HARRISONBURG — Rashad Robinson can’t wait for Sept. 2 when James Madison opens its 2017 campaign at East Carolina.

“I’m quite anxious,” Robinson said Wednesday after JMU’s first practice of preseason camp. “I’m ready to get back in game mode.

“I haven’t played since the Elon game last year, so I can’t wait to put on a uniform and run out with my guys on Saturdays again.”

The junior cornerback started every regular-season game as a sophomore for the Dukes recording 36 tackles and two interceptions, but he tore his MCL in a practice prior to the team’s first playoff contest.

He was sidelined for entire postseason.

“It kind of hurt me a little,” Robinson said. “It happened the Tuesday before New Hampshire, so when they told me I was out and that I’d have to have surgery, it hit me, I was like ‘Wow, I’m really about to miss this run.’ And I knew we had a chance to go on a good run because I knew we had a really good team.”

Through three days of August camp, Robinson is exactly where he was before the injury — atop the depth chart, taking reps as JMU’s No. 1 cornerback.

He said it took him time to rehab after the surgery, and that he was happy he made it back to the field in time for the team’s 15 spring practices even though he was required to keep a brace on the knee for about half those workouts.

“Really I didn’t feel like he was full speed the entire spring, but I think he is now,” JMU coach Mike Houston said.

Robinson, a product of Hermitage High School in Richmond, said the most difficult part of his return to full strength was learning to trust his knee again.

“Making sure that I put it in my head that my knee is good,” Robinson said. “That was really the hardest thing for me, especially with the way it happened, it could’ve happened to anyone.

“All I did was fall down and twist it, and it was torn, so I was a little hesitant at first, especially with cutting off of it, but once I started to make some plays and my guys were excited, I was back to my old self.”

He said fellow cornerback and roommate Charles Tutt helped him stay positive during the recovery.

The roles were reversed in the prior offseason when Tutt was coming back from a broken leg.

“It was hard from my point of view, just knowing where he’s coming from,” Tutt said. “But at the same time, it can be easy to motivate him because I could tell him how to handle it.

“My advice to him was to stay motivated, do treatment, do rehab and he’d be back soon.”

Despite not being able to suit up for the postseason, Robinson still was able to travel with the team to Fargo, N.D., for the semifinal at North Dakota State and to Frisco, Texas, for the national title game against Youngstown State.

“He was great,” cornerbacks coach Tripp Weaver said of Robinson. “He was talking to the guys with what he saw. He was helping them with splits, tendencies and really, he was locked into the film room like he was playing, and I think he really did help those guys on the sideline.

“He never backtracked and handled the situation like a true professional.”

Robinson said he enjoyed coaching and rooting on his friends Tutt, Jimmy Moreland, Curtis Oliver and Taylor Reynolds, who graduated after last season.

And for Robinson personally, he said he made the most of his time in that role having learned everything he could about the defense in order to help his teammates. He’d sit in on defensive meetings and talk with all four cornerbacks between defensive series.

“He’s moving around better than he did last year,” Weaver said. “He’s confident in the calls. He’s confident in helping other guys out and he’s developing into a coach on the field, so I’m very happy to have him back.”

Tutt is taking first-team reps on the opposite side of the field from Robinson. Moreland and Oliver are working with the second team. All four will play extensively this fall.

“Rashad’s going to set the example for the others,” Houston said. “His leadership from a work ethic and toughness standpoint, he brings all those intangibles that are so important to our secondary playing at a high level and our team playing at a high level.”