Duke Football 2024

The question is, who were the impact players Elko brought in on the offensive and defensive lines from the portal. He was left a solid core on both sides by Cut and the players Manny has brought in from the portal look to measure up. Unfortunately, Manny wasn’t left with much experience on either side. Peebles probably the biggest loss to transfer. As far as the trenches, where games are won or lost.
 
Elko brought in Harris and Lytle for the right side of the OL and the two of them had outstanding seasons, plus they were durable.
 
dm9e24 said:
The question is, who were the impact players Elko brought in on the offensive and defensive lines from the portal. He was left a solid core on both sides by Cut and the players Manny has brought in from the portal look to measure up. Unfortunately, Manny wasn’t left with much experience on either side. Peebles probably the biggest loss to transfer. As far as the trenches, where games are won or lost.
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well budwom and PDDuke85 pretty well answered your questions I think.....the other question is, will running down Elko and maybe even distorting history a bit to do so help us get past the sting? A: I don't think so. It's a fact that Elko's leaving was classless and leaves us bitter....it's also a fact that he did a marvelous coaching job. Those two may seem incongruous, but both are true.
 
Both players mentioned were very good players who did a great job. Hornibrook was good in 2023. But there won’t be a Monk or a McIntyre or a Barton to anchor the line this year like there was in 2022 and 23. I have nothing against Elko. He did a great coaching job in his two years here. I’m not sure why it is running him down when stating a fact. The cupboard is pretty bare when it comes to experienced o lineman for Manny and his staff to work with beginning the 2024 season. I think that there could very well be players of Harris, Lytle and Hornibrooke caliber in this transfer class. Time and coaching will tell. And while we don’t have Cushing, we still have Feely
 
dm9e24 said:
Both players mentioned were very good players who did a great job. Hornibrook was good in 2023. But there won’t be a Monk or a McIntyre or a Barton to anchor the line this year like there was in 2022 and 23. I have nothing against Elko. He did a great coaching job in his two years here. I’m not sure why it is running him down when stating a fact. The cupboard is pretty bare when it comes to experienced o lineman for Manny and his staff to work with beginning the 2024 season. I think that there could very well be players of Harris, Lytle and Hornibrooke caliber in this transfer class. Time and coaching will tell. And while we don’t have Cushing, we still have Feely
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Not gonna pick at this scab after this, but it's sure seems that you are stating facts in a context to run him down, on purpose, - especially after that context was pretty much straightened out by budwom and PDDuke85 IMO. It came off as a bit of a slam at Elko, and I understand the temptation to do that. If I misread that, apology upfront...but it sure seemed like that.

To my eye, Elko's teams were simply SOLIDLY GOOD, and even in Cut's peak years, like 2013, there seemed a super thin margin, a fragility, to that success, that I did not feel under Elko. I think margins of victory and margins of defeat would back me up, at least to some extent - as Elko's teams were very close to much better records than he even achieved. Cut's best team dadgummed near lost to sorry Wake Forest and a sorry UNC in his last two regular season games, for example. And his last two teams got routinely crushed by Carl Franks type margins......so what Elko inherited was a bit of a mess overall.

But this is also a "feelz" thing as much as objective IMO. I'm out. Cheers.
 
Elko was very good, he left like a coward (there are decent ways to leave) but he brought us Feeley....and he proved Duke can win.
Sayonara, let's see what Manny can do. I like what I see so far, but I can't help but see a parallel between Manny and Scheyer right now. Both have a lot of very talented pieces to work with, but I have no idea how these pieces fit, and it will be interesting to see both guys approach this issue.
Hoping for the best.
 
budwom said:
Elko was very good, he left like a coward (there are decent ways to leave) but he brought us Feeley....and he proved Duke can win.
Sayonara, let's see what Manny can do. I like what I see so far, but I can't help but see a parallel between Manny and Scheyer right now. Both have a lot of very talented pieces to work with, but I have no idea how these pieces fit, and it will be interesting to see both guys approach this issue.
Hoping for the best.
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Re Elko -- You know, FYGMO doesn't just apply in the military.
 
HereBeforeCoachK said:
Not gonna pick at this scab after this, but it's sure seems that you are stating facts in a context to run him down, on purpose, - especially after that context was pretty much straightened out by budwom and PDDuke85 IMO. It came off as a bit of a slam at Elko, and I understand the temptation to do that. If I misread that, apology upfront...but it sure seemed like that.

To my eye, Elko's teams were simply SOLIDLY GOOD, and even in Cut's peak years, like 2013, there seemed a super thin margin, a fragility, to that success, that I did not feel under Elko. I think margins of victory and margins of defeat would back me up, at least to some extent - as Elko's teams were very close to much better records than he even achieved. Cut's best team dadgummed near lost to sorry Wake Forest and a sorry UNC in his last two regular season games, for example. And his last two teams got routinely crushed by Carl Franks type margins......so what Elko inherited was a bit of a mess overall.

