ACC Football Preview: Duke Blue Devils
(Cover photograph: Duke's DeWayne Carter defending a pass from Virginia's Brennan Armstrong; photo credit to Geoff Burke-USA Today Sports.)
Continuing the All Hurricanes ACC team previews, today is a look at one of Miami's 2022 opponents, Duke.
From 2013 through 2018, the Duke football program was consistent. Not great, but consistent. During that time, the Blue Devils went 46-32 with the 2013 season’s 10 wins being the only time that’s happened in school history.
Since 2018, Duke has been on a downward spiral, including going 0-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play this past season.
Duke is just 10-25 during the past three seasons combined. There’s no denying that the Blue Devils are rebuilding. Now with a head coach and a new assistant staff, it’s time to get to work.
Duke Blue Devils
Key Question: Can the Blue Devils be at least respectable on defense after giving up an average of 517.6 yards per game last season, ranking dead last in the FBS at No. 130?
Head Coach Mike Elko
Coach Elko is taking on his first head coaching assignment. He’s a career defensive assistant with eight seasons of Power 5 defensive coordinator experience from Wake Forest (2014-2016), Notre Dame (2017), and Texas A&M (2018-2021).
Elko has used a defense with a nickel that’s part safety and part linebacker in the past, and he is likely apt to do that with Duke moving forward. To fully acclimate the five defensive back look he wants to do with Duke, Elko will need far more speed added to the roster via recruiting. Lacking speed is not only an issue for Duke’s defense, but on the offensive side of the football as well.
While recruiting for the future is vital to Duke’s long-term success, Elko inherited a 2022 roster that is about as close to a total rebuild as one will find at the FBS level let alone Power 5. There are a few studs on the roster, especially in the front seven, but there are too many holes on the roster overall.
It’s the first year for Elko and his staff in Durham. This will not be an easy process, but they must get through this first year by installing their systems and getting the most out of the players they have on the current roster.
Recent History
2021 record: 3-9
Last 10 years: 6-2-64, 49.2%
Postseason last 10 years: 3-3
Duke is simply not known as a football school. It’s always been about basketball for Duke, especially when now retired head basketball coach Mike Kryzewski roamed the sidelines at Cameron Indoor Stadium from 1980-2022 with college basketball’s most career wins at 1,202 and five National Championships.
To begin to change the culture, Duke needs a coaching staff committed to the school and a group of players that believe in what their coaches are teaching. That last part, believing in the coaches, appeared to wane at the end of the David Cutcliffe era. Let’s see if Elko can get the players to buy into his concepts and schemes. Then, the Duke football program can begin to progress.
Top Offensive Players and Statistics
This is a team with two young signal callers that could both play this fall. Many believe Riley Leonard will win the job. He did play more last season than his competition, completing 37 of 62 passes for 362 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
The other young quarterback, Jordan Moore, only went nine of 19 for 95 yards and a touchdown. He did play in 10 games compared to Leonard playing in seven.
The rushing attack has huge holes to fill as Mataeo Durant left for the NFL after rushing for 1,244 yards and nine touchdowns, with the yardage total being a Duke all-time record. The key for the Duke offense, however, will be the offensive line.
Four of the five starters return to Durham, including both tackles – Graham Barton and John Gelotte – from a team that rushed for 180.5 yards per game last season. Even with relatively inexperienced running backs like Jordan Waters now taking over in the backfield, having an experienced offensive line helps the cause. Waters rushed for 197 yards and a touchdown last season while averaging 5.1 yards per tote.
At receiver, Jalon Calhoun comes back after impressing with 56 receptions, 718 yards, and three touchdowns from the 2021 season. He’s likely to see many double teams, but he’s a talented receiver defenses will need to account for.
In 2022, will Duke receiver Jalon Calhoun find pay dirt even more than he did in 2021?
Jaylynn Nash-USA TODAY Sports
Finding more speed to complement Calhoun is the concern for the Blue Devils. If no other receiver emerges, and preferably one with speed to go deep, Calhoun will see more and more double teams, especially during critical third downs.
Top Defensive Players and Statistics
Duke’s defense is headlined by 6’3”, 300-pound defensive tackle DeWayne Carter. The rising redshirt junior made his way into opposing offensive backfields last season with 7.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, six quarterback hurries, and deflected three passes. Carter also created four fumbles and registered 37 total tackles.
Playing on the edge and helping to keep double teams away from Carter, R.J. Oben is a versatile defender that picked off a pass, recorded 25 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, and five sacks. The combination of Oben and Carter could be one of the better 1-2 punches in the ACC.
Feeding off the efforts of his talented defensive linemen, linebacker Shaka Heyward was one of the ACC’s best with 98 stops and 11.5 tackles for loss. He also intercepted one pass, recorded three sacks and five quarterback hurries. In Elko’s scheme, it’s possible that Heyward actually improves those numbers this fall.
For Duke's defense to improve, seeing pressure from Shaka Heyward (#42) and R.J. Oben (#94) must be a consistent theme in 2022.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
More importantly, having Elko and his staff’s scheme will aid Heyward and the other front seven defenders for the Blue Devils as there will be a variety of blitzes to help them confuse the opposition.
With the 2021 secondary struggling to the tune of ranking 121st in the nation from giving up 10-plus yard passing plays to begin with, seeing zero starters returning in the secondary is concerning.
The secondary will need that pressure from Carter and Oben and Heyward, no question; based on inexperience alone the pass rush simply must get home. Duke is coming off a season in which it allowed 48.6% of the opposition’s third downs to be converted overall, and the secondary was certainly an issue with that stat coming to fruition.
For 2022, Elko and his staff must find at least one player in the secondary to be a stopper or it could be another long season for the Duke defensive efforts, with the following murder’s row of quarterbacks on the slate.
Oct. 1 Virginia (Brennan Armstrong - 4,439 yards, 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions); Oct. 22 at Miami (Tyler Van Dyke - 2,931 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions); Nov. 4 at Boston College (Phil Jurkovec - injured for much of last season but still had 915 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions); plus Nov. 26 Wake Forest (Sam Hartman - 4,228 yards, 39 touchdowns and 14 interceptions).
READ MORE: Boston College preview and Clemson preview.
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