dispatched of every 1-A and 1-AA team they faced thus far. James Madison was #13 in the nation (having lost to an earlier #1 team in Appalachian State), but was playing without a couple senior running backs. Both teams feature QBs with NFL aspirations, some quality skill players, and aggressive defenses. JMU seemed to create a few more good breaks for themselves and came up with key stops on defense to keep UNH from hitting their stride. Justin Rascati’s 40-yard TD run seemed to take some of the air out of UNH’s sails in the first half.
College: James Madison
Conference: A-10
Columnist: Steve Martin
Name - # - Ht - Wt - Speed - Pos - Class
Alvin Banks – 1 5' 9.5" 220 0.00 HB 2007
DNP - Injury . (Incomplete)
Justin Rascati – 11 6' 1.5" 220 0.00 QB 2007
Rascati is a former Louisville Cardinal who transferred once Brohm arrived on the scene. He has decent size and athleticism and is also fairly mobile with decent speed. He ran for a 40-yd TD in the second quarter that seemed to open things up for JMU. On the run, he beat a very fast corner (Graham) to the pylon, although some of that might have been Graham taking a bad angle. Rascati is a leader on the field and seems to be able to read the defense well pre-snap. He has an excellent dropback and looks very technically sound while setting up. He has a nice, compact delivery and gets the ball out fairly quickly, however his arm strength is questionable. He is able to get some zip on the short and intermediate balls. The selling point for Rascati is his toughness and his leadership. He’ll be in someone’s camp next summer, although he is a borderline draftable player. He could be a nice backup in a WCO. (POSITIVE)
Akeem Jordan – 23 5' 11.5" 225 0.00 LB 2007
Jordan was all over the field. Every time I looked at the ballcarrier, I saw #23 closing in. I had him in on at least 16 tackles, and there may have been more. He has outstanding speed and quickness and is able to get sideline-to-sideline easily. He was able to scoot through the blockers and get to the ballcarrier. Once there, he tackled very well for a man his size. He also was used as an edge rusher and showed excellent burst and speed on a QB sack. Not just a run stopper, Jordan also showed the ability to cover the TE downfield. He laid a big hit on the TE, forcing a key fumble that stopped a UNH drive. Jordan looks like he might have a home at the next level as a WLB, or perhaps even a SS. (VERY POSITIVE)
Corey Davis – 65 6' 3.3" 340 0.00 OT 2007
Davis is the starting LT for JMU. He is a very large man and showed outstanding strength at the point of attack. He also neutralized edge rushers, however he did it by lunging at them and knocking them off balance with his arms and upper body strength. He wasn’t able to get into a good position to block them and would struggle with stronger DEs and OLBs with good balance. Davis is not an athletic player and does not run well. He did get downfield a few times (it was hard to watch) and was effective at picking up targets and taking them out. He has no future as an OT at the next level. He might get a look as an OG as he certainly has the size and strength. (NEUTRAL)
Players to watch: DT Chuck Suppon (SR) was a very disruptive force on the inside. He showed a good burst off the snap and was able to split gaps and get into the backfield. He had a couple sacks and made a very nice play snagging the RB from behind in the backfield on another play. Appears to have good size and quickness and is a high-motor guy. FS Tony LeZotte (JR) played a very smart game. He was very effective coming up to support the run and showed well against the pass too. Would like to see more of him next year.
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College: New Hampshire
Conference: A-10
Columnist: Steve Martin
Name - # - Ht - Wt - Speed - Pos - Class
David Ball – 3 6' 2.8" 187 0.00 WR 2007
Ball doesn’t look like much when you first see him, but boy can he play the game. He runs very tight routes and is able to get open. Once the ball is in the air, he shows outrageous athleticism, body control, leaping ability, and hands. He went up and over a pair of defenders to make a tough grab along the sidelines. I was wondering how he got up so high when the color guy (former Raiders/Eagles RB Jon Ritchie) mentioned that Ball was a 6’9” high jumper. He doesn’t have outstanding speed, but he makes up for that with his technical prowess. Will remind some of Mike Hass--although he’s more athletic, but probably not as precise on his routes. He wasn’t able to find the endzone, but was a frequent target of Santos. (POSITIVE)
Tucker Peterson – 68 6' 2.5" 300 0.00 OG 2007
Peterson is one of the best guards I’ve seen this year (at any level). He’s a former DT who made the move to the other side of the ball. He brings a defensive intensity to the position. He is as technically sound as any player I’ve seen in a while. He appears to have fairly equally distributed strength (upper and lower body) and is a real fireplug. He sets up with his butt low and his head and back upright at the snap. He quickly gets under the pad level of his opponent and has outstanding leg drive on running plays, pushing his guy out of the hole. On pass protection, he flat out stones his man. As good as Chuck Suppon was playing against UNH, he couldn’t make any headway when he lined up opposite Peterson. He also appears to be fairly fluid athletically, pulling well and getting to the second level efficiently and quickly. I’ve only seen him play once now, but this guy could be a real steal come draft day. (VERY POSITIVE)
Corey Graham – 8 6' 0.0" 190 0.00 S 2007
Excellent speed. Good height. Thin, thin, body. He definitely looks more like a sprinter than a football player. JMU didn’t throw the ball a whole lot, so it was hard to evaluate him, but he did make an outstanding interception in the second half. He showed good ball skills and body control on the play. I saw him once or twice in run support, but he didn’t really grab my attention. Graham also was used as a returner in the game, but was unable to make any real impact there. (NEUTRAL)
Ricky Santos – 2 6' 2.0" 215 0.00 QB 2008
This was the first time I saw Santos play and I was very impressed. While he was on the losing end of the game, Santos did all he could to keep his team in the game when their running attack stalled. In fact, he became the UNH running attack. Santos has good size and a rocket arm. He gets the ball out very quickly with a 3/4 delivery (almost Marino-like). He’s very accurate on short-to-intermediate routes, but loses some accuracy when he goes long. He has tremendous confidence and good pocket awareness. He runs through his reads, often going to his third option. He’s patient and doesn’t force the ball (with one exception tonight) into bad situations. He’s very mobile, and even though he isn’t all that fast, he is an effective runner because of his quickness – making small moves to avoid tackles. He’ll be the top small-school QB coming into next season. (POSITIVE)
Players to watch: WR Aaron Brown (SR) – Brown has the look of an NFL WR – even more so than teammate Ball. Brown is 6’3”, runs very well, catches the ball cleanly with his hands (only drop was a ball thrown behind him that he was forced to try to body catch), and he’s a willing/able blocker. He’s one to really watch. DE Cory Dix (SR) – Dix was very active from his DE position. He showed good speed and strength as a pass rusher and run stopper. He also dropped into coverage a few times and looked like he was able to move fluidly in space. Don’t know how big he is, but he looks like he could play a number of positions (DE and LB) in a number of different schemes.
**Notes to writer: Akeem Jordan is #23 for JMU, not #35. Keep an eye on Aaron Brown (WR UNH), he looks like he could play at the next level. I’d also like to hear your thoughts on Chuck Suppon (DT JMU) and Cory Dix (DE UNH). Finally, is Tucker Peterson really THAT good?!?