Duke football scrimmage, 8-12-17
The usual qualifiers. A lot of this is zero sum, they've only been practicing a couple of weeks and the media was limited to a small portion of the sideline. The offense was vanilla. Lots of people played. There was a lot of situational stuff, QBs were off limits, there was no hitting on punt returns.
And I didn't take notes. Duke kept some stats. Some.
So, I'm always reluctant to draw overarching conclusions.
But I will draw one.
William Holmquist is way ahead of the other kickers. It's a small sample size but he didn't miss tonight, 4 for 4 or 5 for 5 on field goals, including a 47-yarder. Reed missed his only attempt, wide right, Austin Parker made some, missed some. It's probably too early to declare the completion over but I like what I saw from Holmquist.
Parker did most of the punting. Freshman Jackson Hubbard got some work as punter and didn't look very good.
Parker Boehme was the one constant on special teams. He was the holder on every place kick.
Ben Wyatt did most of the long snapping. Freshman John Taylor got a few reps. I loved the way Wyatt was often the first person down on punt coverage.
T.J. Rahming, Shaun Wilson, Keyston Fuller, even Myles Hudzick returned punts, such as it was.
QB-Jones was 5-12. But most of the incompletions were drops or throw aways. I'm not worried.
Quentin Harris got most of the work as the number two. I liked what little I saw of Chris Katrenick. Strong arm, nice touch.
Boehme didn't get any work at QB. None, nada, zilch.
RB-True freshman Marvin Hubbard was an eye-opener, 23 rushes for 119 yards, including one of about 50 yards. Brittain Brown started slow but turned it on late. Wilson was used sparingly but had one long run. Nico Pierre and Deon Jackson didn't do much and Jackson lost a fumble and had a drop. Didn't see Elijah Deveaux. Not sure why.
TEs. Didn't use them much. Helm had a catch. Koppenhaver and Birmingham played. True freshman Noah Gray had a couple of catches while more-touted classmate Jake Marwede was used on special teams.
WRs. Duke's DBs out-played the wide-outs. Plain and simple. Bracey had a nice gain on a short pass, Rahming dropped a sure touchdown on a long pass from Jones, Young had some catches. Duke tried to go deep to Philyaw-Johnson several times but to no avail; more on that later.
Johnathan Lloyd led everyone with three catches but for only 17 yards. Like I said, vanilla.
OL. Duke started Davis, Harmon, Santos, Brander and Lisle. Nice to see Brander back and looking healthy. Harris, Baker, Rosene, Kraeling, McNeill got some work. From my limited vantage point, I had a hard time seeing who was on the field at OL much of the time.
DL. Same qualifier as the OL. McSwain, Ramsay, Hornbuckle and Mugala look like the starters now. True freshman Drew Jordan got a lot of work. I expect him to play this year. True freshman Axel Nyembwe played a lot early, went down with what looked like a serious knee injury but came back. I guess that means he's okay. Fingers crossed.
Okonya ran the drills but I'm not sure he played.
LBs-Humphreys, Giles-Harris, Bere and Quansah are the top four. Not sure Carmichael played. Didn't see Brandon Hill.
DBs. My goodness, Duke has lots of DBs. Mostly freshmen, true or redshirt. And some of them made a positive impression.
Fields didn't play; he's fine, I'm told. Alonzo Saxton had a fumble recovery, Jordan Hayes a nice diving interception on a tip, Jeremy McDuffie looked good.
But who has ever heard of Josh Blackwell? A true freshman corner, twice he was isolated with Philyaw-Johnson on fly patterns down the sideline. Blackwell got a break-up on the first and a pick on the second. Zero separation from Philyaw-Johnson.
True freshman safety Marquis Waters made some nice plays. Lummie Young, Michael Carter, Javon Jackson, Damani Neal, Antone Williams, Hudzick.
Who knows? But Cut has made it clear he will play freshmen at DB and Duke needs some of these guys to step up.
Back to your regular programming.
