DURHAM – You have, hopefully, heard of the phrase, “Look good, feel good, play good.”

It’s a simple enough concept; confidence can stem from appearance, and confidence can lead to strong performances. It comes from Colorado’s football coach who’s hardly known for such bravado.

There is a similar approach to things with the depth chart for Duke’s football team. More specifically, you can see it with the names of some positions on the defense.

After all, who couldn’t get fired up while playing the “Vyper” position?

“Just a cooler name for those guys to make them feel special when they’re on the field,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke said on Monday afternoon.

There are a few abnormal names on Duke’s first depth chart under Manny Diaz’s staff; some are more abnormal than others.

Vyper is the one that stands out; it’s the position where Wesley Williams, previously a defensive end, is listed as the starter, and Michael Reese is the backup.

“The Vyper position is basically what people would call their rush end,” Diaz said. “That’s an end that often lines up to the boundary, can drop, can rush, do those type of things.

“But it’s way more fancy to call it the Vyper, right? It sounds cooler, so put that on the bottom of your business card.”

Yep, that all checks out.

The origin goes back about a decade, when Diaz was Louisiana Tech’s defensive coordinator for one season. Patke was then in his third season of coaching, as a graduate assistant working with the defense.

“Vyper goes years ago, actually,” Patke said. “At 2014, Louisiana Tech, more of our boundary end … got the name of Vyper. So it kind of stuck from there and that’s how we kind of brand our defense.”

Among the other notable names on Duke’s depth chart are Star and Rover.

“Star, it’s been called multiple things over the years,” Patke said. “Called it ‘Striker’ years ago. … It’s that hybrid-type position, not always your big outside linebacker but more of a safety-, nickel-type body.”

The Star on Duke’s depth chart has two players, both with the “OR” between them as a possible starter; those are defensive back Cameron Bergeron and linebacker Tre Freeman.

Rover is the term for one of the safety spots, which is where Jaylen Stinson is listed as the starter. It’s worth noting now — Stinson will miss the first half of Friday night’s game against Elon because of a targeting penalty from Duke’s bowl game, so DaShawn Stone will start in his place.

The linebacker positions, Mike and Will, are common. The former is football lingo for middle linebacker; the latter means weakside linebacker.

Here is a full look at Duke’s first depth chart: