Please, please, please no injuries tonight.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
Please, please, please no injuries tonight.
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
First Twitter post I've seen on the scrimmage:
Hank Tucker @HankTucker13 3m3 minutes ago
Biggest takeaway from Duke football's scrimmage: Small sample size, but Tufts grad transfer Willie Holmquist looked like the best kicker.
Bob Green
More tweets:
Stephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 3m3 minutes ago
Biggest news from @DukeFOOTBALL scrimmage tonight: No major injuries. Not even any new minor ones, really.Stephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 1m1 minute ago
In kicking battle, William Holmquist made two from 40+ (including a 47-yarder) plus a short one from extra-point range. Cutcliffe is happyStephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 1m1 minute ago
Punter Austin Parker also kicked one in from 40ish. Cutcliffe said 4 competitors are: Holmquist, Parker, Driggers and Reed.
Bob Green
Scott Bracey seeing action at WR is good news. Hopefully, he is healthy:
Stephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 3m3 minutes ago
Plenty of 1st-team D vs. 2nd-team O and vice versa. Things kept very simple. Bracey played some WR. On def., Fields, Lucas and Hill held out
Bob Green
Prayers answered. All good news so far. Thanks for the reports.
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
And I don't see why you selectively focus on the kid's 2015 stats and ignore his 2016 stats ...
I repeat, his career FG percentage would be the fifth best in Duke history if he had made those field goals at Duke. I know he made them at Tufts, but his success there is encouraging.
There's a difference between high standards and ridiculously high standards. I'd love a RB who average 10 yards a carry, but I'm not going to moan that our best TB has "only" averaged 5.26 yards a carry for his career. We can win with Shaun Wilson at TB ... and we can win with a guy who makes 70 percent of his FGs.
As I said, Holmquist still has to earn it in practice (and them perform at that level in games). But the first news out of the first scrimmage seems to be very good.
The best news I've heard so far is no new injuries ... the second best news is that Bracey is finally on the field.
More scrimmage tweets:
Stephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 3m3 minutes ago
On defense, true freshmen DEs Ben Frye and Drew Jordan worked with 2nd team and looked like they belonged. CB Josh Blackwell had an INTStephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 5m5 minutes ago
Duke football stock market:
Trending up: Holmquist, Bracey, Brittain Brown, Helm
Trending down: Philyaw-Johnson, Rahming (dropped deep pass)Stephen Wiseman @stevewisemanNC 1m1 minute ago
Also on defense, Jordan Hayes had an interception and Alonzo Saxton II recovered a fumble. DBs doing work for Duke
Bob Green
Scrimmage report from Airowe:
http://duke.247sports.com/Bolt/Sidel...mage-106071239
- Scott Bracey, who had been hobbled in early practices, had a couple of nice moments. The redshirt freshman broke a tackle attempt by Ben Humphreys and also took a wide receiver pitch for a big gain.
Bob Green
Freshman running back had a good scrimmage:
EDIT: more running back information:Blue Devil Nation @BlueDevilNation 19s20 seconds ago
Freshman running back Marvin Hubbard III rushed 23 times for 119 yards to highlight Dukes 85-snap scrimmage on Saturday night.
Blue Devil Nation @BlueDevilNation
Brittain Brown added 61 yards on nine carries while senior Shaun Wilson picked up 55 ground yards on six carries.
Last edited by Bob Green; 08-12-2017 at 09:48 PM. Reason: Add second tweet
Bob Green
Video interview with Coach Cutcliffe:
http://www.goduke.com/mediaPortal/pl...200&id=6204902
Bob Green
I got this official report from Duke:
DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman running back Marvin Hubbard III rushed 23 times for 119 yards to highlight Duke’s 85-snap scrimmage on Saturday night at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Brittain Brown added 61 yards on nine carries while senior Shaun Wilson picked up 55 ground yards on six attempts, highlighted by a 35-yard dash. Brown added a 19-yard reception from quarterback Daniel Jones, who completed five-of-12 throws for 49 yards while rushing for one touchdown. Backup quarterback Quentin Harris was six-of-11 through the air for 48 yards.
Redshirt junior Johnathan Lloyd led all receivers with three catches for 17 yards while redshirt freshman Scott Bracey (32 yards) and rookie Noah Gray (11 yards) had two receptions each.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore end Twazanga Mugala and sophomore end Tre Hornbuckle posted two tackles for loss including one sack apiece while cornerback Josh Blackwell (interception), safety Jordan Hayes (interception) and safety Alonzo Saxton II (fumble recovery) each registered turnovers.
I should warn to take scrimmage stats with a grain of salt. Unless you were there (and I wasn't) no telling whether or not the numbers were compiled against 1st/2nd team or the scrub team (walk-ons and true freshmen). I'd guess that most of Hubbard's yards came with the third team O against the third team D. Still a nice showing.
Jim Sumner was supposed to be there -- I imagine he can set us straight. I'd also like to hear how the backup QBs looked. Harris had decent numbers -- that makes me think he's second team ahead of Boehme.
Bob has a nice run-down of the QB stable on the front page. Season's almost here!
Appears that the Duke FB team has decided to go dark. Cut mentioned post scrimmage that this was going to be a very important week for them, the first without classes. As much as I am a Duke FB news junkie, I actually like it when Cut cuts off the access to the program. Usually means he is getting work done. Can't wait for the first game.
On the post scrimmage video, I did see a quick pitch to the tailback (Hubbard?) around the right end. I got so excited that we have a 2nd running play (not the over the center read option) that I almost hurt myself. Let's hope they at least keep this play in the offense.
I think it's fair to say that Cut doesn't like to share much info, period. Very little genuine news escapes the program's gravitational pull. If that's the way he likes it (and evidently he does) that's fine, but
I think he could generate more fan interest by sharing more info, especially as it relates to depth charts, who is challenging whom for playing time, etc.
And no sooner do I post something about no information, do I see a tweet from Duke FB that Jeremy McDuffie has had surgery on his thumb and is out indefinitely. (There is that word again--indefinite). I really shouldn't jinx us anymore. Big loss for us if he misses significant time. McDuffie is poised for a breakout year.
Good news. Cut says McDuffie should be back fairly soon. In a cast now.