Last year, Duke's season was marred by injuries and sicknesses that kept many of the Blue Devils' best (then-senior defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase) and most promising (then-freshman wide receiver Tyree Watkins) players off the field for significant portions of the year.
This season, Duke looks like it is ready to evade the injury bug.
Entering Saturday night's opener versus Elon, only two Blue Devils find themselves on the injury report, and neither of them were expected to play a major role for Duke this year. Freshman safety Quan Stevenson is out for the year with an injured leg, while reserve tight end Cooper Helfet's injured ankle has him listed as questionable. At this point last season, Duke had four players on the injury report, including three who were ruled out of the opener.
The Blue Devils will likely be healthier beyond the injury report as well, as the team won't have to overcome the H1N1 bug that hit the team last summer.
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