James Madison is known for having an innovative and high-powered offense, but they are coming off a year where they finished 21st in the country in scoring defense. The Dukes also finished 17th in yards per play allowed, and they started off the 2025 season by dominating their FCS opponent in the run and pass game last weekend. Bob Chesney brought in Alabama’s co-defensive coordinator, Colin Hitschler, after losing Lyle Hemphill to Texas A&M. Hitschler was a co-coordinator on Luke Fickell’s staff
at Cincinnati and Wisconsin before heading to Bama. He has coached in plenty of big games.
JMU brought in a handful of transfers on the defensive line after losing just about everyone to the transfer portal or graduation. The Dukes finished last year with 92 tackles for loss, but they lost about 30 of those TFLs to Rutgers and only return one player who was a substantial contributor. Aiden Gobaria is the player to watch on the line in my opinion, after transferring in from Notre Dame. Gobaria is a former 4-star prospect who couldn’t stay healthy at Notre Dame. He could fill a hole with so many losses on the line.
Linebacker is where the Dukes return a good amount of experience, with Trent Hendrick returning as a preseason All-Sun Belt pick at middle linebacker. Hendrick is a great fit in this defense that wants to use the interior defensive line to eat up blockers so that linebackers can play downhill. Hendrick has shown a great ability to shoot gaps into running lanes to make plays at or behind the line of scrimmage. He and Gannon Weathersby will be tasked with chasing down Isaac Brown on the edge in this defensive scheme built on causing havoc.
The Dukes return two key secondary players in Jacob Thomas at safety and DJ Barksdale at nickel. Both players put up good numbers last year, and Thomas is off to a good start with an interception against Weber State. Thomas is a deep safety who can also play down in the box if needed. He finished last year with 8 tackles for loss and 3 interceptions. He is a player Miller Moss will need to be aware of. Barksdale will be tasked with covering Caullin Lacy this week. He had two tackles for loss against UNC last year, so he is another guy who won’t be fazed by the moment.
