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football Edit

Football preview: 5 position battles

Riley Leonard could be Duke's starting QB for the upcoming season.
Riley Leonard could be Duke's starting QB for the upcoming season. (Jaylynn Nash/USA Today Sports Images)

Every football coach since the dawn of time – well, the dawn of football, at least – has said they want competition to be a feature of their program.

And we’re coming up on the month when internal competition kicks into high gear.

First-year Duke coach Mike Elko is in the early stages of establishing his program and his first fall camp should feature no shortage of competition. Along with the ultimate position competition (you don’t have to scroll far), the Blue Devils have plenty of roles to sort out before Temple comes to Durham on Sept. 2.

Here are the five most-important position battles to track before Duke’s season begins:

Jordan Moore breaks through N.C. A&T's defense last season.
Jordan Moore breaks through N.C. A&T's defense last season. (William Howard/USA Today Sports Images)
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1. Starting QB

Last year: Gunnar Holmberg.

Candidates: Riley Leonard, Jordan Moore.

Overview: The next four position battles are all secondary to this one.

Holmberg was … adequate last season, considering how far off the rails the season got and the talent around him. He’s at Florida International now, though, giving the Blue Devils new staff a fresh start at the position.

Leonard and Moore both got tastes last season in different capacities. Leonard started at Virginia Tech late in the season; Moore was utilized throughout the season as a situational player, often checking in for short-yardage packages.

Now the reins will be in one of their hands to start the season.

Projection: The hedge would be to predict both players are going to play significant snaps this season. Maybe that’s too much of a cop out from making a judgement call, but it’s the most likely scenario.

For my money, I think you’ll see more of Moore (not intended).

Leonard is not a bad runner, it’s just that Moore is such a dynamic runner that he creates positive situations on otherwise ill-fated plays. His elusiveness and speed in the open field was one of the most-notable factors during the spring and it’s hard to see that being minimized again with him being a situational player like last season.

Jaylen Stinson should play a key role in Duke's defense.
Jaylen Stinson should play a key role in Duke's defense. (William Howard/USA Today Sports Images)

2. Cornerbacks

Last year: Josh Blackwell, Leonard Johnson.

Candidates: Jaylen Stinson, Chandler Rivers, Joshua Pickett, Datrone Young, Tony Davis, Trent Broadnax, Placide Djungu-Sungu, Kenzy Paul.

Overview: Duke’s defense has a few mysteries to solve in fall camp, and first we look at a position where the Blue Devils need two new starters.

Blackwell and Johnson, plus rotation players Jalen Alexander and Jeremiah Lewis, are all gone – that quartet played a combined 2,064 snaps last season. It’s unfair, given how bad Duke’s defense was last season, to single out any specific group for criticism – so we’ll leave it as this being one of the areas on Duke’s defense where fresh coaching and opportunity should benefit the Blue Devils.

Stinson was counted as a safety last season but he was lined up over the slot for the majority of his snaps.

It should be pointed out: Corners are often only as good as the defensive line allows them to be, i.e. you can’t expect them to cover for 6-7 seconds on every pass, and Duke’s defensive ends situation is discussed below.

Projection: Another one where the hedge is the easy way out and you could project a few different combinations for the season.

Stinson is the only returning cornerback who played more than 100 snaps last season (he played 418). It’s close to a positional reset button and that’s a good thing for a defense that gave up the most yards per game in the country last season (517.9).

Young was a nice addition from Iowa State and I’d give him the inside track for a starting job. He’s a sixth-year player with 1,500 career snaps – he can help in a variety of ways.

The interesting part comes in with players like Pickett, Davis and Broadnax. The key to this season for Elko and the staff is figuring out which young holdovers can thrive and which ones would be better served entering the transfer portal.

If Rivers builds on his spring, he could emerge as a freshman starter – no easy task at this position in the ACC. Paul didn’t enroll early but if he proves up to the task, he could press the issue.

In summation: Every defensive back who isn’t a safety could wind up getting a chance to take cornerback snaps this season (and some safeties might wind up there, as well).

3. No. 2 wide receiver

Last year: Jalon Calhoun.

Candidates: Darrell Harding Jr., Malik Bowen-Sims, Eli Pancol, Sahmir Hagans, Jontavis Robertson.

