HARRISONBURG — James Madison is hoping its strong summer serves as a catalyst toward defending its national championship.

“I’m really happy with the work,” second-year football coach Mike Houston said. “They’ve had a great attitude and we’ve probably had a better summer this summer than we had last summer. Everybody is on the same page.

“Last year solidified the process and blueprint of how we do things, so you don’t have people questioning it, and instead they’re just putting their heads down and going to work.”

The Dukes open preseason camp today.

The difference with this summer compared to the last, at least according to players, was that they understood the running and weightlifting program they were put through by strength and conditioning director John Williams.

“We’re more used to his philosophy and how he wants to get things done,” senior defensive end Andrew Ankrah said. “He can explain how a lot of our training methods apply onto the field, and he talks about the fact that we’re the only sport that has to take the weight room stuff and transition it onto the field.”

Ankrah, a STATS FCS Preseason All-American, said Williams’ workouts have the team poised for a successful month of practice.

“Like with hang cleaning, [Williams] said keeping the bar close to the body is good when you’re doing your rep because it’s the same as you closing the distance between you and the offensive tackle,” Ankrah said.

Sophomore wide receiver Riley Stapleton, who will compete for a starting role over the next few weeks, said Williams’ idea of maintaining a “championship lifestyle” kept the team motivated even when drills were difficult.

“That’s where I’m saying the whole mindset and mentality has changed,” Stapleton said. “Last year, some guys might have been tapping out and not able to finish a rep or we wouldn’t make our time running, but now I refer to those reps as the ‘money reps’ and I make it a focus to have my best times on those runs.”

Stapleton said Tuesdays were the most challenging as the team was tasked to complete a series of squats and then follow it up with a set of 300-yard sprints.

“Tuesday during the season is our toughest day, so I think he was trying to prepare us for those,” Stapleton said. “And every week he’d raise the number of 300-yard sprints we had and lower the amount of time we had to do it in.”

Running back Trai Sharp, who used the summer to prep for a five-man position battle, said he enters camp with more explosiveness than he had last year.

“I took advantage of the summer as much as I could to get as strong as I can and as explosive as I can,” Sharp said. “I know it’s going to help me personally and it’s going to help the team.

“It’s good being able to burst that 30 yards, 40 yards, 50 yards and then come back to be able to take the next plays myself instead of having to come out of the game.”

Houston said the team kept its same offense, defense and special teams systems in place with the exception of a few wrinkles, so every player outside of the freshman class should know the playbook.

“The first couple of weeks of preseason camp will be focusing on us and the last two weeks will be focusing on East Carolina,” Houston said. “We’ve already broken them down and we’ve looked at their whole last season, so we’ve got a preliminary scouting report.”