Back to normal.
That seems to be the attitude surrounding Duke football today, at least until Duke plays Wake Forest on Thursday night. But that’s in November. Plenty of time to worry about that down the road.
Mike Elko addressed the media Monday afternoon, at his normal time to discuss Duke’s normal week leading up to a matchup against Northwestern, at a normal game time.
First Lafayette. Despite some early “sluggishness” on defense Elko said Lafayette “was a good result for us. It was a good way for us to handle the quick turnaround.”
Elko cited defensive linemen Wesley Williams and Aeneas Peebles, center Scott Elliott, backup quarterback Henry Belin IV and special teams player Cam Bergeron from that game.
Duke got to play a lot of people against Lafayette although not as many as they had hoped. Still, Elko was pleased to get some quality reps for Belin, wide receiver Jontavis Robertson, true freshman running back Peyton Jones and some backup offensive linemen.
“Certainly some of those guys that are going to be the next guys that we’re going to be talking about in some press conference down the road. We're going to be talking about the big role that they played in critical game. I think getting those guys reps was was really important.”
We did see a couple of guys in new positions. Duke has moved Jake Taylor from tight end to wide receiver. At 6-5, 235 Taylor is pretty big for a wide receiver but there are situations where that kind of size could come in handy.
Taylor had one reception, for 14 yards.
Then there’s true freshman Quran Boyd. He moved from wide receiver to running back, in large part due to injuries to Jaylen Coleman, Travis Bates and Marquise Collins.
But Elko said “we just felt like he was really good with the ball in his hands.” He’s likely to redshirt this season. But Jordan Waters was moved to running back after a rash of injuries earlier in his career and that turned out well.
Boyd had six carries for 16 yards.
On to Northwestern. We all know what a strange and strained off-season they had up in Evanston. And they looked the part in their opener, a 24-7 loss to Rutgers. But the Wildcats rebounded with a 38-7 win over UTEP last week. They showed a balanced offensive attack, while picking off three UTEP passes.
Of course the game was tied 7-7 at the half and UTEP is coming off a 5-7 season, 3-5 in Conference USA.
Elko says Northwestern is a typical Big 10 team.
“Obviously they're a big 10 team, so they're big and they're physical. They've been able to run the ball really well. Last week. In the second half, they got the running game going a little bit. Defensively, they're given up about 15 points a game. They've been very physical, they're very stout. I think they know their system. They're playing very well. And they play it very fast. I think they're a big big challenge for us.”
Fair enough. But Duke’s players and coaches have emphasized all spring and all fall and the few weeks of the season that they don’t pay attention to outside influences. The word “internal” pops up a lot. Duke is something like a 19-point favorite in a game against a Power-Five opponent, a position they haven’t found themselves in very often. As I’ve said before, handling success is a thing and this will be a test of Duke’s ability to handle success.
So, maybe not totally normal after all.
Freshmen Peyton Jones and Quran Boyd are both from Hampton Roads. Jones from Chesapeake and Boyd from Virginia Beach. Hopefully, Duke can continue to successfully recruit this area as it has historically sent players to Virginia Tech and UVa.
Moving the 6’5” Taylor to wide receiver is an interesting move. Lots to like about throwing to big targets downfield.