Duke Football 2012 Spring Practice

[CameronBornAndBred]

ESPN interview with Coach Cut: http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/i...avid-cutcliffe

Thanks for the link, one thing I love about Cut is that he doesn't make excuses and is always very candid in his remarks. Read the section about "what would a bowl game mean" for a perfect example of that.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Yes, she does. But I didn't invite her to join the True Blue 'Cue Crew (fka Brunchgate) at our tent in Blue Devil Alley, which I was about to do before she dropped that bomb on me!

She can come join us October 20th.

[Jarhead]

Yes, she does. But I didn't invite her to join the True Blue 'Cue Crew (fka Brunchgate) at our tent in Blue Devil Alley, which I was about to do before she dropped that bomb on me!

Hey, Oz. I just got a call from Marty Nessley letting me know that the deadline for ordering season tickets for football has been moved up to the middle of May. I'm glad he called, since I usually order in late June. I told him I'd get my order in right away, but he said he could enter the order for me. He makes a great salesman. I ordered the tickets, and then invited him to Brunchgate. By the way, is that name change official. How will I find the tents if I don't see the Brunchgate sign? I guess the fragrance of the 'cue will get me there, though.

Marty doesn't foul

[OldPhiKap]

Hey, Oz. I just got a call from Marty Nessley letting me know that the deadline for ordering season tickets for football has been moved up to the middle of May. I'm glad he called, since I usually order in late June. I told him I'd get my order in right away, but he said he could enter the order for me. He makes a great salesman. I ordered the tickets, and then invited him to Brunchgate. By the way, is that name change official. How will I find the tents if I don't see the Brunchgate sign? I guess the fragrance of the 'cue will get me there, though.

Marty doesn't foul

I had one of those big Freshman poly sci classes with Marty in the theatre in the Bryan Center. He would sit up front, and ask lots of questions. He was huge. Kinda funny.

(And, you know you're getting old when you have to Google "Bryan Center" because you've been gone so long you forgot what the name of the building was).

[jimsumner]

Some thoughts on Duke spring football and the spring game following Duke presser.

Duke trying to go more up-tempo on offense. Run more plays, wear down defense, keep pressure on opposing D. Renfree the key here.

Duke also looking to make quicker decisions on D. Blitz package simplified. Duke too often last season waited too long to get the calls and proper personnel. Knowles has made it a priority to improve this.

Lots of pass-rushing drills this spring. Look for more situational pass-rushing lineups, i.e three, even four DEs in lineup on obvious pass-rushing plays. Duke is even working Jonathan Woodruff into DE as a pass-rusher.

Cut says he expects all of the injured players to be ready to go by August. Much praise for Anunike's work ethic fighting through another rehab.

Who had a big spring? Receiver Blair Holliday stands out. Cut praised his hands, his route-running ability and his improved toughness. TE David Reeves should be a play-maker. Big and fast. One of his teammates used the word "monster" to describe him. In a good way. RS freshman Lucas Patrick opened lots of eyes this spring. He suffered a lower-leg injury last week and won't play tomorrow.

Josh Snead and Thompson had good springs. Roper loves Snead's improved ability to hit the hole aggressively.

On the other side of the ball, NG Jamal Bruce may be the answer to the question who-replaces-Hatcher. Duke wants Sarmiento to be more aggressive and make plays inside the tackle box and worry less about making mistakes. LB David Helton had a good spring. Steve Ingram is reshaping his body and may be ready to contribute.

Lee Butler and Cockrell will start at CB but RS-frosh Burton and Boyd have had good springs. Boyd loves to hit. Braxton's move to rover seems to have worked, both because the young WRs have stepped up and also because we were told that Braxton is a natural safety, physical and fast, with a nose for the football.

Want to know more? Saturday at 1, no charge for admission, acres and acres of free parking. Be there or be square.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Want to know more? Saturday at 1, no charge for admission, acres and acres of free parking. Be there or be square.

I wish they'd broadcast the game on goduke.com. I'm on the road for a few weekends in April, so I'm happily sitting at home in New Bern tomorrow. They obviously have the technology for the broadcast, anyone know if it's something they may consider in the future?

[pbc2]

I wish they'd broadcast the game on goduke.com. I'm on the road for a few weekends in April, so I'm happily sitting at home in New Bern tomorrow. They obviously have the technology for the broadcast, anyone know if it's something they may consider in the future?

