Gunnar Holmberg: Coach Cutcliffe Added "a Few Big Wrinkles" to Offense
Gunnar Holmberg’s recovery kept him off the field all season. While he was near the end of his recovery by the end of the regular season, he didn’t get the chance to practice with the team.
“Not making a bowl game kind of threw that off little bit,” he said, referring to the extra two weeks of December practice a bowl game would have allowed for the Blue Devils.
“I did rehab until about the eighth game,” he said. “Coach Cutcliffe came in when I was nearing the end of my rehab and said, ‘I want you out here.’ I had the script and was saying plays to the signal callers. That way, I didn’t lose the verbiage and the familiarity with the playbook. As I traveled, sitting on the sideline, hearing what Q (last year’s starting quarterback Quentin Harris) had to say on the headphones, watching signals, seeing how he took each play, watching his game.”
Holmberg also got to help with throwing.
“I would throw warmups with him,” he said, “then go back in and do strength stuff on my knee.”
Holmberg is battling for the starting job, which would always capture the attention of the head coach. But he has even more of David Cutcliffe’s attention this spring, since the Duke coach will be calling plays on offense this year.
“It’s changed a good amount,” he said of Cutcliffe’s role. “He’s is in every film room with us now. He’s leading those film rooms, calling plays. He hasn’t totally changed the offense. He’s just added a few big wrinkles. He’s trying to speed up everything. More vertical stuff, getting the ball out quick to our playmakers. Any type of run play, not just RPO (Run-pass option) but letting running backs hit the hole hard.”
