They’ve been steady during change and even keeled through uncertainty.

Those traits are difficult enough to maintain in unsettled times, but even tougher for those with their football futures on the line. James Madison is fortunate to have a reliable core of returning senior starters, who to this point haven’t wavered and have decided to stick with the Dukes to end their college careers in Harrisonburg in spite of opportunities to do otherwise.

Their offseason training was started, stopped and restarted over the summer, their season – previously in question for months – inevitably was pushed from fall to spring and they’ve witnessed their peers opt for alternative paths forward.

“The professional level, it is what it is,” JMU senior right tackle Liam Fornadel, the program’s best NFL prospect, said, “and I hope I get that chance, but right now I’m focused on helping this team and making an impact.”

Fornadel, an FCS All-American last fall, is bound to reach that status again when the Dukes play their unconventional eight-game season in the spring. But no one would’ve blamed him had he decided to do what some other FCS offensive linemen with pro aspirations did. North Dakota State’s Dillon Radunz and Northern Iowa’s Spencer Brown announced they’d skip their schools’ spring seasons to focus on preparation for the NFL Draft.

Ex-Dukes safety and punt returner D’Angelo Amos and defensive tackle Adeeb Atariwa graduated from JMU ahead of what would’ve been their last campaign with the program and believed the best shot to boost their NFL Draft stock was to transfer to play this fall with an FBS program. And just as fast as offers came for them after entering the transfer portal and as quick as they found roster spots with the University of Virginia, the same could’ve happened for Fornadel, running backs Percy Agyei-Obese or Jawon Hamilton or defensive tackle Mike Greene.

Good players from winning programs usually are wanted.

Even earlier this week, former JMU wide receiver Jake Brown put his name in the transfer portal and he said within 24 hours he had already heard from schools in the FBS like Liberty and Louisiana-Monroe and Division II power Shepherd.

“It’s definitely hard to see players go, especially players I have built a bond with,” Agyei-Obese said, “but over the years of playing football you have to realize that players come and go.

“I’m happy to be at JMU. I love this place and I wouldn’t change it for the world. This is the place for me. For my teammates that have left, I’m wishing them the best and there’s no hate against it. … But for this spring season ahead, and I’ve never played a spring season, but I’m excited to have one for the first time.”

Second-year JMU coach Curt Cignetti said: “It’s been a different kind of year and very fluid, so we wanted to know what their plans were for spring and fall. And a lot of the guys had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to do. Things can change, competitive situations can change on the field and roles can change, which alter guys’ thinking, too, but I’ve been pleased – other than the two guys we lost early to Virginia that were graduate transfers when our season got canceled – that everybody wants to be part of it and achieve something great.”

It’s those upperclassmen, though, that can ignite belief in spite of an awkward year and have it resonate down the rest of the roster.

JMU returns only four starters on offense and three on defense, but all of them are seniors – Agyei-Obese, Greene, Fornadel, safety Wayne Davis, left tackle Raymond Gillespie, cornerback Wesley McCormick and left guard Truvell Wilson. But because they’ve stayed committed to the Dukes, they’ve improved their credibility to lead the program as it navigates the most non-traditional year in its history.

“I definitely want to become more of a vocal leader this year,” Greene said. “I’m just trying to push all my guys to be the best they can possibly be on the field and off the field, even in the classroom.”

Agyei-Obese added: “Jawon and I, we’re some older players on the team and we’ve definitely been taking leadership roles around the team, trying to bring everybody to be on the same page and hold the standard of what JMU football is.”

And according to Fornadel, the standard is the pursuit of championships the Dukes have become accustomed to. JMU won the Colonial Athletic Association outright on the way to the FCS national championship game in three of the last four years.

“It’s our tradition,” Fornadel said. “These past couple of years, if we’re not playing for the championship then it isn’t what it’s supposed to be.”