Completed Event: Football at Georgia State on October 4, 2025 , Win , 14, to, 7
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James Madison University | Official Athletics Site
JMU's Offensive Success Starts Up Front
12/16/2025 5:29:00 PM | Football
When Zach Greenberg got to James Madison, the transfer center was tasked with working his way into an offensive line group loaded with longtime Dukes.
Right tackle Pat McMurtrie was going into his second season at JMU, as was right guard Riley Robell. The left side of the line – tackle Joseph Simmons and guard Carter Sweazie – were about to embark on their fourth year wearing the purple and gold.
Still, Greenberg – who began his career at Division III Muhlenberg and spent last season at North Carolina – never felt like an outsider and never felt any pressure to live up to any FBS transfer expectations.
What did he feel?
"This is one of the closest teams I've ever been part or," Greenberg said. "We fuel off each other."
And that front five has fueled JMU all the way to the College Football Playoff. The Dukes, who lead the Sun Belt Conference in rushing offense, face fifth-seeded Oregon in the first round on Saturday in Eugene.
"We knew we had the talent," said McMurtrie, who has started all 26 games he's been at JMU for. "I think when you just look at the roster and just throughout fall camp, you could just see how much talent we had."
Talent and some depth. Josh Toner, in his fifth year with the Dukes, has started two games at right guard and one at left tackle, and freshman Trent Wilson started a game at right guard.
JMU started to gel and develop into a potentially dominant offensive line during spring practice and in fall camp. The offensive staff quickly identified the unit as one of the primary strengths of this
year's team.
"Going into fall camp, we knew we were going to have a good offensive line," offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy said. "So I think that was a big part of making sure we rely on our identity, starting with them."
But it wasn't until a Week 2 road loss at Louisville that the group really realized what it could become.
Despite allowing six sacks in the lone loss of the season, Sweazie said the front five left that game with a new level of confidence – believing it could run the ball against anyone.
It just needed to follow the marching orders of offensive line coach Chris Smith, who told them to play with an edge, play nasty.
"I think we all embody that," Sweazie said. "I think we get after people. I think we want to wear them down. We play the mental and the game within the game where you're just going to break a guy every time, you're going to land on him, make his life a little harder until, eventually, in the third and fourth quarter, he shuts down."
That mentally is also what's allowed JMU to dominate the second half of games this season. The Dukes have outscored opponents 261-59 after the break, and a big part of that is the offensive line wearing foes down.
"They're the driving force of our unit," quarterback Alonza Barnett III said.
In the middle of it all has been Greenberg, the newest but certainly not the least experienced member of the line.
The New Jersey native had limited options coming out of Livingston High School. He went to Muhlenberg where he became a two-time first-team all-conference player as a left tackle.
"I give all the credit in the world to Coach Nate Milne and his staff at Muhlenberg," Greenberg said. "If you if you go back and look at what I looked like coming out of high school, I didn't really have a
ton of opportunities to play above the Division III level, and honestly, that's how I wanted it. I loved being able to be developed in a school that was close to home, with an outstanding coaching staff. Them molding me into the player that I am now was everything."
Greenberg said he further refined his game in his one year at North Carolina, where he played in four games, making one start, moving to the interior offensive line.
With the Tar Heels, he learned from former NFL center Kyle Fuller, a graduate assistant with UNC in 2024.
"From the first day he was helping me understand why you change this protection, what you do in this run game," Greenberg said. "I had never really thought like a center. I never knew what that meant."
That deeper level of understanding helped him forge a relationship with his new teammates once he transferred to JMU quickly and seamlessly.
"He made it easy," Barnett said. "He's a high IQ guy. When it comes to protection checks or run checks or backer IDs, I don't have to do much. It's easy to talk ball with him."
And it's easy to play behind Greenberg and the rest of JMU's offensive line.
Right tackle Pat McMurtrie was going into his second season at JMU, as was right guard Riley Robell. The left side of the line – tackle Joseph Simmons and guard Carter Sweazie – were about to embark on their fourth year wearing the purple and gold.
Still, Greenberg – who began his career at Division III Muhlenberg and spent last season at North Carolina – never felt like an outsider and never felt any pressure to live up to any FBS transfer expectations.
What did he feel?
"This is one of the closest teams I've ever been part or," Greenberg said. "We fuel off each other."
And that front five has fueled JMU all the way to the College Football Playoff. The Dukes, who lead the Sun Belt Conference in rushing offense, face fifth-seeded Oregon in the first round on Saturday in Eugene.
"We knew we had the talent," said McMurtrie, who has started all 26 games he's been at JMU for. "I think when you just look at the roster and just throughout fall camp, you could just see how much talent we had."
Talent and some depth. Josh Toner, in his fifth year with the Dukes, has started two games at right guard and one at left tackle, and freshman Trent Wilson started a game at right guard.
JMU started to gel and develop into a potentially dominant offensive line during spring practice and in fall camp. The offensive staff quickly identified the unit as one of the primary strengths of this
year's team.
"Going into fall camp, we knew we were going to have a good offensive line," offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy said. "So I think that was a big part of making sure we rely on our identity, starting with them."
But it wasn't until a Week 2 road loss at Louisville that the group really realized what it could become.
Despite allowing six sacks in the lone loss of the season, Sweazie said the front five left that game with a new level of confidence – believing it could run the ball against anyone.
It just needed to follow the marching orders of offensive line coach Chris Smith, who told them to play with an edge, play nasty.
"I think we all embody that," Sweazie said. "I think we get after people. I think we want to wear them down. We play the mental and the game within the game where you're just going to break a guy every time, you're going to land on him, make his life a little harder until, eventually, in the third and fourth quarter, he shuts down."
That mentally is also what's allowed JMU to dominate the second half of games this season. The Dukes have outscored opponents 261-59 after the break, and a big part of that is the offensive line wearing foes down.
"They're the driving force of our unit," quarterback Alonza Barnett III said.
In the middle of it all has been Greenberg, the newest but certainly not the least experienced member of the line.
The New Jersey native had limited options coming out of Livingston High School. He went to Muhlenberg where he became a two-time first-team all-conference player as a left tackle.
"I give all the credit in the world to Coach Nate Milne and his staff at Muhlenberg," Greenberg said. "If you if you go back and look at what I looked like coming out of high school, I didn't really have a
ton of opportunities to play above the Division III level, and honestly, that's how I wanted it. I loved being able to be developed in a school that was close to home, with an outstanding coaching staff. Them molding me into the player that I am now was everything."
Greenberg said he further refined his game in his one year at North Carolina, where he played in four games, making one start, moving to the interior offensive line.
With the Tar Heels, he learned from former NFL center Kyle Fuller, a graduate assistant with UNC in 2024.
"From the first day he was helping me understand why you change this protection, what you do in this run game," Greenberg said. "I had never really thought like a center. I never knew what that meant."
That deeper level of understanding helped him forge a relationship with his new teammates once he transferred to JMU quickly and seamlessly.
"He made it easy," Barnett said. "He's a high IQ guy. When it comes to protection checks or run checks or backer IDs, I don't have to do much. It's easy to talk ball with him."
And it's easy to play behind Greenberg and the rest of JMU's offensive line.
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