Duke's 3-Way Quarterback Battle, Part 2 of 4: Chris Katrenick--The Early Leader

Junior was backup last year, opened as first-teamer

In a four-part series, we look at the candidates for Duke’s starting quarterback job.

The only quarterback on the roster who took any snaps for Duke last season is Chris Katrenick, who spent last year backing up Quentin Harris. He completed 3-of-13 passes for 49 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Based on his experience in the system, Katrenick started off with the first team for Duke’s abbreviated spring practice and the beginning of fall camp. In the Blue Devils’ first scrimmage, he was 4-for-8 passing for 49 yards.

“It’s different for everyone,” he said of returning to live action after a long break due to the pandemic. “For me, the speed of the game, live football, it doesn’t matter what you do at home, it’s not with everyone that’s out here. I feel like we’re making progress every day. That’s our focus—not looking too far ahead, just trying to get better each day.”

Katrenick welcomes the competition from his two teammates.

“I’ll say first thing is we’re all making each other better,” he said. “That’s kind of a cliché, but it’s really come to life here. We haven’t discussed any details, but we’re just making each other better, getting along great, having a lot of fun. We’re coaches on the field. Playing the position of quarterback has kind of been our focus right now. I feel like everyone is doing really well, probably playing better than we have in the past.”

While he started off as the leader in the quarterback battle, he knows he still has goals to reach.

“I haven’t had a start yet,” he said, “but I know practice should be harder than games. We’re really trying to make that happen. It really does help to have guys beneath you or above you that you’re competing against. The preparation is going to help us with the comfort level.”

Katrenick is trying not to get distracted on the competition and just focusing on moving the ball on offense.

“As an offense, we’re playing really fast,” he said. “I think that’s a great thing coming off of a long break. We want to think fast and slow at the same time. Every day, we’re just trying to get a little better, keep our focus really narrow and not get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Get caught up on the four-part series here:

Part 1: Overview

Part 3: Back from injury—Gunnar Holmberg

Part 4: The big name--Chase Brice