His unassuming attitude is a reflection of just how long he’s had to wait.

James Madison safety MJ Hampton is finally primed to fill a starting role. During fall practice, he’s getting the first crack to win the Dukes’ No. 1 free safety gig.

“I can’t sit here and think like, ‘OK, just because I played last year that I’m just going to be given it this year,’” Hampton said. “I still have to come out every day, work as hard as everyone else and overachieve, which I want to do. I’ve always come thinking, ‘I’m going to work for my job,’ so that’s how I feel about it.”

Gone from JMU’s roster are former All-Colonial Athletic Association safeties Adam Smith and D’Angelo Amos. Smith was lost to graduation, and Amos via transfer to Virginia. Hampton, a senior, played some in a rotation with Amos at free safety last year and was listed on the depth chart as the backup to both Amos and Smith for the FCS national championship game against North Dakota State.

In his first two years at JMU, Hampton was used mostly on special teams. He got buried behind ex-Dukes standouts Raven Greene and Jordan Brown as well as Amos and Smith as a freshman in 2017.

“Playing behind them, it was phenomenal,” Hampton said. “I can’t ask for anything else, but it sucks sitting there, like, ‘OK, when am I going to play?’ But also, I thought when it’s my chance that I’ve got to go in there and make a play, so that’s when I tried to do my best.”

And last year, he made the most of an opportunity when he intercepted a fourth-quarter pass against Villanova and returned it 83 yards for a touchdown to catapult JMU into a lead it wouldn’t give away. Earlier in the game, Amos was ejected for targeting.

Hampton said after that his confidence grew, and his play proved it. He finished 2019 with 45 tackles, two tackles for loss, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles, a blocked kick and the interception.

“MJ, to me, is an all-conference kind of guy,” JMU coach Curt Cignetti said about the former Stafford High School star.

On top of trying to win the free safety job, according to Hampton, he’s also learning how to play spur – the hybrid safety/outside linebacker in the Dukes’ defense – and cross training between the two positions.

“When you’re switching a position, you’ve got to cope to it and become one with it,” Hampton said, “instead of saying like ‘I don’t want to do this,’ because I’ll do anything to start or play.”

Earlier this week, former Dukes slot receiver Jake Brown announced his decision to enter the transfer portal and leave the JMU program.

“I made the decision pretty recently,” Brown told the Daily News-Record on Tuesday, “but a reason is that I’m a business management major and you can’t get an MBA at JMU until you get five years of experience, so I wanted to find somewhere with a good grad program to pair with that. And then honestly, I wanted to see what my options are.”

A former walk-on, Brown eventually earned a scholarship while with the Dukes. He started 20 games and played in 27 over the last two seasons, racking up 68 catches for 776 yards and four touchdowns.

He said he’s already heard from schools in the FBS like Liberty and Louisiana-Monroe and Division II power Shepherd. Brown said he hopes to have a decision on his next destination made by the holidays.

“Honestly, I want to go somewhere where it’d be a good fit,” he said. “There are no restrictions for me right now. It doesn’t matter what level. There are a lot of people reaching out. When you hit the portal, it’s kind of crazy.

“But I’m always a Duke. There’s no love lost here.”

JMU has multiple options it can turn to at receiver to replace Brown. VMI transfer Kris Thornton is eligible after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Thornton caught 87 passes for 1,003 yards in 2018 for the Keydets. Junior Devin Ravenel played last year behind Brown, and then there’s running back Solomon Vanhorse, who Cignetti said is learning the position. Vanhorse had 12 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown out of his running back spot last fall.