New coach, system awaits JMU at Duke

James Madison opens its season on Saturday at Duke. The schools have never met in football. Not only that, the Blue Devils have a new coach, David Cutcliffe, and presumably a mostly new system.

So how does JMU coach Mickey Matthews approach a situation like that, in preparing his club for the visit to Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C., against a Football Bowl Subdivision team?

"All you can do is look at Tennessee film, because you think they're going to run what Tennessee did on offense last year," said Matthews, making a reference to Cutcliffe being the offensive coordinator for the Vols the previous two seasons.

"I think David is going to run the offense he's been running for years, and I'm sure he'll adjust it to the personnel he has as time goes along. And he probably already has, in terms of what he's got on the team."

"He's a good football coach. Defensively, we think they're going to be in a 4-3, but they could come out in anything.

"They have a huge advantage over us, as did North Carolina last year, because they can really prepare for our personnel and our team from the previous year."

Cutcliffe, who spent six seasons (1999-2004) as the head coach at Mississippi, was also the offensive coordinator at Tennessee for six years prior to 2006-07, and his troops scored 30 or more points in 62 of 100 games.

True freshman Veney earns starting berth

One of Matthews' biggest concerns heading into preseason practice was finding someone to replace Justin Barnes at one of the linebacker spots. It appears true freshman Jamie Veney, who spent last season at Fork Union Military Academy, will start on Saturday.

"We felt very fortunate to get him back in the recruiting process," Matthews said. "He's been doing a lot of good things. Now, how he's going to play down there Saturday night, I'll let you know after the game. But he's the best one we have, so we're preparing him to start."

Veney, a 6-3 215-pounder out of Group A Lancaster High, joins senior D.J. Brandon in backing up the line.

Sullivan is sidelined by surgery on thumb

The Dukes have been relatively injury-free during the preseason, although running back Jamal Sullivan, a sophomore out of Caroline High, suffered torn ligaments in his thumb and had surgery that will keep him out for several weeks.

Sullivan had been competing strongly with Eugene Holloman for the tailback spot, according to Matthews. Junior Bosco Williams and redshirt freshman Jonathan Rose have been struggling with hamstring injuries, leaving sophomore Griff Yancey (Hermitage High) as the backup to Holloman.

Yancey has recovered from a hamstring injury of his own, and "has really practiced well the past seven or eight days. When Jamal went down, it was imperative that Griff step up to the plate and he's done that," Matthews said.

--John Packett