Overview: This is assuming Calhoun ascends to being the No. 1 option and isn’t leap frogged.

Duke needs playmakers on the outside (sorry for the repetitions of this point). Calhoun is the only proven one, having notched 56 catches for 718 yards last season.

If you assume he’s going to see an uptick of targets following the departure of Jake Bobo, who then moves up to No. 2? It’s not like last season saw a hierarchy of targets: Running back Mataeo Durant was third on the team in catches (27).

Of course, this all might be academic: At Memphis last season, Kevin Johns’ offense saw 121 targets go to Calvin Austin III. The second-most targeted player was tight end Sean Dykes (60), and two wide receivers tied for the third-most (50).

Projection: It was hard in the spring to not be impressed with the size and athleticism of Harding and Bowen-Sims. Johns wants to spread the field and take shots when available, and they’re the two most likely candidates to be dialed up for deep balls.

But their experience levels and production thus far make them risky picks.

Based on that, I’d lean toward Pancol becoming a top target. He caught fewer passes last season (17) than he did in 2020 (24), but he still has the most experience of the bunch (966 career snaps).

An underlying factor to consider here is how the QB battle shakes out. If Leonard is the starter, Duke might be more inclined to air the ball out; if it’s Moore, his running ability will be featured.

R.J. Oben led Duke with five sacks last season.
R.J. Oben led Duke with five sacks last season. (William Howard/USA Today Sports Images)

4. Defensive ends

Last year: Ben Frye and R.J. Oben (starters), Michael Reese and Caleb Oppan (second unit).

Candidates: R.J. Oben, Michael Reese, Vincent Anthony Jr., Ahmad Craig, Aaron Hall.

Overview: Oben led Duke with five sacks (!) last season and had the highest pass-rush grade (73.6) of any defensive lineman.

Like cornerbacks, this is a position ripe for an upgrade through new coaching and opportunities.

Duke’s defensive line coaching tandem of Jess Simpson and Harland Bower has some work cut out for it – other than Oben’s five sacks last season, Reese had one sack and Oppan had ½ sack.

This doesn’t all have to be about sacks, though. Pressure in general is the key to a defense’s success in today’s era of college football, and the defenses that thrive are able to generate pressure without blitzing linebackers or defensive backs are the dangerous ones.

Projection: Oben should be penciled in as at least one of the top four.

Beyond him, though, Duke’s rotation of defensive ends seems up for grabs.

Craig and Hall have little experience in their careers at Duke but at 6-5 and 6-4, respectively, they’re two of the tallest defensive ends at Duke.

Not to rehash a point made in the key developers list, but Anthony could become a factor here.

5. Running back(s)

Last year: Mataeo Durant.

Candidates: Jordan Waters, Jaquez Moore, Jaylen Coleman, a freshman.

Overview: This might be the position that’s best-equipped to replace a departing starter – and that’s a good thing given how fantastic Durant was last season.

Durant set the single-season program record for rushing yards (1,241), which becomes more impressive considering how much of a focal point he was for opposing defenses.

Replacing Durant is going to have to be a group effort.

Waters was the only other running back who logged meaningful carries last season, rushing for 197 yards and one touchdown on 39 carries (5.1 yards/carry). He had moments in spring practice that looked like he was ready to ascend to a feature back role, but so did Moore and Coleman.

All three freshman running backs – Travis Bates, Terry Moore and Eric Weatherly – could play their way into the rotation. Moore and Weatherly were early enrollees, so Bates is entering fall camp a little behind them.

Projection: Johns was up front in the spring when asked about his philosophy of using one running back for the bulk of touches, or whether he preferred a by-committee approach.

“I think it helps when you have one bell cow that can go out and do the bulk,” Johns said.

Then came the part where Johns alluded to how the Blue Devils’ backfield shapes up entering the season:

“I don’t think we do this year, though,” he said. “I think we have running-back-by-committee right now and they know that. It’s an open competition, we’re trying to give as many guys reps as we can.”

So this is where it’s not even a hedge to say multiple players will be featured in this spot as a position battle “winner.” Waters is the most logical pick given the role he played last season as Durant’s backup, but a new system means that might not be much of a factor.

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