James Djonkam 
Defensive end 
Eastern Michigan 
6-3, 245 
1 year remaining (Gr.) 

Eastern Michigan’s James Djonkam, a native of Springfield, returned to the Commonwealth of Virginia on Monday when he committed to Virginia Tech.

COMMITTED‼️ @CoachPryVT @jcprice59 @Coach_Marfo pic.twitter.com/n5lxEvu2QI

— Da Ginger Freak (@Jamesdjonkam55) January 7, 2025

Djonkam was a linebacker for the Eagles, where he was a Second Team All-MAC pick after racking up 98 tackles — good for 11th in the FBS — along with 11.5 tackles for loss and three sacks in 2024. He was a three-time conference defensive player of the week and had fantastic PFF grades: 83.1 for overall defense, 84.5 for run defense, a 76.0 mark for tackling and a 91.2 in pass rushing.

However, Tech Sideline understands that he’s set to play defensive end for the Hokies. (In fairness, his coverage grade was 48.3 this year.) He was an edge out of West Springfield High School but landed at Independence Community College in Kansas, where he spent a season before transferring to Arizona State. After playing 174 snaps in two years with the Sun Devils, Djonkam moved to Ypsilanti, Mich., and had a breakout year.

In his career at the FBS level, he’s recorded 133 tackles, 14 TFLs and three sacks. He had some notable games in 2024, highlighted by his 22-tackle performance on Nov. 20 vs. Buffalo. He followed it up with a 17-tackle outing in the season finale at Western Michigan and had five tackles for loss in those two contests. He also started the year with a 13-tackle game at UMass.

Djonkam is the Hokies’ third pickup on the defensive line this offseason but the first end, joining tackles Jahzari Priester (Hampton) and Arias Nash (Mercer) — the latter of whom committed earlier Monday. He joins a room that features just one returning play-maker in Keyshawn Burgos, who has 803 career snaps. The rest of the group has 425 combined. Djonkam brings 664 to Blacksburg.

He was a dual-sport athlete in high school. As a junior on the gridiron, he recorded 133 tackles, 15 TFLs and seven sacks. Meanwhile, he averaged 14.7 points per game as a senior on the hardwood.

Djonkam wasn’t highly ranked out of high school but had several offers after a year at the JUCO level, where he recorded 64 tackles, 12.5 TFLs and three sacks. Liberty, New Mexico State, North Texas, Texas State, Toledo and UTSA were interested, but he chose Arizona State. This time around, Michigan State and West Virginia also pursued him. He has one final year of eligibility because of the JUCO ruling, courtesy of Diego Pavia.

Overall, Djonkam is Tech’s 14th portal acquisition and the eighth on defense, five of which are defensive backs.

For more information on Virginia Tech’s comings and goings in the portal, click here for Tech Sideline’s roster management page.

James Djonkam links: 

Eastern Michigan bio 
ESPN 

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. has been everything fans anticipated when he first committed to the program as a highly touted recruit.

Fears has been the team’s floor general and has been one of the main reasons the offense has flowed as well as it has.

The young point guard addressed the media on Monday, discussing the current state of the team, its upcoming meeting with Washington and more.

You can watch below:

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had spoken to the media earlier on Monday. Below is a partial transcript from his opening statement:

Izzo: “As I told you earlier in the year, I was hoping after Christmas, we’d to get a real good feel where everybody is. And I think we started to. We started looking at some teams that were struggling a little bit. Washington was one of them, and Oregon was one that was the other way. And then all of a sudden, Illinois goes out there and beats them by 30, and then Maryland, who was really playing well, goes out there and loses, too. I think it’s going to be hard on fans, hard on media, hard on coaches, hard on everybody to know this is going to be the norm, I think. Washington, after not looking as good, beat a good Maryland team, and then, it was a tie game last night with 30 seconds left and after being down big early. So, I think you’re seeing what I said early, that all these teams are good. Travel, different things, is going to make a difference in teams’ play sometimes. Right now, we return to Big Ten play with a, I think, an impressive win. I mean, there’s a team that beat Kentucky by 20 and has a very good team. We’re on the road, get a lead. Yes, we lose the lead, but we bounced back. … So, in a sick sort of way, does it make it better that we win in the way we did? Last 8 minutes of the game, we didn’t have a turnover after we turned the ball over a lot early. We executed well, we went on an 8-0 run ourselves, and I thought that spoke volumes about our team.”

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Michigan State football has two new assistant coaches, adding a defensive coach and quarterbacks coach under head coach Jonathan Smith.

The Spartans on Monday announced the hiring of James Adams from Wake Forest to work with their safeties. He will take over that position from secondary coach Blue Adams (no relation), who will assume former assistant Demetrice Martin’s role overseeing cornerbacks.

The school also confirmed Jon Boyer will is leaving Oregon State to coach MSU’s quarterbacks. Spartans offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren was responsible for the quarterbacks last season.

James Adams is a 16-year coaching veteran and Wake Forest alum who has been at his alma mater since 2022 under since-retired coach Dave Clawson. Adams began his career as a graduate assistant in 2009 with the Demon Deacons after winning two letters as a linebacker in 2005-06. He served as associate head coach and safeties coach with Wake Forest last season, and also has made stops at Purdue (2021), Navy (2020), Western Michigan (2019), Charlotte (2011-18) and Wofford (2010).

“James stood out during the interview process as someone who would be a great fit for our staff,” Smith said in a statement. “He has extensive experience coaching defensive backs and has been held in high regard on previous staffs with additional responsibilities as assistant and associate head coach.”

Martin, a former MSU star player and Los Angeles native, left his post as cornerbacks coach to take a similar role at UCLA, where he will be pass game coordinator and oversee the secondary. Martin worked under Blue Adams in his lone season returning to the Spartans after spending 14 seasons coaching on the West Coast.

Boyer moved to tight ends coach last season with the Beavers after Smith and the bulk of his staff left for MSU. Boyer spent the previous six seasons as the Beavers’ quality control coach and senior advisor on offense after serving as offensive coordinator at his alma mater Northern Colorado of the Football Championship Subdivision from 2012-17. Boyer was the Bears’ starting quarterback in 2000-01, then stayed there from 2002-05 and coached quarterbacks in 2004-05 before becoming offensive coordinator at Colorado Mesa from 2007-10.

“In having worked with Jon for several years at Oregon State, he has a thorough knowledge of our offensive scheme and what we’re trying to accomplish on that side of the ball,” Smith said in a statement. “He has strong relationships with our staff, and has done a great job throughout his career of developing and working with quarterbacks.”

As an understudy to Lindgren at Oregon State, Boyer worked with former Beavers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei as well as Aidan Chiles in 2023. Chiles returns in 2025 for his second season as the MSU starter.

That brings Smith’s coaching staff to 11 assistants, one more than the previous limit. The NCAA lifted those limitations in June, permitting any staff member to provide on-field coaching, but only 10 assistants and the head coach are permitted to actively recruit off campus.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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