Dukes RB Commit Palmer Packs Punch
HARRISONBURG – There’s a bruiser coming to James Madison’s backfield.
Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) running back Latrele Palmer announced his pledge to the Dukes via Twitter on Tuesday, becoming the third prospect at the position and the third product from the same prep program for JMU’s 2019 recruiting class.
“Style-wise, and I’ve been saying this for years and when everybody puts on the tape they’re like, ‘Oh my god, you’re right,’” Good Counsel coach Andy Stefanelli said, “he’s Marshawn Lynch.
“If you want a style and you watch him run in his prime, and then watch Latrele run, he looks like a younger version. That’s the kind of back he is. He’s a phenomenal blocker and a good receiver as well, so he’s not just a power guy, but he’s certainly that for sure. That’s the kind of back that JMU will be getting in Latrele.”
Palmer, who selected the Dukes’ offer over ones from fellow Colonial Athletic Association programs Elon, Rhode Island, Stony Brook, Towson and Villanova in addition to Air Force, Army and Navy, is also the first player to commit with new JMU coach Curt Cignetti at the helm. When Cignetti got the job in December, he vowed to find another running back to bolster depth at the position.
Hermitage (Richmond) running back CJ Jackson and Mt. Vernon (Atlanta) running back Austin Douglas signed their Letters of Intent during the early signing period last month, and the team has scholarship juniors Percy Agyei-Obese and Jawon Hamilton on the roster.
JMU didn’t begin recruiting Palmer until Cignetti and his staff arrived in Harrisonburg, according Stefanelli. But the previous staff did recruit Good Counsel defensive end Jalen Green and linebacker Julio Ayamel, who both have been committed to the school since the summer.
“I can recall having two players go to one school, but never three,” Stefanelli said, “and never three at that level in terms of all three really being prominent players for us. That’s kind of unusual, and all that occurred, too, during a coaching change.
“… We were dealing with the old staff. We were dealing with the holdover staff that was there in the interim when all this was going on right before the [early] signing day, and we already had a relationship with the new staff at [Elon]. But now they were representing themselves as JMU, so we kind of knew everybody involved, but there were moving pieces throughout the process just because of the timing of everything. So while all the faces have changed, they’re still familiar faces. But in Latrele’s case, he was being recruited by [Elon] and then some of that staff ended up at JMU, so I think that’s how he ended up with the offer later from JMU.”
Palmer, Ayamel and Green all plan to sign on Feb. 6 – the traditional signing date – with the Dukes.
Stefanelli said most of Palmer’s offers came deep into or after the running back’s senior season at Good Counsel even though he had visited schools or college coaches had scouted him earlier in his career.
Palmer was an All-Washington Catholic Athletic Conference first-team choice and a Washington Post All-Met honorable mention selection this past fall.
“He had a great senior year,” Stefanelli said. “But part of the issue was his junior year. He started having a good year, but he battled injuries the entire season.
“He had an ankle [injury] early in the year and then midway through the year he tore a meniscus in his knee, but he played through it and he didn’t have the same burst, which showed up on film. And we had originally diagnosed it as a bruise, but then after the season he had an MRI and it was a torn meniscus, so he had to get it cleaned up with surgery. He never complained and he just kept playing.
“So I think what happened in his recruiting was recruiters didn’t see that top-end speed. He maybe didn’t show as much of a burst as they were looking for. Of course this year when he was healthy he did show he has top-end speed.”