Can Chase Brice fix Duke’s quarterback woes? 5 questions facing the Blue Devils
Already back on campus for nearly a month, Duke’s football players will hit the practice field Friday in preparation for whatever pandemic-altered season they might have.
The biggest question, of course, is how many games the Blue Devils will play and when they will play them. The ACC has told Duke its league opponents but hasn’t finalized anyone’s 10-game league schedule.
Duke is working on it’s lone nonconference game, with Charlotte the most likely opponent.
While some other schools had large corovanvirus outbreaks since their athletes returned to campus this summer, Duke uncovered 25 positive cases through testing in its athletic department. They haven’t led to any team activities being interrupted.
Throwing aside those admittedly large off-field questions teams around the country are dealing with, Duke has plenty of interesting on-field story lines to discuss.
The Blue Devils went 5-7 last season, only their second losing season in the last seven years. Duke missed a bowl game for just the second time in the last eight years.
The offense struggled, finishing 11th in the ACC with 25.3 points per game. But with head coach David Cutcliffe taking over as the team’s offensive coordinator and play caller, there’s hope that could change.
“We’ve got a new coordinator that I hope I don’t have to fire,” Cutcliffe cracked.
The defense has more star power entering the season but still has to prove it can do better than the 29.2 points per game it allowed last season. There’s a wildcard player on that side of the field who just could make that possible.
Here’s a look at the top story lines as the Blue Devils begin practice:
Improving the offense
A renowned play-caller during his days as a Tennessee assistant earlier in his career, Cutcliffe decided this offseason to take that role on at Duke for the first time. The team’s poor production on offense last season told him it was time.
The Blue Devils averaged just 179 passing yards per game, its worst such output via the air since Cutcliffe became their coach in 2008. Duke had averaged more than 200 passing yards per game in 10 consecutive seasons until 2019.
“I’ve got to fix the quarterback thing,” Cutcliffe said.
To do that, Chase Brice arrived this summer as a graduate transfer from Clemson. The hope is his experience playing for the Tigers as Trevor Lawrence’s backup will allow him to elevate Duke’s offense this season.
Chris Katrenick and Gunnar Holmberg are also in the running for the starting job, marking the first time since 2016 Duke hasn’t entered camp with an established starter.
Can Mark Gilbert contribute?
Back in 2018, Gilbert entered the season as one of the ACC’s top cornerbacks with his eyes set on entering the NFL Draft the following summer.
A dislocated hip suffered in a game at Northwestern changed that, ending the all-ACC cornerback’s junior season. He missed the 2019 season recovering from the injury.
He was cleared to return this spring and looked strong in the few practices Duke completed before the pandemic wiped out the rest of the spring work.
Gilbert’s return with an already solid secondary that includes underrated safety Michael Carter would be big things for Duke’s defense.
“I have no reason to believe that he’s not going to start well this fall,” Cutcliffe said. “I think it’ll be the best secondary group that we’ve had, quite possibly the deepest. So we’re going to be an aggressive defensive football team.”
New faces at linebacker
Every season from 2015-19, Duke had either Ben Humphreys, Joe Giles-Harris or Koby Quansah — frequently all three — in its linebacker mix. Giles-Harris led Duke in tackles in 2016, 2017 and 2018 before entering the NFL; Humphreys finished no worse than fourth in tackles in any of those seasons.
With those two gone, Quansah led Duke in tackles last season as a senior.
Beginning Friday, a new crop of linebackers will be asked to replace all of that production.
Last season, Brandon Hill and Shaka Heyward split time opposite Quansah in Duke’s 4-2-5 defensive alignment that includes two starting linebackers.
This season, Hill, Heyward and Rocky Shelton figure to get the majority of the playing time at linebacker.
“We have speed, the best speed we’ve had at linebacker,” Cutcliffe said.
Hill, now a redshirt senior, started at weak-side linebacker until he was injured at midseason last year. Heyward finished with 68 tackles after making six starts as a redshirt freshman in 2019.
Shelton, now a redshirt junior, and freshman Christian Hood, who enrolled last January, could be factors, too.
Revamping to improve the offensive line
Duke returns four starters up front on offense, led by an all-ACC candidate in center Jack Wohlabaugh. He and guard Rakavius Chambers give Duke two seniors who are entering their third season as starters.
Tackles Casey Holman and Jacob Monk both started as freshmen last season.
The new face who could make a big impact is graduate transfer Devery Hamilton, who arrived from Stanford. Hamilton played guard and tackle for the Cardinal but Cutcliffe sees tackle as his best position.
That would mean moving either Holman or Monk inside to guard to give Duke a strong, experienced group that could go a big way toward boosting the offensive production.
Redshirt sophomore Maurice McIntyre will be in the mix for a starting job at guard while redshirt senior Robert Kraeling, who played in nine games last season, provides depth at tackle.
How deep is the defensive line?
Duke’s defensive line will rival its defensive secondary for the best unit on the team this season.
Senior ends Victor Dimukeje and Drew Jordan are returning starters and rangy, athletic redshirt sophomore Chris Rumph, who had 6.5 sacks as a reserve last season, has a chance to be one of the ACC’s top pass rushers.
“We have a special group this year,” Rumph said.
Duke will have new starters at defensive tackle, although senior Derrick Tangelo started five games last season. Redshirt junior Ben Frye is in position to grab a starting job in the middle.
Aeneas Peebles, a freshman from Knightdale High School, and redshirt freshman DeWayne Carter could also push for playing time at tackle. Redshirt freshman Christian Rorie, from Raleigh’s Enloe High, has moved inside to tackle.