4 Players That'll Define EMU vs. Jax State
4 Players That'll Define EMU vs. Jax State
Does EMU see itself having the upper-hand in the trenches in its home opener?
EMU RB Delbert Mimms III
It’s a small sample size, but Jacksonville State’s off to a pretty yucky start defending the run. Coastal Carolina had 294 yards on 57 carries and #22 Louisville had 233 yards on 36 rushes (5.7 combined avg.), and 8 total touchdowns given up in the first two weeks of the year.
Seems like a vulnerable spot to me!
Delbert Mimms, with 90 rush yards and a touchdown on 24 handoffs (3.8 avg.) so far with his new team (NC State), has had to share the rock with Dontae McMillan, a second-year transfer from Weber State who came out of the Washington game due to injury. Since Jacksonville State’s offense is going to try to out-tempo Eastern Michigan’s, getting some yards up the middle and taking time off the clock should theoretically take some air out of JSU’s tires.
Plus, Week 3 seems as good a time as any for somebody to emerge as the guy from this running back room.
EMU DB Quentavius Scandrett
Eye discipline is a real thing, especially as a deep safety. EMU’s defense guarded Jax State’s spread option offense with Quentavius Scandrett usually acting as the main single-high safety throughout the game, sometimes alongside Cam Smith and T.J. Peavy (until he got hurt) in two-high safety looks. If Scandrett wasn’t playing up top, he was lined up over an inside receiver. Neither of those other deep safeties are with the team anymore, and Scandrett, with 22 career starts made for this Eastern defense, will have to help manage a group of defensive backs to his left and right against an offense that will use the whole field to make plays — both vertically and horizontally.
Scandrett has a career 113 tackles made (66 solo) with 3 interceptions. Scandrett’s in a spot where JSU wants guys like him to make as many missteps as possible. Playing a little too fast and loose with run fits can lead to big plays for the Gamecocks to come away with another victory. The play from last year’s game that keeps coming to mind is Logan Smothers’ 41-yard touchdown run, which probably could’ve been a touchdown in flag football.
Given the circumstances, EMU’s defense did play fine against JSU. Sure, EMU still gave up a ton of rushing yards (295) to the team that finished as the nation’s #3 rushing offense (236.7 per game), but the defense also limited damage on the scoreboard by allowing just 21 points when it got virtually no help from the offense (3 interceptions, 8 punts, 2 turnovers on downs, 0 points).
JSU LG Clay Webb
It’s not everyday you see a former blue-chip prospect play in the trenches for a G5 vs. G5 matchup, but here we are looking at Clay Webb once again. As a class of 2019 high school graduate (Oxford HS / Oxford, Ala.), Webb was the industry’s #1 ranked center and #2 player overall from his home state. He spent the 2019 through 2021 seasons at Georgia and was name the team’s co-scout team player of the year for offense in his first year. In 2022 he came to Jacksonville State, and started seven times in 10 games played. Last year he was the team’s starting left guard and was named to the All-Conference USA Second Team roster. If a video game’s opinion matters to you, then you should know that Webb entered the season with an overall rating of 92 on EA’s College Football 25, the #37 player in the game.
Jacksonville State’s offense entered the season ranked #121 in the country in returning offensive production, per ESPN, at 38%, and the returning two quarterbacks that EMU did see last season — Logan Smothers and Zion Webb — might have to wait for Furman graduate transfer Tyler Huff to get off the field first as the team’s new starter. As a team, JSU is averaging 5.5 yards per play, 323.5 yards per game, and 20.5 points per game — not quite to the levels it was at last season (5.3 avg. per play, 407.6 avg. per game, 30.15 points avg.).
JSU DE J-Rock Swain
Statistically, Swain was not the biggest factor for Jacksonville State’s defense in last season’s matchup at JSU Stadium. He had two assisted tackles in the game last year but was one of nine Gamecocks to finish the 2023 season with at least five tackles for loss. For the year, Swain had 27 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 4 sacks, 2 pass breakups, 4 hurries, 1 fumble forced and 2 fumbles recovered.
Swain broke out as a true freshman with JSU in the 2020/21 spring season with 48 total tackles made, 11.5 for loss. He had 21 tackles in 10 games in 2021 (3 TFL), then 38 stops (10 TFL) in 2022. Swain, a year younger but went to the same high school as Webb, was an All-Ohio Valley Conference player in his true freshman season (second team), All-Atlantic Sun Conference in 2021, and All-CUSA Honorable Mention last year. So far this year, he’s had a tackle for loss in each of the last two games (7 tackles, 2.5 TFL).
