HARRISONBURG — Another spring of adjustment has arrived for Mac Patrick.

“Almost sounds like a broken record,” the James Madison senior center said Thursday following the team’s first practice.

But Patrick isn’t fazed by change because he said knows how to handle it.

It’s easy to forget the first time Patrick earned meaningful playing time came when he was a true freshman thrust into action against North Dakota State in the 2016 FCS semifinals at the ruckus FargoDome due to other injuries on JMU’s starting offensive line.

Since then, he’s started 28 times and anchored Madison’s front as the program cycled through three past offensive line coaches – Jamal Powell, Bryan Stinespring and Steve Shankweiler – from year to year and now has another position coach, Damian Wroblewski, who new headman Curt Cignetti brought with him from Elon, leading the group.

“The hardest part is definitely the lingo,” Patrick said.

And Patrick needs to know the way to communicate with his fellow offensive linemen. Typically, the center holds the responsibility of making decisions at the line of scrimmage for the five-man unit.

“Even from coaches on [former JMU coach Mike Houston’s] staff, they would use different lingo like for combination blocks or for how you call stunts,” Patrick said. “That makes you think a little more and makes you play slower.

“That’s the hardest part. I don’t know if there’s anything harder than that, because when you get older, you understand offenses to an extent. So it’s the same steps, you just call it different.”

Patrick said he’s getting to know Wroblewski, who goes by ‘Wrobo,’ but has the experience of recent springs to adapt to whatever he needs to.

“Powell to Stiney wasn’t too different,” Patrick said. “But Stiney threw some of his stuff in there and then Shank came and put some of his stuff in there. And now it’s completely different, so that’s the biggest hurdle.”

One constant for Patrick is the teammates lining up next to him. The Dukes didn’t graduate any offensive linemen from last season and return six – Patrick, Jahee Jackson, Zaire Bethea, Tyree Chavious, Liam Fornadel and Raymond Gillespie – who have starting experience in their careers.

Rashad Robinson can’t go anywhere without Jamari Currence tagging along.

When James Madison took the field for its first spring practice on Thursday, the fifth-year senior cornerback Robinson was warming up in a drill with the redshirt freshman cornerback Currence.

And Robinson said throughout winter workouts Currence followed along, and in team meetings the underclassman is always asking the upperclassman questions.

“I really embrace it,” said Robinson, who was a 2017 All-American and has 10 interceptions in his career. “Because at the end of the day I was in his shoes once.

“I was a freshman and sophomore walking around and trying to learn everything that [former JMU cornerback] Taylor Reynolds and [former JMU safety] Raven Greene were doing, so when Jamari or [cornerback] Wesley McCormick asks me something, I try to be the first one to answer it. Or if I don’t know, I’ll go ask the coaching staff, so I can answer it for them because they’ll be out there playing with me and I want them to be able to make the same plays I can.”

Robinson said he’s been impressed with Currence during the offseason.

Currence enrolled early at JMU in time for spring practice last year after helping South Pointe High School (Rock Hill, S.C.) to four state championships as a prep star.

“He’s been really working hard to make sure he gets his weight up and he tries to stick with me a lot,” Robinson said. “He’s like my little brother. He tries to tune in on certain things and I can tell his football IQ is really up there.

“I’m excited to see what he can do this spring and going into the fall.”