HARRISONBURG — When a business needs expertise in a subject it isn’t well versed in, that company will hire a consultant who is.

James Madison football has essentially done the same with its kicking game.

Second-year coach Mike Houston, admittedly, isn’t a kicking expert, but said he wants junior kicker Tyler Gray, a Millbrook grad, to succeed.

Over the summer, Gray worked with Desi Cullen of Kornblue Kicking, a company that specializes in instruction for specialists. Cullen, a former punter and kicker at Connecticut, was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist in 2009.

“It’s always good to have someone that actually did the job,” Houston said. “The fact that Desi was a specialist in college, and was at a high level, he understands just the small intricacies better.

“He is one of them, so because of that, it’s good to have a guy like that just to work with [Gray].”

Houston met Cullen through former JMU special teams coordinator John Bowers about a year ago, and since, the two have consulted frequently.

Cullen has worked with Gray recently, and redshirt freshman kicker Jeremiah McBride since high school, which is how Cullen and Bowers initially met. Bowers recruited McBride.

Cullen said the general problem with kicking at the high school and college levels is that there isn’t anyone to teach it properly.

“That is the root problem of a lot of high school kids that don’t make it to college or kids with strong legs in college that don’t do as well,” Cullen, who also teaches special education in Washington, said. “Those kickers will develop small little inconsistencies in their technique or issues that cause inconsistencies.

“Because it’s so finite, I’m a very individualized guy. I’m very differentiated in the way I coach each one of my guys. It’s based on their body type and the way they move with what they’re naturally able to do. And if you don’t have a coach that understands the technique, understands the body movements and mechanics of that specific kicker, they’re going to crash pretty early.”

Houston and Cullen teamed up in the summer, too, as Cullen and Kornblue Kicking ran JMU’s kicking and punting camp for high school athletes.

With the Dukes, Gray is reaping the benefits of the relationship between JMU and the individualized coach.

“I met with Desi Cullen a couple of times in the summer and he’s supposed to be coming during [training] camp, which will help, too,” Gray said. “I wanted to work on my follow through because I feel like that was my weakness last year.

“I feel like, since then, I’ve definitely improved on that.”

The ex-UConn standout advises Gray about how to outline practice, too. Often, the offensive and defensive coaches are busy with position drills or team periods, so the specialists are left to work on their own.

“Tyler will talk through and say they had me doing kickoffs on these days, punts these days and field goals these days,” Cullen said. “So I can try to help him out with what drills to do on what days and then how many total reps of each one he should do in the preseason compared to the regular season.”

In his time working with Gray, who connected on 90-of-92 extra-point attempts and was 14-for-21 on field goals last season, Cullen said Gray’s follow through was the point of emphasis.

Gray also converted a career-long 45-yard field goal in the Dukes’ national semifinal win at North Dakota State last season.

Cullen said up until the point Gray made contact with the ball, his mechanics were fine.

“Last year in part of summer, camp and beginning of the season, he was hitting it with like a 5-iron, a lower-driving field goal,” Cullen said. “But since they were all shorter kicks, the ball could’ve faded, but it didn’t. If they were longer kicks, it would’ve.

“Now we’re working on more of a higher-flight kick, so now he’s hitting it like a 9-iron. He’s putting more height on the ball, a lot quicker that way it stays straighter for longer.”

Gray said he’s confident heading into the 2017 season.

“Toward the end of last season, finishing with Elon before the playoffs, ever since then I’ve improved,” he said. “I’ve felt more confident and comfortable with kicking field goals, and now that I’ve had a year under my belt, I just feel like I’m going to keep getting more confident and more comfortable.”