By Mike Barber
JMUSports.com Correspondent
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Rising up with a father who was a center college principal, Billy Atkins understood expectations.
“I went to high school with him, so I needed to be on my greatest conduct, for positive,” Atkins mentioned this week as he ready to begin for James Madison in opposition to Western Kentucky in Wednesday’s Boca Raton Bowl. “He has excessive requirements. Whether or not it was on the sphere or within the classroom, he anticipated good grades and for his children to do nicely in sports activities, as nicely.”
As of late, Atkins brings those self same excessive requirements to himself and everybody round him within the JMU program.
“You needed to be very ready once you went into a gathering with him,” Head Coach Bob Chesney mentioned. “He is a man that is going to problem issues, in a great way. He is gonna ask questions, in a great way.”
These questions, Chesney and Atkins’ JMU teammates say, are knowledgeable by hours of additional movie examine. Atkins voraciously pours over any info he can discover, wanting to grasp the how and the why of JMU’s offensive play calls and designs.
He used that info to assist the crew’s different quarterbacks, younger and outdated, carry out to their greatest ranges.
“He does a lot work behind the scenes that nobody will get to see,” JMU senior offensive lineman Cole Potts mentioned. “Billy watches extra movie than anybody I truthfully have ever met. Him and Jacob Dobbs are the 2 guys who would watch movie as a substitute of watching a film with everybody else.”
That devotion to his preparation is an enormous a part of the rationale the Dukes say they’ve a excessive diploma in confidence in Atkins as he prepares to make his first begin since dealing with Marshall in 2022.
That sport noticed Atkins wrestle, throwing 4 interceptions and finishing simply 37.1% of his passes. What some could neglect is that Atkins wasn’t named the starter for that sport till a couple of hours earlier than kickoff.
The crew’s beginning quarterback that season, Todd Centeio, had been injured in apply late within the week.
“Everyone knows he had an opportunity earlier than and he went on the sphere and it wasn’t his greatest day,” Chesney mentioned. “He has another probability to disclose himself for all of the work he did from that second till now.”
This season, because the backup, Atkins has solely thrown one move, and he is solely tried three the previous two years. Nonetheless, Atkins goes into the bowl sport keen to indicate what he can do.
“This clearly is an enormous alternative for me,” Atkins, a redshirt junior, mentioned. “The truth that I’m taking part in in my attainable final sport at JMU, that is an enormous deal for me to lastly exit right here and make a reputation for myself at this college.”
Atkins additionally takes confidence from the truth that most of the offensive gamers he’ll lineup with Wednesday are gamers he practiced with on the second crew final yr, together with speedy, playmaking vast receivers Omarion Dollison and Yamir Knight.
“Guys like Omarion and Yamir, these have been the fellows I performed with,” Atkins mentioned. “These guys have been second-string guys. So once I was launching deep balls down the sphere, these have been the fellows catching it. I really feel like we truthfully have not misplaced a step in any respect. In bowl prep, we have even grown nearer.”
Dollison, who leads the crew with six landing receptions and a 17.8 yards-per-catch common, agrees.
“Final yr, we had loads of downtime collectively. We talked so much,” Dollison mentioned. “Then, once we had the time to come back on the sphere, we had that connection.”
One query might be how Western Kentucky approaches JMU, defensively. The Hilltoppers are an aggressive protection, utilizing well-timed blitzes to get opponents behind the chains and turnovers to swing management of video games.
A web page from “Soccer for Dummies” would dictate that, with the Dukes taking part in a backup quarterback, Western Kentucky ought to stack the field, stuff the run and dare Atkins to beat it via the air.
“If they are going to do this, we will not put all of it on Billy and say, ‘Billy get us out of right here,'” Chesney mentioned. “Now we have to guard him and put him able the place we will nonetheless run the ball into these loaded bins. That is an vital piece of what we have to set up early.”
However for his half, Atkins would welcome a protection designed to drive him to move extra.
“Please do. I wish to see that occur,” Atkins mentioned. “I’d truthfully love that. We have some nice quick guys on the skin.”
Atkins additionally is aware of a part of the problem Wednesday might be to emotionally regular himself for what may very well be his closing sport carrying purple. He mentioned he hasn’t made any choice about his future however acknowledged the Boca Raton bowl may very well be his final time placing on a Dukes uniform.
Even when he was down on the depth chart, he mentioned, he by no means thought of leaving JMU.
“I’ve all the time been targeted on taking part in right here and being a Duke,” he mentioned. “I by no means wished to discover a new college. Every time I take into consideration my failures as a participant, I really felt that I may play right here. I really do consider in myself. I by no means thought I needed to go some place else to get a chance.”
Now, he is desperate to show that.
