Week 1 MACtion Power Rankings & a Strong First Impression by James Djonkam
Week 1 MACtion Power Rankings & a Strong First Impression by James Djonkam
James Djonkam led his new team in tackles to open up the 2024 season.
How about that for a first game with your new team?
It might have taken a bit longer than he would’ve liked, but James Djonkam emerged as a leader and rock for this year’s EMU defense. The Virginia-native linebacker who got things started at Independence Community College before being a special teams guys at Arizona State, then finally joined EMU during the winter to help replace a couple of linebackers that are sorely missed.
Against the Minutemen, Djonkam stayed on the field for 53 of the team’s 77 possible snaps played, per Pro Football Focus. Djonkam made stuffs early and often, finishing the day with 13 total tackles (1.5 tackles for loss), and was named the MAC’s Defensive Player of the Week for his actions.
Chris Creighton on Monday attributed part of Djonkam’s success with his defensive coordinator’s ability to correctly pull the strings, figuring out when Djonkam is best-used in the second level as a true linebacker, and when Djonkam might be be used as an edge defender and pass rusher.
“Coach Needham, our linebackers coach and defensive coordinator, one of the many things he does well is figure out what guys’ strengths are and then accentuates those and allows for guys to be successful, and that our schemes match what our guys are good at doing,” Creighton said. “So when you have guys like James Djonkam, you’ve got to think through what he can really be good at. Being at the line of scrimmage rushing the passer and being back at the linebacker level, he can do both of those things well. So he’s put him in some positions to be successful in that way.”
Football ability, again, is one thing. But football teams also need human leaders. Chase Kline and Joe Sparacio were both had leadership ability on the field and in the locker room. Now that they’re both gone after two years, there’s extra room for guys like Djonkam to step up.
Said Creighton on Djonkam’s early impressions with the teams: “James gave his senior share on Friday night, first one of the year, and so many people gave the comment that it was one of the best, if not the best, senior share that they have ever heard. And to his own admission, he’s already come a long way from when he came here in January. I think he’s super comfortable being in our program with the guys and the staff and he’s really coming into his own. We had a senior leadership leading last night and his name kept coming up a lot in a real positive way. He’s been a great addition. He’s got a love for the game, he’s got a real and genuine energy. He’s super positive and he’s a violent, physical, and aggressive football player.”
MAC Football Power Ranking through Week 1
After not doing the worst chore in the world — weekly MAC football power rankings — last season, I’m back to doing these again. Cheers to a very straightforward and not-at-all-confusing season ahead.
Toledo — The top spot here must always be reserved for 1-0 teams. Maybe that’s not 100% true, but it feels right. Also it’s Toledo so it’s much easier to let them have the top spot after their 49-10 win over Duquesne.
Miami — The defending MAC champions opened up with a 13-6 loss at Northwestern, home of the most interesting backdrop in college football (maybe just for the 2024 season)
Western Michigan — Fell 28-14 at Wisconsin. At face value, it’s a decent score for the opponent faced. Decent, but I don’t think I was very impressed with WMU’s first outing of the year. Still, I’ll give WMU the opponent-adjusted respect here.
Eastern Michigan — Beating UMass 28-14 was a good start to the year. Now EMU has to have some consistency. Considering how many MAC vs. FCS contests there were in the opening weekend, #4 is where I’ll have EMU open on this year’s list.
Bowling Green — BG opened up with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown, which is never a bad way to enter a football season. BG won handily, but Fordham was still able to move the ball very well against BG — 401 yards of total offense and 182 of them came on the ground (4.2 avg.).
Central Michigan — CMU stomped all over Central Connecticut 66-10 last weekend and first-season QB Joe Labas (Iowa transfer) was 18 of 24 for 342 yards and 3 scores; Solomon Davis had four grabs for 109 yards and two of those touchdowns.
Northern Illinois — NIU crushed Western Illinois 54-15 and QB Ethan Hampton threw for five touchdowns in the game. WIU hasn’t won a game since October 2021.
Ohio - Lost 38-22 at Syracuse. New running back Anthony Tyus III ran for 203 yards and 2 scores at the JMA Wireless Dome. But Ohio’s defense allows 357 passing yards.
Kent State — I didn’t do a preseason power ranking, but if I did, I’d be able to point to Kent State and say how nice it is that there’s already an early riser here. The 55-24 loss at Pitt had plenty of positive notes for a team like Kent State to feel too bummed about.
Buffalo — Good to see Buffalo not fall to an FCS squad for the third year in a row.
Akron — Losing 52-6 at Ohio State is somehow better than what a lot of people were expecting?
Ball State — It was the first full weekend of college football and Ball State stayed inside. For that, they must be punished.
