His longtime role as James Madison’s No. 2 quarterback is looking more and more likely to end.

Fifth-year senior signal-caller Cole Johnson is “the leader in the clubhouse” for the Dukes’ starting job, JMU coach Curt Cignetti said during a video conference on Saturday.

“I just saw him take his game to another level about halfway through fall ball in terms of decision making,” Cignetti said.

Johnson served as the program’s understudy to past starters Ben DiNucci and Bryan Schor for the past four seasons. The 6-foot-5 right-handed thrower started once in 2016, a victory in the regular-finale over Elon, in place of Schor who got hurt the week before during a win at Villanova in which Johnson came off the bench to help the Dukes clinch a Colonial Athletic Association championship.

Since Schor’s graduation, Johnson battled DiNucci only to come up short twice to the eventual 2020 seventh-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys. Since DiNucci’s departure, Johnson has competed with fourth-year junior Gage Moloney.

“I saw Cole making high-level decisions for probably the last 15 practices,” Cignetti said, “taking the check down, knowing the down and distance and pulling the ball in the run game when he needed to. He was cutting his losses and getting us back to second-and-10 when he needed to. [Johnson] was putting the ball where it had to be and throwing a catchable ball. [Johnson] really makes the right protection calls all the time, makes the right checks in the run game, knows the offense well and is really a smart guy that makes very quick decisions, and in the heat of battle that’s important.”

Moloney has impressed Cignetti, too, and Cignetti said the Dukes might need Moloney during the spring, because positive coronavirus tests and contact tracing are capable of keeping players sidelined for as many as 14 days.

But Johnson will get the first-team reps next week in practice, Cignetti said. Through Saturday the two quarterbacks had been alternating practices running the first-team offense.

In 22 previous appearances with the Dukes including the one start he made as a freshman, Johnson threw for 1,099 yards and six touchdowns with six interceptions while completing 64 percent of his throws. He also racked up 113 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.

Out of Cox High School (Virginia Beach), Johnson was an initial target of ex-JMU coach Everett Withers’ staff and former offensive line coach Jamal Powell, who stayed on with the program when Mike Houston took over as coach and kept recruiting Johnson.

“It says an awful lot about him,” Cignetti said about how long Johnson has worked toward the goal of being a starter. “I have a lot of trust in him as a person. And he’s almost a 4.0 student and he’s been very patient, waiting on his turn. He’s a great teammate. He’s never, ever, ever been a problem and I think the players really respect him.”

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- Cignetti said each day the Dukes are trying to beat the coronavirus and at one point he called himself more of a “social-distance coordinator” than a coach.

He said he’s constantly reminding players to make smart decisions in order to get to games with as many available players as possible.

- Minnesota transfer defensive end Abi N-Okonji, a redshirt sophomore, is improving, Cignetti said.

“He got off to a little bit of a slow start in the fall,” Cignetti said. “But some guys’ transitions take a little longer than others … but I think I’ve really seen some progress here the last three to five practices from him. He’s got a lot of talent and he’s learning what to do, and once you know what to do you can play faster.”

Cignetti said another defensive lineman emerging is Antonio Colclough, who began his career at Temple before transferring to JMU ahead of the 2019 season.

- About the running backs, Cignetti said there are limited reps because there are so many running backs and fewer practices than a normal preseason would have.

“But Percy [Agyei-Obese] and Jawon [Hamilton], right now,” Cignetti said, “if they didn’t get touched again until the first game then it really wouldn’t be a problem.”

He said Agyei-Obese and Hamilton, the two seniors, are more than ready to play and that younger runners Solomon Vanhorse, Austin Douglas, Latrele Palmer and Kaelon Black are progressing well. Cignetti said, “Vanhorse practices like a champion every day.”

- JMU announced Friday its first two home games will be televised. The season-opening contest against Morehead State on Feb. 20 at noon will air on NBC Sports Washington. And on Feb. 27, the Dukes’ meeting with Robert Morris at noon will be shown on NBC Sports Washington Plus.

The school also said in an email the rest-of-season TV schedule will be announced at a later date. All television coverage is in addition to digital coverage on FloSports.