Motivations For Madison

“Watching that film with them is definitely interesting,” James Madison senior center Mac Patrick said with a grin that only disappeared as the tone of his voice became more serious.

It’s the game no one with the Dukes – players, or their coaches who were on the opposing sideline at Bridgeforth Stadium last year – can forget.

First-year JMU coach Curt Cignetti and five of his now-Madison assistants led Elon in an upset victory over the program and players he’s now in charge of. With their 27-24 last-minute triumph, the Phoenix snapped the Dukes’ Colonial Athletic Association winning streak at 20 games, home winning streak at 19 games and gave former coach Mike Houston the only home loss he suffered in three seasons at the school.

“No one knew what to do after we lost to Elon,” fifth-year senior cornerback Rashad Robinson, who is fully healthy after missing all of last year with turf toe, said. “We didn’t know whether or not to go sing the fight song with the band after, so it was a shock to everybody.”

That blow to invincibility is humbling, both Patrick and Robinson admitted, but even harder to shed close to a year later considering Cignetti knows from one play to the next how the surprising result transpired.

“It just kind of showed us how – and it was really the first time for us – but how other coaches saw us or looked at us last year from the outside,” Robinson said. “Coach Cignetti told us in the very first meeting with us that he kind of knew coming into the game that they were going to beat us.

“It was a sleeper game and we were cruising, coming in off of two 60-point [wins]. We knew and it gave us the realization that every coach tells his team that they could be the team to make the headlines and knock off JMU, and Coach Cignetti did that. So it really showed us we have to be on top of our game every week because every coach is trying to come up with a game plan to knock us off. Watching that film showed how they really pinpointed us on certain things that were our weaknesses and what we needed to work on.”

The loss to Elon was one of four losses for JMU last season and the 9-4 finish is something Patrick classified as, “not a good year,” because he lost fewer times in his first two seasons combined with the Dukes than he did in 2018.

“For other teams [9-4], that’s a good year or a great year,” Patrick said. “But for us, especially the older guys, that’s not the standard we want to play at. We can lose once, if that, but we want to lose no games and make it all the way.”

Through five full weeks of summer workouts Patrick said first-year strength coach Brian Phillips often reminds players that for all the top preseason rankings the program has earned, it also got beat four times and knocked out of the postseason early last year.

Phillips said he sees Patrick, Robinson and their teammates are motivated by what happened not only against Elon, but against New Hampshire and Colgate, too.

“They’re coachable players,” Phillips said. “And at the end of the day when they’re coachable, it makes everyone’s job easier. But they’re really good, down-to-earth guys.

“You can coach ‘em really good and they don’t get defensive. They don’t think you’re coming at them, which is really good, because there can be a disconnect sometimes, but they think you’re trying to get them better. And I think they’re coachable, fun to be around, they like to be coached, they like to work and they have that competitive drive, so we just have to make sure our hardest opponent is going to be ourselves.”

Patrick said Robinson impresses everyone in the weight room.

“His drive, his determination right now is great to watch,” Patrick said. “Coming from being hurt to now when he’s lifting as much as everyone else in there with arms, legs and the running because he’s up there with everybody else and winning every single rep.

“I know that helps me when I see him working hard because it’s a piece of encouragement and he’s [a former] All-American. If I want to be an All-American, I have to work that hard, too.”

Robinson said he thinks defensive linemen Adeeb Atariwa, Mike Greene and Isaac Ukwu are putting together great summers. Phillips said Greene, running back Jawon Hamilton and linebacker Mike Cobbs are each making leaps forward in preparation for training camp.

“We know the big guys like Rashad, [defensive ends John] Daka and Ron’Dell [Carter],” Phillips said. “But a couple quieter guys like Jawon Hamilton have become really good weight room guys, but just didn’t necessarily have that background before.

“Mike Cobbs is one. He’s a senior, who is busting his butt. He shows up every day, working hard, doing the things we ask him to do and you love to see that from a senior like that. And then Mike Greene is a big weight room guy for us and is going to be one of our better guys. Those three are the ones besides Ron’Dell and those top guys who have done a really good job for us. They’re working their butt off and you can see the changes in their bodies and how they move. Those are the guys that have gotten good for us.”

Patrick said the team is anxious for training camp practices to start early next month.