Blue Devils gear up for Sunday scrimmage

DURHAM – One last preseason test remains before Duke begins to transition to game preparation for the opener of Mike Elko’s tenure.

Sunday afternoon’s scrimmage is the second and final scrimmage of Duke’s fall camp.

“I think tomorrow will be a big day,” Elko said on Saturday during the team’s media day. “We’ll get a chance to get one more live evaluation under the lights, we’ll do a lot of situational stuff and put the kids under some clock situations.

“I think coming out of that, we’ll get a pretty firm grip of how we want to go into Temple week, at least from a starting standpoint.”

The Blue Devils are inside of two weeks before that Sept. 2 opener and have the benefit of almost three weeks of fall camp to build on, as far as setting the depth chart.

The biggest day before this scrimmage was the previous scrimmage.

Duke’s offense ran the ball consistently but is trying to shore up its passing game; the defense took pride in how well it tackled compared to live periods in the spring and previously in fall camp.

As with everything in preseason college football, though, it’s a catch-22. Duke’s success in the running game came at the expense of its defense getting knocked back; Duke’s tackling success meant the Blue Devils’ skill players weren’t able to break free from initial contact very often.

Balance is great in the first scrimmage – the theme of the second one needs to be improvement in some crucial areas.

Defensive coordinator Robb Smith has seen marked improvement from the spring to this month already.

“In the spring, it’s kind of like an every-other-day proposition,” Smith said. “When you really get a group of men in a room and you can do something day after day after day … you really get a chance to fine tune and hone in your skills.”

For Duke’s offense, the passing game has become a focal point. Elko said earlier this week there’s a gap in consistency he wanted to close this week.

He needs to see Sunday’s scrimmage to know how close the Blue Devils are to closing the gap.

“There’s days where it’s good and there (are) days where it wasn’t,” Elko said. “I thought we went out (Saturday) and threw the ball around really well. … (Friday) it wasn’t quite as good.

“I just think that that’s something that we’re pushing towards every day.”

Who’s throwing the ball as the starting is another question mark that’s still in the air – what we know at this point is Riley Leonard is the most-refined passer of the Blue Devils’ QBs, Jordan Moore brings a mobility and athleticism that will be used at QB or otherwise, and freshman Henry Belin IV has looked impressive at times and has a big-time arm.

“Seen a lot of growth, really all three of them,” offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said. “Really mentally, just sitting in the film room and digesting the offense and the language. They’re much more comfortable in our verbiage, their footwork, their reads. Now they’re at the point where they sort of feel like they have themselves under control.”

After last weekend’s scrimmage when players were in position groups, defensive line coach Jess Simpson made it clear – rather loudly – that the defensive tackles did not do some things as well as they could have.

“He got after us a little bit, but it’s just upholding his standard,” defensive tackle DeWayne Carter Jr. said. “Coach Simpson has been at every single level and been successful at every single level. … He coaches us like pros, so when he sees us not running to the ball as hard, maybe, or maybe you’re not doing technique that he knows that we know how to do – it’s a very high standard.”

Therein lies one of the ultimate messages for Duke entering not just Sunday’s scrimmage, but the season in general. The difference in accountability and standard is one that’s noticeable.

Soon enough, it’ll be on display for more than media and players’ parents to see.