There isn’t an elite player at the position on James Madison’s roster anymore.

The consecutive years of using one or more established standout cornerbacks are over. The Dukes developed and have had the luxury of using former All-Americans – Rashad Robinson, Jimmy Moreland and Taylor Reynolds – to their advantage. All three were members of the 2016 national championship team. Moreland was a seventh-round NFL Draft pick after the 2018 season and Robinson played his senior year last fall.

“Well, we need some seniors to step up and play their best football and play like seniors,” JMU coach Curt Cignetti said.

Senior Wesley McCormick started most often opposite of Robinson last season, and McCormick is the most experienced of the bunch now. Here’s a closer look at what to expect from McCormick and the rest of the cornerbacks in 2020.

Returning Starters: senior Wesley McCormick

Other Returners On Roster: senior Taurus Carroll, r-junior Jack Sroba, r-sophomore Jamari Currence

Newcomers: freshman Xavier Cokley, freshman Sam Malignaggi, freshman AJ Webb

Position Coach: Matthew Birkett (second season)

Synopsis: When Cignetti and his staff arrived in Harrisonburg, McCormick took it as an opportunity to show his new coaches he deserved to play.

McCormick started 11 times as a junior and recorded 22 tackles to go along with two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and three pass breakups. His forced fumble sparked JMU’s thumping of Richmond as it came at the goal line with the Spiders threatening to take a first-quarter lead.

Before last season, McCormick had started just three times and saw most of his action on special teams.

The other cornerback job is likely up for grabs, which will leave second-year cornerbacks coach Matthew Birkett and Cignetti with decisions to make in training camp. But senior Taurus Carroll should get the first crack considering he’s started five games over the last two seasons.

“We need Wesley McCormick to have his best year,” Cignetti said. “And we need Taurus Carroll to stay on the field and be a consistent contributor. He’s shown flashes, but we need him to put it together, because after that we’ve got a lot of young guys that we don’t really know about right now.”

Beyond McCormick and Carroll, Jamari Currence hasn’t played much since getting to JMU – redshirting two years ago and accumulating just two tackles over eight appearances last year. Though, he’s always been highly thought of by his coaches and has had moments in practice over two seasons with the Dukes that give reason to think he could be a force on Saturdays eventually.

And finally when they were being recruited, the three incoming freshman – Xavier Cokley, Sam Malignaggi and AJ Webb – all said they thought they’d have the chance to earn game reps immediately.

Malignaggi and Webb were two-star prospects by Rivals.com. Cokley, a former high school receiver who became sought after by Division I programs when he made the full-time switch to defense, had other scholarship offers from Fordham, Howard, Maine, Morgan State and New Hampshire. Webb was a former Virginia commit, and Malignaggi picked the Dukes over Holy Cross, New Hampshire, Old Dominion, Rhode Island and William & Mary.

“I feel like we’re the next wave,” Webb said before the early signing day about him and the other cornerbacks in the 2020 recruiting class for JMU, “coming in and setting the tone early, having a good time, learning the playbook and that the sky is the limit for us. We’re just young, so it’s just a matter of time that we can show what we can do to the coaches and the fans. I’m pretty excited for all of us.”

Cignetti said: “We’ll know a lot more about them once we get rolling.”