Curt Cignetti is working to shield his players of the problem he exploited not long ago.

If there’s anything learned about Cignetti’s first spring as coach at James Madison, it’s that.

“There’s good culture here,” Cignetti said. “And obviously a lot of great things have happened in the past, but with the best things that have happened here in the past, a lot of these guys weren’t contributors to those teams, so there’s no entitlement.

“And just because you’re at JMU doesn’t mean you’re going to win any kind of championship. You’ve got to earn it every single day and you’ve got to pay the price. You’ve got to have a special discipline, commitment and work ethic to get that done.”

The Dukes completed their 15 practices this past Saturday with the annual spring game, and when they put the pads on again in August, expectations won’t be light.

With 19 of 22 starters back, 2017 All-American cornerback Rashad Robinson rejoining the team after a season sidelined with injury and the recent pedigree that comes along with wearing the purple and gold, the Dukes will likely be tabbed to win the Colonial Athletic Association and some national poll voters could slot them as high as the FCS’s preseason No. 1.

And that’s not too different from the situation they were in last year.

Last preseason, JMU was picked to win the CAA after earning outright league titles in the previous two years, and the Dukes were No. 2 in the polls behind only North Dakota State after the Bison beat them in the 2017 title game.

This was despite having former standouts who helped the program win it all in 2016, like quarterback Bryan Schor, tackle Aaron Stinnie, defensive lineman Andrew Ankrah and safety Raven Greene, graduate and go off to play pro football.

Yes, there was the season-opening loss to N.C. State, but the Wolfpack didn’t pull away until the final minutes, so a mostly inexperienced JMU squad got a mulligan against an older Power Five team.

Then came the blowout wins (73-7 over Robert Morris, 51-0 over William & Mary, 63-10 at Richmond) that exceeded expectations with new faces and starters such as quarterback Ben DiNucci, wide receiver Kyndel Dean and defensive linemen Ron’Dell Carter and John Daka nicely accompanying the few established seniors left.

The momentum pointed toward another Frisco, Texas-bound campaign until Cignetti and his Elon team showed up at Bridgeforth Stadium.

“I thought maybe we were catching [JMU] at a good time because their last four games had been such routs,” Cignetti said the Monday after the Phoenix beat the Dukes, 27-24, this past October. “I’ve been there before. I remember at Alabama we won 29 regular-season games in a row and things creep in on you when you’re that successful.

“You’re trying to preach, preach and preach, but when you’re having that much success sometimes there can be a tendency to let some things creep in to where you’re not at your very, very, very best.”

In November the Dukes had a puzzling setback at New Hampshire and in December JMU was eliminated from the playoffs in the second round with a dreadful loss at Colgate.

“Most of us came in already winning,” Daka said. “We really didn’t have to face much adversity other than the national championship loss [to North Dakota State], but last season we had a lot of adversity.

“I felt like we needed it because we were very young. Now, we’re a senior-led team and you feel more confident after you get through certain things, but we’re also very confident in Coach Cignetti and his assistant coaches’ plan.”

So this spring at Madison was all about Cignetti implementing the daily level of expectation for his program.

His practices were never that much longer than two hours, but there was little time between reps for his players to focus on anything except for the next drill.

No one’s time was wasted.

When Cignetti was hired, he expressed how the ‘Alabama Blueprint’ he learned from Nick Saban and used at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon would work in Harrisonburg.

Over the last five weeks, he tried to lay the foundation of it.

“I think we’ve got a lot of guys who can play football here, successful football,” Cignetti said. “I also think that we have a way to go in terms of consistent mental intensity, day in and day out, drill in and drill out. Our effort and our toughness at times seem to be a little up and down. We need to become more consistent in that area, so there’s improvements that can be made, but I think this spring was a good starting point.

“We got a lot of work done, and we’ve got a chance. And I think we can go as far as we set our minds to.”