BOCA RATON, Fla. — It’s been less than a month since James Madison quarterback Billy Atkins was honored during the program’s annual Senior Day.
His career in the Shenandoah Valley hasn’t necessarily been one filled with accolades and moments in the spotlight.
For most of Atkins’ four seasons at JMU, he’s embraced the backup quarterback role, often moving up and down the team’s depth chart.
Entering this season, Atkins had just one start to his name.
But, as he nears the end of his redshirt junior season, Atkins’ second-career start is set to come Wednesday during the Boca Raton Bowl against Western Kentucky.
“It truly is a blessing,” Atkins said. “I could not have wrote this up any better. This is a crazy experience for me personally as a player going through all the adversity I did to where I am now. I could have never imagined this moment.”
While the moment may have been hard to imagine a few years ago, Atkins is ready for his chance, and he wants to make the most out of it. The Parkton, Md., native has been the beneficiary of different coaches to help him get to this week.
Atkins’ first position coach in Harrisonburg was Tino Sunseri, who recently accepted the offensive coordinator gig at UCLA.
During Sunseri’s time on former JMU head coach Curt Cignetti’s staff, he became a quarterback whisperer.
He worked with the likes of Cole Johnson, Todd Centeio and Jordan McCloud and helped them earn all-conference honors.
For Atkins, he had the chance to be surrounded by those names during his time at JMU.
Atkins said Tuesday that he was glad to be under Suneri’s guidance early in his career.
“He was a heck of a coach,” Atkins said. “I think I learned the most about my game just because I was a freshman. … He was a guy from Alabama, so he knew all the coverages and all the things offensively of how to attack it and stuff like that.”
After working with Sunseri for three seasons, Atkins had the chance to get a new perspective from Dean Kennedy once the offensive coordinator was added to JMU head coach Bob Chesney’s first staff at JMU.
Under Kennedy, Atkins said that he’s found the coordinator and quarterbacks coach to be “well-versed” in the run game, allowing the redshirt junior to add to his repertoire as a quarterback.
“I got to basically combine my passing game knowledge with his run-game knowledge,” Atkins said. “I think that as a complete player now, I’ve been able to really maximize all those different learning pieces, and now I feel probably the most confident I have ever been in my career.”
Atkins’ confidence is hopefully coming at the right time as the Dukes will rely heavily on him in their second-ever bowl game.
Starting signal-caller Alonza Barnett III and backup Dylan Morris aren’t an option for JMU on Wednesday, but with Atkins, there’s still experience at the quarterback position.
Atkins also hasn’t changed how he approaches the sport just because he’s been named the starter.
The idea of how a starting quarterback prepares versus a backup is often “misconstrued,” Atkins said.
He’s prepared the last few weeks just like he has for every other game in his career. The only difference now is that Atkins knows he’ll get reps.
Football is a contact sport and injuries can happen at any point. Atkins could be a backup one play, and the next he may be on the field taking a snap from center Tanner Morris.
He’s kept his preparation the same throughout college because he knew that his chance may be just around the corner.
“It truly is one play away, and it’s happened multiple times to me in my career,” Atkins said. “You truly never know when that play is going to take place, but you have to be ready, not only for yourself, but for the guys around you.”
There was no guarantee that this moment was going to come for Atkins. He spent the season surrounded by talented and experienced quarterbacks, who could all handle a starting role in their own right.
But, due to injuries, that opportunity is awaiting Atkins. He’s had years to learn and develop, but during this season specifically, Atkins has had the chance to have fun.
Out of all the quarterback rooms he’s been a part of, Atkins said that this year’s group was easily the most fun one to be a part of. Sure, there was competition — that’s expected at the quarterback position — but there was also a group of players who wanted to help their teammates succeed.
“We’re so close-knit,” Atkins said. “We’re all talented players, we all want to play of course. But, I think that, never has it ever been a point where egos kind of took away from what we really had in terms of a relationship. … We’re always trying to just help each other be the best player we can for the team.”
