Kenneth Walker's RB Coach, Other MSU Assistant to Join James Madison
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College Football Playoff participant James Madison is reloading, and the Dukes are reportedly hiring two assistants who have spent time in East Lansing.
Head coach Bob Chesney, who led JMU to the CFP as the No. 12 seed, is leaving to take over at UCLA. James Madison moved quickly and had hired Billy Napier to take over before its season ended with its 51-34 loss at fifth-seeded Oregon.
Napier's staff will reportedly include Aaron Pflugrad as quarterbacks coach and William Peagler as running backs coach.
Pflugrad was Michigan State's offensive pass game coordinator this fall, and Peagler was MSU's running backs coach in 2020 and 2021, most notably coaching Kenneth Walker III during his one season in East Lansing, which resulted in a sixth-place Heisman finish, the Doak Walker Award, and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.
Pflugrad's and Peagler's Resumes
Aaron Pflugrad
Pflugrad will depart Michigan State after only one season. Before he got the job at MSU, he had spent the previous nine years at Northern Arizona, with the last six being as the team's offensive coordinator. Pflugrad also gained some experience coaching quarterbacks at NAU, which will help him in his endeavors at one of the top Group of Six programs that only began playing at the FBS level in 2022.
Additionally, Pflugrad was a graduate assistant at Arizona State for a couple of years. MSU's bio says he worked a lot with the wide receivers in Tempe.
Pflugrad was a wide receiver himself during his playing days, and a pretty decent one, at that. He began at Oregon, totaling 23 catches for 247 yards and one touchdown from 2007-08, before transferring to ASU.
It was there that he really took a step forward, recording 329 yards during his junior year and then 665 yards and five touchdowns his senior year, making him the second-leading receiver on the team.
William Peagler
Peagler is someone who has some close ties to Napier. He was an offensive analyst for him at Florida this past season, and will now get a larger role at Napier's new staff in Harrisonburg, Va. He was also Napier's tight ends coach at Florida in 2022 and his director of player personnel at Louisiana in 2018. There was also a year at Georgia where Peagler was a graduate assistant during the Bulldogs' run to the national championship game.
Interestingly, this will be Peagler's first shot at being a running backs coach again since his time at Michigan State. That Walker year, especially with how unexpected it was, seems like it would be enough for another program to give him a shot at that position sooner.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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