This past Sunday night I took some time away from the football game on television and returned to the gridiron myself for one of the first times since hanging up the cleats in high school.
There I was, lined up in the slot on a crucial third down late in the game as we tried to mount a drive against a rival fraternity. Just seconds later, I was picking myself up off the turf after having a pass down the seam bounce off my hands and deflect to the opposing safety.
“Hey, at least you would fit in as a Duke receiver,” quipped one of my teammates as we trotted back to the sideline.
Wisecrack or not, he made a very valid point.
Entering the season, Duke’s talent at the wide receiver position ranked up with anyone else’s in the ACC. Donovan Varner was the conference’s leading returning receiver. Conner Vernon was also in the top-10 in receiving yardage last year, and Austin Kelly rounded out the corps as a very solid third target. While Sean Renfree was a bit of a question mark with his reconstructive knee surgery and lack of in-game experience, it still looked like the youngster would be able to lean on the playmaking ability of his wideouts.
Unfortunately, six games into the season that has not really been the case. While Renfree has certainly been inaccurate at times and made questionable decisions forcing the ball into tight spaces, balls bouncing off receivers’ hands has been far too recurring of a theme.
Because there are no actual published stats on dropped passes at the collegiate level, it is difficult to point to empirical evidence. But this shortcoming is certainly not something that the receivers are denying.
“[Dropping passes] is a problem that we’re having this year,” Vernon said. “It’s something that we’re working on; we’re putting in extra time after practice.”
An abundance of examples point to the receivers’ drops plaguing the efficiency of the offensive attack. And these failures are not confined to a contest or two, but span the entire schedule.
In the season opener, the usually sure-handed Vernon dropped a touchdown pass against Elon in the second quarter, and the Blue Devils had to settle for three. Fortunately, that blunder didn’t cost Duke in what still stands as its lone win.
In the next game against Wake Forest, though, the receivers were not as lucky. The eight passes that they dropped in that matchup, two of which resulted in interceptions, played an indisputable role in the Blue Devils’ loss.
Continuing along the same trend, both Vernon and Varner dropped passes on the final drive against Maryland as Duke was attempting to score what could have been the game-winning touchdown. Knowing how deflating these critical drops can be to both a drive and the team’s hopes of winning, the receiving group has taken full accountability for their butter-fingers.
“Especially in big-time situations, we need to limit drops,” Vernon said. “The rule is: As a receiver, if it hits your hands, you have to catch it.”
As the Blue Devils fell to Miami at home last week in its latest disappointing effort, the combination of Renfree’s poor throws and an inability to secure the ball in traffic helped push the signal caller’s interception tally to an NCAA-leading 14. On a positive note, there was no finger pointing by Renfree, who shouldered the blame for those interceptions, the first step to eliminating future miscues.
“Running across the middle with someone on your back and trying to catch a ball in traffic that’s thrown over your head is not easy,” Renfree said. “So, that is 100 percent on me.”
Regardless of who is at fault for this alarmingly high number of aerial turnovers, one thing is certain. The head coach fully expects the problem to be corrected. It must be if Duke is to be more competitive.
“We’ve had too many drops in critical times since I’ve been here,” David Cutcliffe said. “That bothers me.”
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