On the top of every coach’s wish list for training camp is to make it through unscathed with as few injuries as possible.
But the injury bug has bitten Duke head coach David Cutcliffe and his roster less than two weeks into camp, shifting the running back position from a major strength to a serious concern.
Left with leading rusher Shaquille Powell as the lone healthy scholarship running back, Cutcliffe did not have to go far to find an extra body to stick in the backfield—he just went under center to third-string quarterback Nicodem Pierre.
Pierre—a redshirt freshman—served as the scout team quarterback last year and has yet to see game action in a Blue Devil uniform. But he was a potent combo quarterback coming out of high school—ranked as the 14th dual-threat signal caller in his class by ESPN—and this versatility is what prompted Cutcliffe to make such an unconventional switch.
“I looked through our entire roster, both sides of the ball, and [Nico] popped in my mind, Cutcliffe said on a call with reporters Thursday. “I told him the truth—I said 'You popped in my mind on the field because you're big and you're strong' and he's really fast. That's kind of how it happened, by necessity.”
The decision for the move came Tuesday, when Cutcliffe announced that redshirt junior running back Jela Duncan would be sidelined indefinitely due to a pectoral injury. With backfield mates Joseph Ajeigbe and Shaun Wilson also nursing injuries, three-fourths of Duke's backfield was suddenly unavailable.
Pierre said Cutcliffe approached him Tuesday about the position shift, and after just a quick chat with offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery and some solitary contemplation, he told his head coach he would happily trade in his red quarterbacks’ penny for a running back spot.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know they were down because we’re just so focused on our position and trying to learn our footsteps and be the best we could be,” Pierre said Friday. “[Cutcliffe] gave me a quick meeting after practice and then when we were walking up, we talked about it more. He gave me time to think about it and then I told him what I’d like to do.”
At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Pierre is larger than Powell. With a 4.8 second time in the 40-yard dash that is slow for the average running back, the Miami native anticipated he would be “most likely a bruiser type” back.
Tight end Braxton Deaver agreed.
"He is such an athlete, he’s got such great feet and he is a hammer—he will go finish a run four, five, six yards," Deaver said.
Although he said he hasn’t played running back since his Pop Warner days, Pierre is already ahead of the game in terms of his understanding of the offense thanks to his quarterbacking background. He pointed out how, at quarterback, he has to know everything in the offense as opposed to just focusing on one position like he will now.
The transition has not come without its bumps—Pierre said he was still struggling a bit with blitz pickups and protections, a tough concept even for veteran running backs—but his overall learning curve has been smoother than for most players learning a new position.
Even aside from the mental aspect of the transition, Pierre said the most challenging part for him has been the physical demands of a position known for taking its share of punishing hits.
“I’ll say being conditioned for it [is the hardest thing] because at quarterback we don’t do that much running,” he said. “It’s just like three steps and get the ball out, and at running back every play it’s basically ‘Go, go, go.’”
Saturday will bring Pierre’s biggest test yet in the backfield, as the Blue Devils are set for their first scrimmage of the fall. Cutcliffe cautioned against giving Powell too heavy a workload with the season opener against Tulane about two and a half weeks away, meaning there should be plenty of opportunities for Pierre to show how he is getting acclimated to the backfield.
The experiment is less than a week old, and there is a wide spectrum of possible endings for Pierre at running back. If he proves to be a legitimate threat, Cutcliffe acknowledged he may not go back under center, but the return of other injured running backs or difficulty picking up the nuances of the new position could easily move Pierre right back to being the third-string quarterback.
But for now, everyone is committed to giving it a shot—and Cutcliffe likes Pierre’s attitude as an early indicator of things to come.
“I want Nico to give this his all, trying to be a great running back,” Cutcliffe said. “His mentality is he's trying to beat out Shaquille Powell, and I like that mentality. I wish our whole team had that mentality—he's working very hard as a running back.”
Jake Herb and Ryan Hoerger contributed reporting.
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