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View Full Version : Duke football notes, 10-22-13



jimsumner
10-22-2013, 02:18 PM
Duke had a players-only meeting this morning. Some of the veteran players wanted to remind the youngsters that the older guys remembered what a 3-9 season felt like and wanted to caution against complacency or loss of focus.

Some injury concerns at DB.

Dwayne Norman has a sprained MCL and is out for the foreseeable future. Byron Fields is 50/50 for Saturday. Anthony Young-Wiseman has a chronic knee problem that results in swelling. Right now he's on a "good cycle," so hopefully he can give Duke some solid minutes against VT.

Ross Cockrell has been practicing at corner this week. FWIW, Cut said he preferred to recruit DBs who can run, cover and tackle and not worry so much about positions. That versatility helps when injuries pile up. He cited Devon Edwards as a young DB who's working at both corner and safety.

We talked some about Duke's aggressive fourth-down posture against Virginia. Cut says he's a big numbers guy and knows all the odds for success in different situations. He says he changed the odds at halftime at Virginia because of Duke's sluggish offensive start.

Speaking of sluggish starts, Cut says it's been more apparent on defense than offense. He says Duke is seeing lots of different things early, things the scout team cannot replicate. Cockrell says Duke wasn't expecting Virginia to throw deep so often. But Cut says Duke is looking at the problem, talking to the players about it and emphasizing getting off to a fast start.

I asked Anunike about the slow starts. "I'm not completely sure. If I could figure it out, I'm sure Coach Cut would like to know, because we need to have a solution for that. I think it's a collective mindset that we have to go out and say we're not going to dig ourselves a hole and try to dig ourselves out."

Cut did say that Boone was overthrowing early against Virginia because of arm tightness perhaps caused by nerves or anticipation. Once he settled down, he was fine.

What was it like being down 22-0? Anunike-"We were like 'wow' because we were just getting out physicalled. The senior leaders like myself, Ross, Justin, we were walking around, telling the guys not to hang your heads, we've got a lot of football left to play and we're going to win this thing. Remember who we are, remember who they are. We finish games and that's what we did.

Braxton Deaver's description of his fourth-down TD reception. "We executed it flawlessly. I don't know if I necessarily thought that I was going to run for a 47-yard touchdown. But they brought the house on it and I was able to slip out, avoid a couple of guys and I had a whole cavalry in front of me blocking for me."

We talked about Thad Lewis. Cut said the entire program "has been energized by his success." He added if there's intelligence up there (in the NFL), he'll keep a job for 12-14 years.

The key for Duke this week? According to Cut, "We have to perform at a high level to be in the game. The players have to make a decision to compete at the highest level for 60 minutes.