As his teammates jog off, D’Angelo Amos remains on the field flanked by two coaches.

It’s time for his last drills of the day.

“That extra work after practice really shows up,” the James Madison junior said Tuesday, “especially when I’m not getting as many returns as I did last year. And it really keeps me on my toes, so I’m not slacking or falling behind in anyway.”

And it’s not just earlier this week that the 2018 All-American punt returner is staying an additional 20-to-30 minutes to field punts. It’s been every Tuesday and Wednesday following the Dukes’ regularly scheduled practices for weeks.

With the help of specials teams coordinator Grant Cain and cornerbacks coach Matt Birkett, who also works with the returners, Amos has shown tireless diligence to correct an issue no one saw coming.

Amos led the FCS last year with three punt-return touchdowns and an average of 22 yards per return to earn FCS Special Teams Player of the Year honors from Phil Steele on top of the All-American accolades Amos earned from Steele, STATS FCS and the Associated Press. But through the early part of this campaign, Amos uncharacteristically struggled to catch the ball, muffing opportunities at West Virginia, against St. Francis and at Elon.

“Every week is, ‘Don’t sleep on the fundamental things,’” Amos said of his supplementary reps. “It’s staying on top of looking the ball in and then after the catch, securing it and making that first guy miss, because once you make that first guy miss, you can get a couple of yards after that normally.”

The way Amos trains to catch punts post practice varies, too.

Sometimes the ball is shot out of a JUGS machine and others are kicked live from one of the punters on JMU’s rosters. Cain and Birkett may teach Amos from a few yards away or like in the case of Tuesday’s drill, Cain threw a doughnut pad – or tackling wheel – in the direction of Amos to make the feel of fielding the punt as close to realistic as possible.

Amos said when Cain launches the wheel in Amos’ direction as the football falls out of the sky and he prepares to catch it, the drill’s purpose mimicks a gunner or long snapper crashing on him as the first-trying tackler.

The weekday effort from Amos and his coaches appeared this past Saturday against William & Mary as he caught every punt in his direction cleanly and racked up 125 punt-return yards on five tries to help beat the Tribe.

“Catch, make a guy miss and then let’s get to the field and get to where our blockers are at,” Amos said. “So that drill really came into play on that second return (a 49-yard return against William & Mary) and that’s when you experience it in the game. It kind of solidifies what you’re really focused on doing, because I’ve seen it. It’s real. This happens and [Cain] is not just making up stuff, so it’s pretty big and it works.”

The 125 punt-return yards were the most Amos has had in a game this season and the most he’s had in any game since returning two punts for touchdowns and totaling 183 yards against Villanova last year.

“Once you make that first guy miss, it kind of opens up a lot of things especially when a lot of guys may slow down and see like, ‘Our guy has got it,’” Amos said. “But once he misses, everyone is out of whack and everybody is out of their lanes and that’s where you find the creases at. So that’s the biggest part – catching it, securing it and then making him miss – but emphasize catching the ball first and not worrying about that first guy.”