Kind of projecting Duke’s offensive depth chart
How will the Blue Devils' offense line up for next week’s season opener against Temple? Let’s take a stab
Some good news/bad news to explain the title.
First the bad news: This is not a projected depth chart. That kind of information will remain under wraps until Duke releases its own depth chart.
So we beat on, boats against a current.
Now the good news, albeit with a little cringe: This is going to be something of an “above-the-line” stab at how Duke will line up against Temple. Players who *could* play against Temple are listed in alphabetical order so as to not give anything away.
The cringe, of course, stems from this being a stolen term from Geoff Collins and Georgia Tech.
So let’s get to it, first with Duke’s retooled offense.
Gone are the Blue Devils top passer, rusher and receiver from a year ago (Gunnar Holmberg and Jake Bobo transferred; Mateao Durant went to the NFL). Obviously along with new leaders in those spots, the Blue Devils have a new staff and hence, a new system.
Coach Mike Elko tagged Kevin Johns as his offensive coordinator after the latter spent the past three seasons at Memphis, where the Tigers averaged close to or over 300 yards passing per game each year.
Fall camp saw a developing storyline about an inconsistent passing game, and the hope is that a strong performance in the final scrimmage carries into the season.
Here is Duke’s offensive “above the line”:
QB
Overview: The writing seems like it's on the wall.
Leonard has looked more comfortable as fall camp has gone on and had a strong day during Sunday's scrimmage, which saw Duke's first-team offense match up against the second-team defense (for the most part).
The second-year quarterback is the most-experienced passer Duke has (at least, at the FBS level), having completed 37 of 62 passes for 381 yards and a touchdown last season.
Johns’ offense requires QBs to get the ball out quickly, and Leonard can do that with accuracy. It’s also worth repeating that while he’s not the runner that Moore is, Leonard has good speed and can allow Johns to utilize his legs.
“He’s got a great arm. He can run, he’s a phenomenal athlete,” wide receiver Eli Pancol said of Leonard. “It opens up the field for us, they can’t just drop back all of the time because they’ve got to worry about him running the ball.”
Moore’s move to part-time receiver ensures that he's going to remain an integral part of Duke's game plan.
Belin was seemingly a pleasant surprise of fall camp – the freshman arrived in the summer and has quickly picked up the offense. He has a cannon of an arm, but will require some fine-tuning on the simpler throws in the short-to-intermediate range.
“Usually when you’re a freshman there comes a point where you hit a wall and you just can’t handle any more mentally,” Johns said. “And (Belin) hasn’t done that yet. For not having spring football practice, I’ve been very impressed with his growth.”
RB
Overview: I’ll admit to having an idea who starts in every position … except this one. It would not be surprising to see any of these four appear for Duke’s opening drive against Temple.
(I mean, I've got a favorite in mind ... but he's only slightly ahead)
What’s known is Duke won’t be reliant on one running back, as was the case last season with Durant. Johns said he wasn’t opposed to riding one running back for a season – as long as he was clearly better than the others.
That’s not the case with Duke’s stable of capable backs.
There aren’t many discernible differences between this quartet. You can see they’re roughly similar sizes. They’re assets as receivers out of the backfield, they have some breakaway speed but nobody is a burner, and each one can pick up yards running in between the tackles.
If you wanted to find a fifth possibility, it’d be Eric Weatherly. He might have better speed than these four in front of him and could be used in special packages, but his 5-7, 171-pound frame means he’s not breaking many tackles.
TE
Overview: Duke’s tight ends don’t lack size, but only one of them pulled in double-digit catches last season.
Dalmolin is probably in the top 10% of Blue Devils who benefited most from strength and conditioning coach David Feeley’s summer program. It’s not a stretch to imagine him tripling last season’s catch total (15).
Dalmolin should be a good weapon for whichever inexperienced QB is throwing. His connection with Leonard for a touchdown pass in Sunday’s scrimmage was one of the more impressively timed throws and catches of fall camp – a back-shoulder throw for which Dalmolin turned at exactly the right time.
