Last year Duke entered spring practice with more questions than answers. Prime among them was the health of then-redshirt freshman quarterback Sean Renfree, who was recovering from an ACL tear that he suffered at the end of the season.
This year, with a healthy quarterback and playing time up for grabs among Duke’s position players, these spring practices may mean more than ever.
“All in all, I think we should have more position players than we had going into this [training camp],” head coach David Cutcliffe said Monday. “That should help us a great deal creating competitiveness on the practice field.”
With the competitive atmosphere in camp, there will be more pressure than ever for Renfree to step up and improve on a season in which he showed potential, yet struggled mightily with turnovers. With 17 interceptions, he was tied with three other quarterbacks for the second-highest total in the nation.
“Certainly taking care of the football is his biggest priority,” Cutcliffe said. “When he did that we either competed to win or won. When he didn’t, we let some games get away from us. We had 27 turnovers a year ago which is almost twice as much as our standard has become.”
One of the advantages the Blue Devils have this year is that Renfree is returning next year, along with 16 fellow starters, and should aid in bringing a sense of continuity to the program. Two players, however, will be seeking to earn starting jobs at different positions beginning in the spring session.
Rising redshirt junior Brian Moore, who has started at right guard the two previous seasons, will be shifting one spot to his left to play center next year, which Cutcliffe described as more “natural” for him. In addition, speedster Tony Foster, a redshirt junior who has spent the majority of his time as a special teams player and reserve wide receiver, is switching sides of the ball to play cornerback.
Duke will also be entering the season with its third defensive coordinator in as many years. Jim Knowles is taking over the defensive reigns after Marion Hobby and Mike MacIntyre both left Durham after the 2010 and 2009 seasons, respectively.
“I think there’s certainly going to be changes,” Cutcliffe said. “There will be a learning curve early for those guys. Jim Knowles and I have spent an inordinate amount of time talking about philosophy, talking about how we want to piece this thing together.”
With this new defensive regime, Cutcliffe emphasized that the unit needs to focus on putting pressure on opposing offenses in order to create turnovers. The Blue Devils tied for fifth worst in the country with only 12 sacks, and had only eight interceptions, tied for 12th worst in the nation.
Schematically, Cutcliffe said the defense plans to further implement the 4-2-5 defensive front they featured toward the end of the season. This will require some linebackers and defensive backs to adapt to a “hybrid” role, which could result in rushing the quarterback or playing man-to-man coverage on a given play. Matt Daniels, officially listed as a safety, often played there last season.
“We have a number of really athletic guys, and some others coming in, that fit those roles well,” Cutcliffe said. “I’m excited about that.”
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