DURHAM – The Monday night season opener means Duke’s first football practice of the season comes later than every team in the country other than Clemson.

When the Blue Devils finally took the field for Friday night’s practice, their second-year coach liked what he saw.

And heard.

“The thing that you like about our guys is the energy,” coach Mike Elko said. “It’s the little conversations that you hear on the sidelines, the energy, the fun that they’re having. They’re excited to be out there.”

The other part that could be heard, despite the Blue Devils not having shoulder pads on yet, was the physicality.

“That’s one of the things that Coach Elko has definitely harped on,” running back Jaylen Coleman said. “Coach (David) Feeley has helped us out in the weight room, getting us ready to go.

“I know everyone’s ready to go when they’re playing fast, they’re playing hard, they’re playing physical. That lets you know their confidence level is up.”

Duke is coming off a 9-4 season and its confidence level should be elevated. The Blue Devils return every key contributor to an explosive offense, three starters on the offensive line, and have returned key players at each level of the defense.

Here at the onset of the new season, there’s a tug to remember where Duke was a year ago at this time — when it had won five games in the previous two seasons combined.

“A lot different from last year,” defensive tackle Ja’Mion Franklin said. “We’re a much bigger, faster, stronger team than we were at this point last year. The level of trust and the level of confidence is at a premium right now.”

One of those little conversations Elko referenced was seen late in practice, when freshman receiver Apollos Cook finished a play carrying the ball too low. Fifth-year receiver Jalon Calhoun came from the sidelines onto the field to do some between-plays coaching.

It’s hard to have a bad first practice. Elko acknowledged with some dry humor that you’ve almost come to expect.

“I told the guys, my running line on Night One is, ‘Every 0-12 team in the country just had a good practice,’” he said.

Duke has about a month’s worth of practices to follow this one up and separate themselves from other teams by the time the season begins.

Here were my observations during Duke’s first practice of fall camp:

Equipment: Helmets, no other pads.

Was today won by the offense, defense or neither: Neither.

It’s the first day and they’re in helmets only. If one unit was distinctively ahead of the other, it’d raise a lot more red flags than would be cause for celebration.

Quote of the day: “Hey, now there’s a catch in the United States of America!” – running backs coach Trooper Taylor to Travis Bates.

Some context: During RB-LB 1-on-1s, Bates caught a pass but landed out of bounds. Taylor told him it was a nice catch … in Canada, where the field is wider. When Bates’ turn came next time, he made another leaping and falling catch, landing in bounds this time; hence, the encouragement from Taylor.

Made me chuckle, at least.

Freshman/newcomer of the day: Cornerback Al Blades Jr.

Quite the difference in age between some of these newcomers and Duke’s freshmen.

Blades came to Duke after spending the past five seasons at Miami, where he played in 49 games. He’s a 6-1, 195-pound cornerback who was added to bolster a secondary where the Blue Devils lost a pair of starters in safety Darius Joiner and cornerback Datrone Young.

The Blue Devils have options on the back end and that’s where Blades comes in. If he’s healthy and contributing at cornerback, it allows Duke to shift sophomore Chandler Rivers to nickel, which then moves Brandon Johnson back to safety alongside Jaylen Stinson.

“We have pieces in the secondary and we have a lot of options with how we can maneuver that,” Elko said. “That’s what you want. You want to have a little bit of flexibility with who you can put out there, where you can put guys, how you can match up with people.”

News of the day: Duke’s depth on both sides of the line is going to be tested early.

Offensive lineman Justin Pickett and defensive tackle Terry Simmons Jr. will both miss at least some of fall camp, Elko announced Friday night. Both have lower body injuries.

Pickett is penciled in as a starter on Duke’s offensive line, most likely at right guard. Elko said the hope is to have Pickett back before the end of fall camp and that the injury occurred at the end of summer workouts.

Simmons is a freshman who was expected to compete for snaps behind veterans DeWayne Carter, Franklin and Aeneas Peebles. Elko said his injury occurred shortly after he arrived in the summer and that his timeline means he’ll likely be out for longer than Pickett.