As the 1-1 Blue Devils prepare to take on NC Central at home Saturday night, Duke released its weekly injury report. Here’s a rundown of the players are listed on the injury report this week:
PROBABLE
LB Britton Grier (hand)
OUT
CB Jared Boyd (leg)
LB Kelby Brown (leg)
LB Kyler Brown (upper body)
NG Jamal Bruce (foot)
S Jordon Byas (leg)
S August Campbell (upper body)
TE Braxton Deaver (leg)
LB Brendan Fowler (upper body)
TE Jack Farrell (leg)
DE Justin Foxx (hand)
S Corbin McCarthy (shoulder)
OG Lucas Patrick (ankle)
OUT FOR SEASON
WR Blair Holliday
DE Allen Jackson (shoulder)
S Taylor Sowell (leg)
Breakdown: Duke returned from a 50-13 loss to Stanford this weekend with much more than a bruised ego. With a laundry list of injuries to begin with, the Blue Devils will have four more players unable to suit up for Saturday's contest against NC Central, with Kyler Brown, Brendan Fowler, Justin Foxx and Corbin McCarthy all as new additions to this week's injury report. No players who were listed as "out" last week have been upgraded or cleared to practice.
Foxx's injury may be the most crucial blow to Duke's defensive front seven this week. After registering eight tackles and 1.5 sacks through the Blue Devils' first two contests, Foxx underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a ruptured ligament in the ring finger of his right hand. No timetable has been set for the redshirt junior's return to action. This morning at practice, head coach David Cutcliffe revealed his frustrations with his team's injury concerns.
"The number unavailable is going to go from 12 to 15 unavailable players. It's kind of like everything else, you live and learn. We just haven't dealt with this number before," Cutcliffe said. "A lot of this has happened as a surprise from spring. You look at the summer, you all heard what I was saying loud and clear: best team that we've had. Loud and clear. At this point in time, we can be, but we have a lot of work that has to be done and we're asking a lot of a lot of people.... I've never been a part of any football team challenged like this one is, and I don't think I've ever heard of one."
Even with so many players unavailable, the Blue Devils should have more than enough available weapons to handle NC Central this Saturday in the Bull City Classic. But after a homecoming contest with a relatively weak Memphis squad, Duke opens its ACC schedule and takes on more competitive opponents. In order to survive this stretch, the Blue Devils will need to get healthy, and hope this list shrinks in the coming weeks.
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