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View Full Version : Duke football scrimmage, 8-12-17



jimsumner
08-12-2017, 10:45 PM
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.

devildeac
08-13-2017, 07:33 AM
^^^^

Many thanks, Jim, for taking time to observe the scrimmage and post your thoughts. Always nice/educational to start getting names/positions/strengths/weaknesses a few weeks before the season begins.

It was especially helpful to read about Horvath (:rolleyes:) and how he looked from 3 point range .

(err, Holmquist :o)


http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/duke-now/article166392422.html

Feature/page 1 article in the N&O sports section this AM about our new kicker. Please forgive me if I linked this already as I note it's dated August 10.

OldPhiKap
08-13-2017, 07:39 AM
Great report, Jim. Thanks!

Bob Green
08-13-2017, 09:40 AM
Thanks for the report, Jim!

The young defensive backs are going to have to step up immediately so it was nice to read they looked good last night. Same for the defensive linemen.

When is the next scrimmage? I'm assuming there is one more prior to the end of camp.

rtnorthrup
08-13-2017, 10:39 AM
Cut's comments post scrimmage were pretty interesting. Apparently most of the team has been in summer classes during the first two weeks of camp, which has impacted what they can do as a team. Cut said that this week would be the first week of camp without classes. It was clear that the team is not where he would like them to be right now, but he assertively said that they would be by the end of this week.

Seems like a few upperclassmen were held out for simply precautionary reasons, such as Byron Fields. We have had a few injuries, but to this point, I think we are in pretty good shape health wise. I'm sure the training room was probably busy this morning.

Cut seemed a little perturbed at the number of dropped passes last night. Let's hope this was a one-off performance by the WRs. This is still a group that needs to step up, on the whole.

Seems like the RB situation is pretty settled right now: Wilson, Brown, Jackson and then Pierre. I would think Hubbard would red-shirt right now, unless there is an injury. Not sure what has happened to Deveaux, but doesn't seem like he has worked his way into the picture.

Not happy to hear Ferguson was on crutches. Hope he can make it back sooner rather than later. Saw a picture of two of the FR DT and they are huge. Ben Frye working his way into the 2-deep at DE is a nice development. He was an outstanding HS wrestler, and that skill set could really help him. We are just so young on the DL. Coach Albert has his work cut out for him.

Only a little bit surprised about Blackwell. He comes from a very good HS program in GA (Buford), and his HUDL film was very good. His footwork and technique were quite good for a HS CB. If Gilbert is suspended for 3 games (as has been mentioned), Blackwell could work his way onto the field. We have a LOT of talented young Safeties.

Bob Green
08-13-2017, 10:55 AM
Seems like the RB situation is pretty settled right now: Wilson, Brown, Jackson and then Pierre. I would think Hubbard would red-shirt right now, unless there is an injury. Not sure what has happened to Deveaux, but doesn't seem like he has worked his way into the picture.



What indications do you see that Jackson is ahead of Hubbard? The scrimmage reports seem to indicate Hubbard saw a lot more work than Jackson. I am of the opinion one will play and one will redshirt (especially with the semi-disappearance of Deveaux) but it is uncertain who is ahead of who.

rtnorthrup
08-13-2017, 11:34 AM
What indications do you see that Jackson is ahead of Hubbard? The scrimmage reports seem to indicate Hubbard saw a lot more work than Jackson. I am of the opinion one will play and one will redshirt (especially with the semi-disappearance of Deveaux) but it is uncertain who is ahead of who.

Can't point to a single source, just the feeling I got from watching the post scrimmage videos and reading a bunch of the reports. Seemed like Hubbard was running mostly late in the scrimmage against the 2nd team defense. I could obviously be wrong, its just the predominant sense I get from the totality of information coming out of fall camp.

budwom
08-13-2017, 12:11 PM
some years we seem to get most of our RBs injured, so our depth may prove to be a good thing...and perhaps not so many redshirts.

jimsumner
08-13-2017, 12:14 PM
What indications do you see that Jackson is ahead of Hubbard? The scrimmage reports seem to indicate Hubbard saw a lot more work than Jackson. I am of the opinion one will play and one will redshirt (especially with the semi-disappearance of Deveaux) but it is uncertain who is ahead of who.

Jackson didn't help himself with a fumble and a drop.

Side note. This was the only scrimmage open to the media. Not sure if there are other scheduled scrimmages.