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Redshirt senior defensive end Isaac Ukwu fights through a block in JMU's 20-14 loss to North Dakota State on Dec. 17, 2021. Ukwu said the loss catalyzed more focus on the little things in the weight room this offseason.
Redshirt senior defensive end Isaac Ukwu fights through a block in JMU's 20-14 loss to North Dakota State on Dec. 17, 2021. Ukwu said the loss catalyzed more focus on the little things in the weight room this offseason.
JMU football played 22 games in one calendar year between a pandemic-impacted spring and fall season in 2021. So for head coach Curt Cignetti, he said at Sun Belt Media Day in July, it felt like he was on vacation for three months in the 2022 offseason.
For the players, on the other hand, it’s been anything but a vacation as they train for JMU’s first-ever full FBS schedule.
Sophomore running back Kaelon Black used blood-flow restriction (BFR) training three times a week in the initial stages of his torn ACL recovery, which he suffered last fall versus Weber State. BFR, Black said, makes him feel like he’s doing a max-capacity workout when he really isn’t and “definitely pushes your buttons.”
Redshirt junior defensive end Abi Nwabuoku-Okonji spent the offseason developing a “money move” when pressuring the quarterback — a pass-rush move he can go to every time off the edge — a stab-club combo.
Graduate defensive end Isaac Ukwu honed in his diet, switching to more baked chicken instead of fried chicken, he said in the spring. He was inspired by the body transformation of his former roommate, defensive lineman Mike Greene (2018-22), who’s currently fighting for a practice squad spot on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Texts sent to The Breeze from a JMU Athletics spokesman indicate multiple players have gained around 20 pounds and have lowered their body-fat percentages this offseason. More players have said they’ve topped their bench press and squat personal-bests this offseason, some by over 50 pounds since their freshmen years.
While this spring and summer might not have been as demanding for Cignetti as it was in 2021, he said after practice Aug. 26 that there’s now a heightened sense of urgency for coaches and players alike as JMU’s first game as an FBS program looms.
“You’re playing better teams — bigger, faster, stronger guys,” Cignetti said. “You got to play your A game to be successful. Your C+ game’s not going to get it done, so your consistency and standard [of] performance, your commitment level needs to be ramped up.”
Cignetti, who’s coached at the FBS’ cream of the crop, Alabama, from 2007-10, said JMU’s weight room exercises haven’t drastically changed in preparation for the better competition. If there were a better way to work out, he said, JMU would’ve been doing it already.
Players maintained that workouts are mostly the same but said they feel faster-paced. They said there’s less rest time between running and weight room sets. In addition, graduate running back Percy Agyei-Obese said in the spring that there’s a different vibe around his teammates as they brace for the step up.
“You can see by the way everyone is working out,” Agyei-Obese said. “They’re on the field or getting extra work in the film room — there’s more people doing that — there’s more people taking care of their bodies in the training room. Like, everyone is focused, and everyone really wants to come out in the fall and play their best football.”
JMU football’s strength and conditioning coordinator Derek Owings wasn’t made available to interview. Cignetti said players look bigger and stronger — “a lot of good-looking bodies” are on the practice field — as a result of the summer training program that Owings and his strength staff put the team through.
Cignetti said after the first spring practice March 24 that Owings had seven weeks to work with JMU’s players before spring ball. It was the first full offseason training regimen any player younger than the incoming class in 2019 has had because of COVID-19 in 2020 and the altered spring season in 2021. As spring practices commenced, Cignetti said, Owings’ lifting and running program produced “great results” among players.
Four months later, Cignetti said at media day that the positive reports he got from JMU’s summer conditioning program were unlike any other he’s received in his 11-year head coaching career.
Redshirt junior offensive lineman Nick Kidwell said Owings led more position-specific drills this offseason. For the O-line, this meant doing the “wave drill,” where they’d slide their feet in pass sets in alternating directions down the field for varying periods of time in order to get their conditioning up. Kidwell, like most Dukes, said the workouts felt faster.
Most players also said Owings conducted more running workouts than past years. However, former JMU defensive lineman Tony Thurston — who retired from football last week but spoke to media Aug. 19 — said the running was also position-specific, meaning the linemen started runs in three-point stances. The emphasis is bursting out of the stance, Thurston said, not running down field.
“Really, just the intensity of it [is different], not necessarily like how much we do, but how quickly we transition from one rep to the next,” Thurston said. “We’ve kind of done similar to that; probably not as heavy as [Owings] had us doing this year.”
Owings’ workouts — both on-field running and in the weight room — catalyzed drastic results in players from multiple position groups.
According to texts sent to The Breeze by a JMU spokesman, redshirt sophomore linebacker Taurus Jones dropped 11% body fat, as he looks to replace former JMU linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, who transferred to Texas in May. Redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Tyler Stephens gained 25 pounds and lost 2.5% body fat this offseason as he looks to start at right guard this fall. Redshirt freshman Mikail Kamara, who played in spring 2021 as a true freshman but missed all of last fall with an injury, gained 20 pounds and dropped 2.5% body fat.
“I changed my body completely as far as in the weight room, and [I’m] really feeling a huge difference … It’s been phenomenal,” Kamara said. “I feel like all my offensive linemen teammates — I know they feel the difference.”
Preseason First Team All-Sun Belt wide receiver Kris Thornton said he’s gained around 10 pounds this offseason, due in large part to more squat exercises — back squats, front squats and isometric lifts — to increase explosiveness. After the full offseason, Thornton said, “I feel better than I was before.”
Agyei-Obese, who also spent much of the offseason rehabbing from a season-ending ankle injury he suffered versus Delaware on Oct. 23, told The Breeze at media day that he’s gained 23 pounds during the rehab process but still feels faster.
“I’m in a happy place right now,” Agyei-Obese said. “I’m getting bigger and I’m getting faster, like, what more can I ask for?”
The graduate running back credits Owings for his progress, who, Agyei-Obese said, has “really done his research” and applied it to the players’ training regimens. Agyei-Obese said the run load increased this offseason, as well as more incorporation of tempo squats and bench press, in order to be less fatigued during the season.
But what’s more noticeable, Ukwu said, is intangible. It’s the culture Owings has cultivated in the weight room ahead of the Sun Belt jump.
“He’s locking in a little bit more on discipline,” Ukwu said, “and [telling us to do] what you’re supposed to do in an efficient manner and getting in and getting out and not being so lackadaisical with your workout, having a purpose and knowing what you’re there to work on and getting better each and every day.”
Ukwu said the demeanor is a byproduct of how JMU’s season ended in the Fargo Dome versus North Dakota State last year. There were too many lapses of discipline in that game, Ukwu said, which JMU can ill afford at the FBS level.
“Every little thing can make a difference,” Ukwu said. “So then that discipline being implemented in workouts, it’s gonna translate to the field.”
JMU has found moderate success against FBS competition recently, going 3-7 against it since 2010, but now, those teams litter the schedule in 2022. The Dukes get relieved from the gauntlet Week 2 versus Norfolk State but then play nine straight FBS teams to close the year — eight from the Sun Belt and the ACC’s Louisville on Nov. 5.
Players acknowledged the increased opponent quality but overwhelmingly said they’re not deterring from how they played at the FCS level — from what has made JMU successful for two decades. For redshirt senior tight end Drew Painter, that means sticking to JMU football’s script: playing fast, physical and relentless.
“In terms of intensity and the feel for the room, I feel like we’ve had the same as we’ve always had,” Painter said. “No matter who we’re playing, we’re going to treat it like it’s a Super Bowl.”
Contact Grant Johnson at breezesports@gmail.com. For more football coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter @TheBreezeSports.
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