Tyler Santucci settles in as Duke’s defensive coordinator
DURHAM – In one drill he’s taking snaps and sprinting right, throwing short passes that linebackers and safeties are trying to bat down.
Later in practice, he’s lined up at nickel and blitzing off the edge.
It’s not Duke’s most-versatile player; it’s defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci.
The Blue Devils’ only new face among position coaches is the 34-year-old Santucci, who has been working to get to know his new team when he’s not orchestrating drills.
“We’ve got a good group of guys coming back. The back end is strong,” Santucci said after Thursday morning’s practice. “To me it’s like, we’re going to continue to press, continue to create stress in a hyper-competitive environment so that we can take the steps that we need to take as a defense.”
Duke’s defense will have new starters in at least three positions — middle linebacker, safety and cornerback — and the most-important change is probably off the field.
Santucci steps in for Robb Smith, who left Duke for personal reasons in January. He was a quick addition following Smith’s departure.
After Mike Elko became Duke’s coach after the 2021 season, Santucci was elevated from linebackers coach to co-defensive coordinator at Texas A&M last season.
The continuation Santucci talks about would ideally be Duke’s turnover success last season. The Blue Devils’ 26 takeaways tied for seventh-most in the country.
Improvement can be found in some other categories like pass defense (257.3 yards allowed per game, 105th nationally) and third-down rate (43%, 110th).
“When you come in with a new defensive coordinator, it’s always going to be a few changes,” safety Jaylen Stinson said last week.
Stinson is entering his fourth season at Duke and he’ll have a fourth different defensive coordinator — though for the first two years, he had co-coordinators in Ben Albert and Matt Guerrieri.
The 5-8, 170-pound Stinson noted that the coordinator change doesn’t have him in different places on the field, and that the main difference is in terminology.
“I feel like we’re adapting well to that,” Stinson said. “How we play a few things is a little bit different, but not too much.”
Santucci’s hiring at Duke is the fifth time he’s been hired by Elko. He previously worked with Elko at Wake Forest (2014-15), Notre Dame (2017) and Texas A&M (two stints, 2018 and 2020-21).
Having spent all of that time working with Elko when he was the defensive coordinator, it’s interesting to gauge how much he’s changed since becoming Duke’s head coach.
Or maybe not.
“Head coach Mike Elko has always been in there, just (with) his perspective on the game, on the team, on the kids,” Santucci said. “Just now, he doesn’t get to coach the defense. … Other than that, to see him run a program and see things that we’ve discussed over the years, like, ‘Hey, this would be good if I ever get my chance …’
“To see that come to fruition is pretty damn cool.”
Now Santucci is a part of that.
