Duke QB Chase Brice, who was Trevor Lawrence’s backup at Clemson, is transferring again
Two days after Duke’s disappointing football season ended, two players and a coach are heading elsewhere to continue their college football experiences.
Quarterback Chase Brice, who arrived at Duke last spring from Clemson with high hopes, said Monday night he’s entered the NCAA’s transfer portal to play his final season at another school.
Safety Marquis Waters, who went through senior day festivities with the team earlier this month, has also entered his name in the portal.
Chris Hampton, who coached Duke’s defensive backs last season, informed the school he’s leaving to become defensive coordinator at Tulane.
A reserve behind Trevor Lawrence at Clemson the last two seasons, Brice came to Duke hoping he’d have a chance to display his skills as a starting quarterback. He won the job but his performance didn’t go as he or Duke had wished.
Brice started all 11 of Duke’s games, but he threw 15 interceptions with 10 touchdown passes while completing just 54.8 percent of his throws. The Blue Devils committed 39 turnovers, more than any team in the country, and finished with a 2-9 record, including 1-9 in ACC play.
In a text message conversation with the News & Observer Monday night, Brice said he wouldn’t characterize his Duke experience as a mistake.
“Never a mistake to come to Duke,” Brice said. “I know it wasn’t what everyone envisioned as far as the outcome of our record but I learned a good bit about myself during my time at Duke, but I just felt that I needed to move on and find a better fit for me.“
Having coached first-round NFL Draft pick quarterbacks Heath Shuler, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Daniel Jones during his career at Tennessee, Mississippi and Duke, Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe intended to use the offseason to get Brice ready to play well in his offensive system.
The coronavirus pandemic changed those plans dramatically. Though Brice met with coaches and teammates via Zoom, he wasn’t allowed to arrive on campus until the middle of July. Brice and the Duke offense rarely appeared in sync as the Blue Devils averaged only 24.8 points per game, the team’s lowest output since the 2016 season.
Waters played four seasons at Duke, starting the last three seasons, and was second on the team with 71 tackles this season. He has a fifth season of college eligibility because the NCAA decided this season wouldn’t count against any player’s eligibility due to the pandemic.
Because of that rule, Brice technically has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Hampton is returning to Tulane, where he left to join Duke’s staff earlier this year. A former player at South Carolina, Hampton was Tulane’s defensive backs coach from 2016-19.
Brice’s departure leaves Duke’s quarterbacking duties to Gunnar Holmberg, the former Wake Forest Heritage High star who backed up Brice this season, and freshman Luca Diamont, who made his debut in the season-ending 56-35 loss at Florida State on Saturday.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 7:16 PM.