Could JMU get a key DE Back?

Nice article by the DNR's Mike Barber about Max Alexandre. Come back tomorrow for a preview of #15 JMU Dukes @ #18 UMass.


An Early Gift For JMU D-Line

By MIKE BARBER

Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG – Lacking healthy defensive linemen for last Saturday’s game at Villanova, James Madison’s football team looked to a player whose season once appeared to be over.

Junior defensive tackle Max Alexandre suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a knee during spring practice in April, prompting JMU to an nounce that he would miss the 2010 season. But biology sometimes trumps expectations.

“I was definitely hoping I could come back this year and play, but they told me it would be hard,” Alexandre said after practice this week. “I’d have to work really hard to come back.” 

The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder did exactly that, and three weeks ago he returned to the practice field. Still, it seemed unlikely he’d see action in a game. But with JMU already without its two starting defensive tackles – Ronnell Brown and Nick Emmons – because of ankle injuries, Alexandre was getting plenty of work in practice. When defensive end Sean O’Neil – who had been moved to play inside at tackle because of Brown’s and Emmons’ absence – suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out against Villanova, Alexandre suddenly was the team’s next-best option. “It’s an amazing recovery,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. “And to be honest, if we didn’t have all the injuries, we wouldn’t have even thought about him. Max was working really hard and the trainer kept saying he was doing well. We thought we’d get him out here and see what he could do.” 

Against the Wildcats, the defending Division I- AA national champions, Alexandre made two tackles in a 14-7 loss that was surprisingly close considering JMU was using a patchwork defensive line against a hulking and skilled offensive front. 

“It was a very gallant effort, because they’re very big,” Matthews said of the performance of his defense. “Our guys hung in there. Our guys really played hard on defense. We refused to give in. It gave us a chance to win at the end.” 

Alexandre, who came on strong at the end of the 2009 season and was a potential starter for this year before his knee injury, was right in the middle of that effort.

“We would have not have played as well on defense Saturday without him,” Matthews said. “He was a huge contributor.” 

Just getting back on the field was a huge accomplishment for a player who has dealt with plenty of adversity since last season ended. 

Alexandre is a native of Haiti, and his grandmother was killed in the January earthquake that ravaged that country’s capital city of Port-Au-Prince. 

Then, in the spring, Alexandre suffered the injury. “Old-school line of thought was that when you had major reconstruction involving the ACL, it was a minimum of 12 months and maybe 18 months coming back,” Matthews said. “His was shredded. There was even talk that his career was over in April.” 

Alexandre was on crutches for six weeks and it was four months before he could begin running again. He did his rehabilitation work with JMU athletic trainer Scott Cook and then began to work himself back into playing shape with the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Jim Durning. 

Three weeks ago, with Brown and Emmons sidelined, Alexandre returned to practicing. 

“I was a little uncomfortable at first,” Alexandre said. “I was kind of hesitant to make the cuts and stuff. But last week during the game, it was just like, ‘Wow. I can do it again.’ The first couple of plays, I was a little rusty. I was a little slow with it. After that, I picked up where I left off.” The Dukes (4-3 overall, 1-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association) will need him again Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium. In a pivotal game against Massachusetts (4-3, 2-2), JMU could be without as many as seven players expected to be defensive starters coming out of spring practice. The Dukes won’t have Brown, Emmons, O’Neil or cornerback Mike Allen, who suffered a season- ending foot fracture against Villanova. Allen and Emmons join linebacker Jamie Veney (quad) on that list of players done for the year. 

Matthews said linebacker Pat Williams (concussion) is doubtful and cornerback Leavander Jones (knee) is questionable for Saturday. The coach is considering playing true freshman Dean Marlowe, a safety, at cornerback, but in the eighth game of the season, it’s a bit late to be pulling redshirts. 

That a move like that is even being considered shows JMU believes it can still make the I-AA playoffs. The Dukes need to win all four games to assure themselves of an at-large selection. With one loss dropping them to 7-4, JMU would be on the bubble. 

“It’s just something you have to deal with as a football program,” Matthews said. “We’re not the only football program that’s had injuries.” 

-MO