It feels like a bit of a toss-up for who Duke’s second and third tight ends become. Finney played 229 snaps last season, while Smith only played seven snaps and Jones was an offensive lineman.
Receivers
Malik Bowen-Sims | 6-2, 201
Jalon Calhoun | 5-11, 189
Sahmir Hagans | 5-10, 195
Darrell Harding Jr. | 6-4, 222
Jordan Moore | 6-foot, 195
Eli Pancol | 6-3, 205
Jontavis Robertson | 5-11, 193
Overview: Johns said he was comfortable rotating “six or seven” receivers, so I’ve pared it down to match that.
In a true depth chart you’d separate out the wide receivers from the slot receivers – but Duke ran several guys you’d think would only be out wide into the slot, so that doesn’t necessarily. Whether that was strategic or just new coaches seeing which players fit where … we’ll see after a game or two.
It feels like this position group has the highest variance of any, at least on the offense.
Calhoun was Duke’s No. 2 option behind Bobo last season and there’s no reason to think he won’t make a natural ascension to No. 1 this season. There was interesting response from Calhoun over the weekend when asked about the difference in coaching style from last year to this one.
There was first a 16-second pause, and then: “Honestly I just feel like (Elko) puts more confidence in us as a whole team. … I don’t feel like we had that confidence back in previous years and we had the talent and everything. Now I feel like he’s opened the eyes to actually see that we can be a winning program.”
Talent may indeed be there – game experience is where the Blue Devils are thin at receiver, though.
Calhoun has 141 career catches; the other six receivers listed here have a combined 109 catches. Calhoun and Pancol are the only ones with more catches than games played (Pancol has 47 in 35 games).
There were times in fall camp when it looked like Hagans was the best contested-catch receiver on Duke’s roster. He’s obviously not the biggest, but he plays above the measurements and is able to win some battles against physical defensive backs.
Moore has taken to receiver better than probably could have been expected even in the most-optimistic view. Adding him to the mix halfway through fall camp was akin to picking up a valuable transfer portal addition who’s already familiar with the offense.
If Duke went to an eighth receiver, I think it’d be former quarterback Luca Diamont.
Offensive linemen
Graham Barton | 6-5, 311
Jack Burns | 6-4, 295
Brian Foley | 6-4, 307
John Gelotte | 6-5, 304
Andre Harris | 6-3, 312
Chance Lytle | 6-7, 329
Maurice McIntyre | 6-2, 319
Jacob Monk | 6-3, 298
Calib Perez | 6-5, 303
Justin Pickett | 6-7, 316
Offensive line overview: This is a hodgepodge of linemen, but you should have an idea at a couple of spots:
- Monk has been playing center, as has been reported, and played the second-most snaps (753) of any Duke offensive player last season.
- Barton has played more than 1,000 snaps already in a two-year career, and all 747 snaps last season were at left tackle.
Harris has been quietly impressive after arriving in the summer from Arkansas State, where he started 43 games. He played over 3,000 snaps in his career there and was the Red Wolves’ highest-graded offensive player on Pro Football Focus last season (75.3).
McIntyre started 10 games last season. There’s more to Lytle than his viral singing appearance, and it seems like he’ll be in the rotation.
Johns said he wants a rotation of between 6-8 offensive linemen – Duke’s tempo will be faster than years past, and he wants to keep linemen fresh.
Elko and the entire staff have preached that they want Duke to be the most-physical team in the ACC, and offensive line play will dictate a chunk of whether that comes to fruition or not. An inevitable consequence of that has been some fiery moments during fall camp – something the Blue Devils dealt with accordingly.
“I mean yeah, you’re playing against your own team, so everyone keeps that in mind,” Barton said. “You respect each other. It’s important to be physical with each other and compete and, you know, it’s football. Things are going to boil over.
“But I thought we’ve had a great camp as far as the competition aspect. I think guys are really just falling in love with the game … and falling in love with competing.”