HARRISONBURG — Drew Painter already proved he possesses strong enough hands to play tight end.
Now he’s trying to figure out everything else at the position.
“At first it was a big transition,” said the James Madison sophomore who was converted from defensive tackle to tight end this spring, “changing from getting my head in the B gap to all that pass blocking, run blocking and running routes, but it’s been a good transition.”
When Painter pledged to JMU in the summer of 2017, he committed as a tight end. He was a standout tight end and defensive lineman at Hershey (Pa.) High School, garnering scholarship offers from a combination of FBS and FCS schools including Army, Buffalo and Central Florida as well as Elon, New Hampshire, Richmond, Towson and William & Mary.
But when he arrived in Harrisonburg, the Dukes needed help on the interior of their defensive line.
“They recruited me as both,” Painter said. “And originally I said I committed here to play tight end, but then I came in and [former JMU coach Mike] Houston was like, ‘We got a little thin at D-tackle, so we want to move you there.’
“I got adjusted to that.”
By the third week of his college career, Painter got into a game — albeit a lopsided, already-decided contest against Robert Morris — on defense and showed off the athleticism necessary to play tight end.
Painter batted a pass thrown by Robert Morris quarterback George Martin into the air before finding, corralling and securing it for an interception.
“You can’t sleep on him as a receiver because he can catch the ball,” first-year JMU coach Curt Cignetti said. “He’s got some movement skills and I think he’s got a nice future.”
Throughout the spring, Painter has taken reps behind senior Dylan Stapleton and junior Clayton Cheatham at tight end. Earlier in the spring, Cignetti said the team is capable of using multiple tight ends on the field at the same time, so there is a possible path toward playing time for Painter at his new position.
“I definitely just want to get in and get some playing time,” Painter said. “We’ve got some great guys ahead of me, so I’m not expecting to go in there and take their position, but I want to learn from them, keep growing and help this team.”
And so far, the 6-foot-4, 246-pounder said Stapleton, Cheatham and the rest of the tight ends on the Dukes roster have given him pointers and answered any questions he’s had throughout the process.
His position coach, Grant Cain, who also serves as JMU’s special teams coordinator, was an inside linebackers coach for the last six seasons at Mercer, so the assistant Painter works most closely can relate to him about transitioning from defense to offense.
Additionally, Painter said his father, Mark Painter, is only a phone call away for help. Mark is the offensive line coach at Division III Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania.
“At first he was telling me about blocking and all of that,” Drew Painter said with a laugh. “He just got right into coaching.”
Cignetti, who is the son of College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Cignetti, said: “It probably doesn’t hurt. I guess they probably talked football like I did growing up. That was probably the focus of the conversation, so he’s a good prospect.”
One of the biggest differences for Painter is acclimating from playing in very little space as a defensive tackle while fighting double teams on the line scrimmage to splitting out in the slot as a tight end and having plenty of open field to operate.
“I was a little nervous at first because I hadn’t done it in a while,” Painter said. “But I got adjusted pretty quick. I caught the ball in high school, and I’m used to it now.”
The other change is going from sitting in a meeting room with defensive linemen like Ron’Dell Carter, John Daka, Mike Greene and Adeeb Atariwa to having practice against them and block them each day.
“Me and Ron’Dell made the joke we weren’t going to go against each other,” Painter said. “Now we go, we play and we’re teammates, and at the end of the day it’s football, so we’ve got to go against each other and bang some heads.”