Maybe if we fill Wally Wade...

[CameronBornAndBred]

Maybe if we fill Wally Wade...

Won't help me tomorrow..but on game days I'm always one of the ones doing my best to help!

[Bob Green]

Duke picks up their fourth verbal today from 6'1" 180 lb Safety Jake Kite:

http://bluedevilnation.net/2012/03/d...a-s-jake-kite/

The team is getting off to a strong start with 2013 recruiting. I'm patiently waiting (okay not really being too patient) for reports from the Spring Game.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Duke picks up their fourth verbal today from 6'1" 180 lb Safety Jake Kite:

http://bluedevilnation.net/2012/03/d...a-s-jake-kite/

The team is getting off to a strong start with 2013 recruiting. I'm patiently waiting (okay not really being too patient) for reports from the Spring Game.

There were some big ones walking around in a group touring the campus today in the rain prior to the Spring Game.

[Olympic Fan]

This might be worth a new thread, but just quick reactions from the spring game.

Odd division of the team. The White team had a scout team offense and the first/second team defense. The Blue Team was the first/second-team offense and the scout team defense. The first/second teams battled each other and the scout teams battled each other -- it seemed like the scout teams were out there 75 percent of the time. Sean Schroeder got more snaps than any other QB (Renfree, Boone and Connette all played for the Blue team) and a 170-pound walk-on tailback named Eric Adams rushed 31 times for like 102 yards (against the scout team defense).

The first/second team defense seemed to have the edge against the first/second team offense. Renfree had two passes intercepted and returned for a TD -- one early by Jordan Byas ... one late by Kyler Brown (a bigger, faster version of his brother Kelby). Key play of the game was when Josh Snead had an 85-yard run, but he got caught from behind at the 2 by Ross Cockrell anf fumbled out o0f the end zone.

Cockrell played GREAT. He was the defensive MVP of the game. Brandon Connette was the offensive MVP. he linedup at QB, TB, WR -- he had a long TD run as a QB nd a long pass after taking a lateral from Renfree. There were times when Duke had three QBs on the field together.

Jeremy Cash looked good -- he blocked a late FG try.

Nine potential starters missed the game, but a lot of good-looking young players got a lot of action.

[Bob Green]

Here are a couple of reports:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...DB_OEM_ID=4200

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college...tory/10930508/

White 38, Blue 24.

[Greg_Newton]

Sirk looked like the best player on the field today. Made some really nice passes, runs and catches.

David Reeves also looked like a big-time prospect. He had a drop late, so I'm not sure about his hands, but he's huge, long and can run.

Snead was also very impressive, and noticeably faster than any of the other running backs. He did fumble the ball at the goal line at the end of an ~80 yard run that resulted in a touchback, though...

Had a nice play where Boone threw a sweep pass to Connette, who then threw it downfield to an open receiver. Hopefully we see a good amount of that, as we've got three backup QBs who are among our best overall offensive players. Neither Boone nor Connette looked great under center though - I wonder if Sirk jumps them on the depth chart.

ETA: Forgot to mention that Jeremy Cash seems like a stud. He was all over the place on defense, and seemed to have a great nose for the ball around the line of scrimmage.

[uh_no]

Here are a couple of reports:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...DB_OEM_ID=4200

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college...tory/10930508/

Blue 38, White 24. Blue was the starting defense and second team offense.

That's somewhat promising that our defense held our offense to 24....but on the flip side, our offense was only able to score 24 points on our defense....

[Bob Green]

Neither Boone nor Connette looked great under center though - I wonder if Sirk jumps them on the depth chart.

My expectation would be that Sirk redshirts, but Coach Cutcliffe has stated the objective this fall is to put the most talented 22 players on the field so you may have a point re Sirk and the depth chart.

[chrishoke]

Really fun day at the Wade. Our depth is much, much improved. The only downer today for me was Sean's play. We absolutely cannot start off slopwly on offense this fall.

[jimsumner]

The line-up configurations made it pretty tough to draw a lot of conclusions. Sirk did look good. But he was passing against walk-ons and scout-team DBs. A 5-8, 170-pound walk-on carried the ball 30+ times because he was the only running back on his team. The A team had three running backs splitting carries. Adams will start the fall as the 7th team running back. Likewise, walk-on WR Brandon Watkins had a great game. His chances of playing meaningful snaps this fall are about as close to zero as possible.

