Justin Harper - Football Coach - James Madison University Athletics

Justin Harper

Title:
Wide Receivers
Phone:
540-568-6517
Physical Address:
Plecker APC 224 (220 Champions Dr.) / MSC 2201

Justin Harper is in his second season with the James Madison football program in 2025, as he serves as wide receivers coach.

During his first season in Harrisonburg, receiving corps aided the offense in ranking top 30 nationally in seven categories, which included leading the country in fewest interceptions (4) and ranking third in fewest turnovers (9). JMU was also 23rd in time of possession (31:48), 26th in scoring offense (33.3) and 30th in pass efficiency (144.60).

JMU’s receiving group was paced by Honorable Mention All-Sun Belt selection Omarion Dollison, who led the team with 37 receptions for 633 yards and six touchdowns while averaging 17.1 yards per catch. JMU’s top three receivers of Dollison, Yamir Knight and Cam Ross combined for 127 catches, 1,681 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Harper joined the Dukes after spending two seasons as the tight ends coach at Sun Belt foe Old Dominion (2022-23).

His time in Norfolk was highlighted by coaching Zack Kuntz, who was a 2023 seventh-round pick by the New York Jets in the NFL Draft. Three different tight ends caught passes for the ODU offense in 2022, led by Isaiah Spencer’s 18 and Kuntz’s 12, as his season was cut short due to injury.

Before joining ODU, Harper coached four seasons as wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator at Towson (2018-21). While at Towson, he coached two-time All-CAA receiver Shane Leatherbury to a Towson single-season record for touchdowns, aiding in the Tigers making the 2018 FCS playoffs.

In 2017, Harper coached the receivers at NCAA Division II program Central State in Ohio. Prior to that, he was wide receivers coach at Virginia State for two years (2015-16), and served a stint as the program’s interim head coach from January to May in 2016, signing a recruiting class of 17 players, three of whom would become all-rookie performers.

Harper began his coaching career in Hickory, N.C., at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne (2013-14).

A 2008 graduate of Virginia Tech, Harper was a four-year letterwinner for the Hokies, where he caught 83 passes for 1,338 yards and eight touchdowns. He was a 2008 NFL Draft seventh-round pick by Baltimore Ravens, where he played from 2008-11. He also played in the Canadian Football League for two years, seeing action for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and BC Lions.