Injuries piling up quickly for Duke football

WEST POINT, N.Y.—During the preseason, the Blue Devils were dealing with an onslaught of injuries in their backfield that forced them to convert third-string quarterback Nicodem Pierre to running back.

Now, Duke's running backs are all healthy and thriving—with Jela Duncan punctuating his return from a partially torn pectoral muscle with two rushing touchdowns Saturday against Army—but the rest of the roster is far from full strength.

Although the Blue Devils impressed with a 44-3 drubbing of the Black Knights on the road, they came out of the game with more question marks on the injury front than they would have liked. In the third quarter, Duke saw key defensive cogs Kyler Brown and Deondre Singleton go down within just a few plays of each other. Defensive tackle Carlos Wray also suffered an injury in the second half, and none of those three players returned to the field later in the game.

Television reporters during the game said that Brown's injury could be an MCL sprain, but no further reports have confirmed that. After the game, Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said he did not have any more specifics on the extent of the injuries to any of his defensive players, but he did note that he was most worried about Brown—a redshirt senior who totaled seven tackles for loss in the team's first five games.

But those three were not the only injured Blue Devils Cutcliffe will have to monitor moving forward. A few hours before kickoff Saturday, it was announced that freshman wide receiver T.J. Rahming—who was not listed on the injury report released Thursday—would not play because of a leg injury he suffered in practice.

Six-foot-five tight end Braxton Deaver was also absent from the field against Army because of what Cutcliffe called "muscular back issues." Cutcliffe said Deaver suffered the injury while running a normal route and described it as a "fluke" scenario, but has no timetable on when the sixth-year senior could return.

"Nothing for sure—concerns are there," Cutcliffe said. "It looks like I’m probably more concerned about Kyler than Deondre. I’m concerned about T.J. Rahming, I’m concerned about Deaver, just people that we need and [we'll have to] see where we are."

Fortunately for Cutcliffe, Duke gets a bit of a reprieve and a chance to heal with an open date on the schedule next weekend. The Blue Devils have played several grueling, physical contests in a row, and Cutcliffe said he is glad his team has a bit of time off before getting back into conference play against Virginia Tech Oct. 24.