Duke loses promising wide receiver Jake Bobo to injury
A Duke offense looking for new standout skill players lost a promising one on Friday.
Jake Bobo, a sophomore wide receiver expected to start this season, had surgery to repair a broken right clavicle injury he suffered during practice Thursday.
An announcement from Duke athletics said Bobo is considered out indefinitely.
The 6-4, 201-pound Bobo has impressed the coaches with his reliable hands since arriving on campus last season. He caught 10 passes for 167 yards as a freshman. He scored a touchdown on a 7-yard pass from Daniel Jones in Duke’s 56-27 Independence Bowl win over Temple last December.
After going 8-5 last season, the Blue Devils are replacing three starting wide receivers and a starting tight end this season. That’s in addition to Jones, who left school with one year of eligibility remaining and was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the NFL Draft last April.
Listed as a starter entering August practices, Bobo was viewed as part of the solution to that problem. This injury puts his availability for Duke’s season-opening game with Alabama on Aug. 31 at Atlanta in jeopardy. It’s unclear when he’ll return.
Duke has an experienced option at wide receiver in redshirt senior Aaron Young, who played just three games last season due to a hamstring injury. Young has 34 career catches with four touchdowns.
But the rest of the depth chart is filled with younger players like Bobo looking for a chance to emerge. Redshirt Jarrett Garner and Dennis Smith, freshman Darrell Harding, Jr., and redshirt sophomore Damond Philyaw-Johnson are other options.
This story was originally published August 9, 2019 at 3:24 PM.