There were some standouts. Ross Cockrell has become a really, really good football player. On the play where he forced Snead to fumble out of the end zone, Snead had clear separation and a full head of steam and Cockrell just plain ran him down. And Snead is fast. Jordon Byas also looked pretty good at safety, Braxton delivered some big hits and David Helton seemed to be around the ball on darn near every play. The first-team D more than held its own against the first-team O and that has to be a good sign. Add a healthy Kelby Brown and Kenny Anunike (fingers crossed) and Duke might actually have a chance to stop some people.

Likewise, the offense was missing some key people, e.g. Vernon, Desmond Scott, Braxton Deaver. Reeves showed promise at TE, although he had a big drop late. Blakeney looked like he was still figuring things out and Duke couldn't get the ball to Holliday or Crowder enough. Renfree made a bad read on the first pick-six. The second was a desperate pass at the end of the game.

It was a hoot seeing all the QBs running around playing RB or WR or whatever. How much of this carries over to the fall remains to be seen but it should give opposing Defensive Coordinators something to think about.

[Olympic Fan]

Have to jump back in to agree with Jim's point about Sirk.

It's easy to get carried away about how good he looked, but as Jim pointed out, he was competing against scout team-level competition -- not against anybody who might play next fall.

He is a VERY good prospect. But he'll redshirt next season. Nothing that happened Saturday will change that.

[OldPhiKap]

The line-up configurations made it pretty tough to draw a lot of conclusions. Sirk did look good. But he was passing against walk-ons and scout-team DBs. A 5-8, 170-pound walk-on carried the ball 30+ times because he was the only running back on his team. The A team had three running backs splitting carries. Adams will start the fall as the 7th team running back. Likewise, walk-on WR Brandon Watkins had a great game. His chances of playing meaningful snaps this fall are about as close to zero as possible.

There were some standouts. Ross Cockrell has become a really, really good football player. On the play where he forced Snead to fumble out of the end zone, Snead had clear separation and a full head of steam and Cockrell just plain ran him down. And Snead is fast. Jordon Byas also looked pretty good at safety, Braxton delivered some big hits and David Helton seemed to be around the ball on darn near every play. The first-team D more than held its own against the first-team O and that has to be a good sign. Add a healthy Kelby Brown and Kenny Anunike (fingers crossed) and Duke might actually have a chance to stop some people.

Likewise, the offense was missing some key people, e.g. Vernon, Desmond Scott, Braxton Deaver. Reeves showed promise at TE, although he had a big drop late. Blakeney looked like he was still figuring things out and Duke couldn't get the ball to Holliday or Crowder enough. Renfree made a bad read on the first pick-six. The second was a desperate pass at the end of the game.

It was a hoot seeing all the QBs running around playing RB or WR or whatever. How much of this carries over to the fall remains to be seen but it should give opposing Defensive Coordinators something to think about.

1. Any reason for the strange line-ups? I'd like to think it is to mask our strengths but I suspect I'm reaching.

2. I like the idea of Connette as a back at times -- kid clearly can run, and it gives a good opportunity to freeze the secondary. Very interesting.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

After a rainy morning, it was certainly welcome for a dry 2 hours to watch the game. The sun even came out!

Of the five (5) quarterbacks who played, based on performance, Renfree was at the bottom of the list, which was very disappointing to me, and I'm sure the coaches, too. He needs to elevate his game between now and September 1st.

I had just told some folks that Snead's forte' in high school was to run up the middle, elude the first tackle, and break off a long run, when he did just that - 78 out of the 80 yards ahead of him. I was really surprised when Russ Cockrell ran him down, as Jim Sumner described above. That just doesn't happen very often. (It says great things about Cockrell!) His fumble was unfortunate and hopefully something that won't happen again. He did have 2 touchdowns later in the game, one on a short run (goal line effort from ~1 yard line) and on a pass reception.

Nice to see Sean Schroeder get extended playing time and do well, even if it was against the scout team defense. Other than a few mop up snaps in the Tulane game (?) last year, it's the first time he's been seen in public on the field. And yes, Thomas Sirk looks like a player, after he (probably) redshirts next season. He looks really skinny, but then, he's only a high school senior who enrolled a semester early (great for him!)

Nice variations and wrinkles in using Connette and Boone - I hope that does carry over to the fall. Loved the end around option pass by Connette to Crowder!

But the question remains - will Renfree be the QB we hope and expect him to be next fall?