But this is also a "feelz" thing as much as objective IMO. I'm out. Cheers.
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Budworm corrected my statement that Elko didn’t bring in impact linemen from the portal. Time will tell if Manny has done the same with this portal class. I’m sorry I struck a nerve about Elko. I never said he didn’t do a great job at Duke. But he did not leave Duke a strong foundation to build this years offensive line around. And the guys we will build around this year are still Cut’s recruits. Cut left a great foundation for Elko’s success. I wish Mike were here this year to see how solidly good he would be without a ton of 5th and 6th year players. And please don’t read that as a negative about Elko. His recruiting classes were ranked right around the same as Cuts.
Manny has his work cut out for him with a fairly young team.
 
dm9e24 said:
Budworm corrected my statement that Elko didn’t bring in impact linemen from the portal. Time will tell if Manny has done the same with this portal class. I’m sorry I struck a nerve about Elko. I never said he didn’t do a great job at Duke. But he did not leave Duke a strong foundation to build this years offensive line around. And the guys we will build around this year are still Cut’s recruits. Cut left a great foundation for Elko’s success. I wish Mike were here this year to see how solidly good he would be without a ton of 5th and 6th year players. And please don’t read that as a negative about Elko. His recruiting classes were ranked right around the same as Cuts.
Manny has his work cut out for him with a fairly young team.
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Mike Elko did pretty darned well with Cut's players, who seemed to be mailing it in. Ivy League guy who could coach, although his sartorial style was -- oh my!

High hopes for Manny.
 
HereBeforeCoachK said:
To my eye, Elko's teams were simply SOLIDLY GOOD
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This was absolutely the case until the fourth quarter against FSU last year. The team leaked oil pretty hard in the second half of the season. Louisville, Wake (despite the win), and UVA were all extremely ugly performances. Elko did not handle the adversity very well down the stretch based on what I have heard, and the product on the field bore that out, while recognizing that injuries also played a role.
 
It's all good, dm9....OL recruits generally take time to develop and Cut left things pretty bare for Elko who did well with what he had and grabbed more pieces as he could.
Manny can't fix it all in one year, but it looks like he may have a decent portal crop....and may have to do that again next year depending upon who develops.
 
Devilsforlife said:
This was absolutely the case until the fourth quarter against FSU last year. The team leaked oil pretty hard in the second half of the season. Louisville, Wake (despite the win), and UVA were all extremely ugly performances. Elko did not handle the adversity very well down the stretch based on what I have heard, and the product on the field bore that out, while recognizing that injuries also played a role.
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That's fair...and as I look back on it now...it's like there was ELKO DUKE PRE 4th and 16 and then AFTER 4th and 16. I literally told my wife seconds after the 4th down that a Rubicon had been crossed...a huge opportunity of the ages missed....even before ND scored. And when Riley was hurt a few plays later....I said yep, absolutely. I really do think that was a Miami on Halloween moment....a "disturbance in the force" that had long term ramifications.

It's almost as if I put the Elko era post 4th and 16 out of my mind. So to revise and refine my statement.....prior to that, Elko's teams were more solidly good than maybe any Duke team in my lifetime. So close to actually 3 or 4 more wins over that time.....
 
HereBeforeCoachK said:
That's fair...and as I look back on it now...it's like there was ELKO DUKE PRE 4th and 16 and then AFTER 4th and 16. I literally told my wife seconds after the 4th down that a Rubicon had been crossed...a huge opportunity of the ages missed....even before ND scored. And when Riley was hurt a few plays later....I said yep, absolutely. I really do think that was a Miami on Halloween moment....a "disturbance in the force" that had long term ramifications.

It's almost as if I put the Elko era post 4th and 16 out of my mind. So to revise and refine my statement.....prior to that, Elko's teams were more solidly good than maybe any Duke team in my lifetime. So close to actually 3 or 4 more wins over that time.....
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Exactly right, including the Miami comparison.
 
Re Manny and recruiting. There are now 18 listed offensive linemen on the 2024 roster. This is the sum total of transfers, incoming freshman, and returnees. I have no idea of who’s actually ready for ACC play, but the numbers, I believe, suggests competition for playing time. Competition plus quality coaching can only elevate the talent and production at this and all positions.

Agree with the what was said about Elko pre 4th and 16 and after. I also felt Elko became more distracted after Jimbo was fired on November 12.
His Monday and post game pressers, to me, just seemed flat.

That was last season. I’m looking forward to seeing what the Manny Diaz, with a relatively young but experienced coaching staff can do with David Feeley prepared athletes.
 
HereBeforeCoachK said:
That's fair...and as I look back on it now...it's like there was ELKO DUKE PRE 4th and 16 and then AFTER 4th and 16. I literally told my wife seconds after the 4th down that a Rubicon had been crossed...a huge opportunity of the ages missed....even before ND scored. And when Riley was hurt a few plays later....I said yep, absolutely. I really do think that was a Miami on Halloween moment....a "disturbance in the force" that had long term ramifications.

It's almost as if I put the Elko era post 4th and 16 out of my mind. So to revise and refine my statement.....prior to that, Elko's teams were more solidly good than maybe any Duke team in my lifetime. So close to actually 3 or 4 more wins over that time.....
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Agreed, though I actually thought we bounced back from 4th & 16 at first. Utterly annihilated a 9 win NC State team at Wade the following week and were leading FSU in the 4th quarter. Something truly shattered when Riley got torn down by the face mask and re-injured in Tallahassee. That was the biggest impact of ND, IMO.

The overall level of play between Clemson week one and the FSU face mask was undoubtedly the highest since Spurrier. After that, Duke looked more like a 2019 Cutcliffe team.
 
Devilsforlife said:
Agreed, though I actually thought we bounced back from 4th & 16 at first. Utterly annihilated a 9 win NC State team at Wade the following week and were leading FSU in the 4th quarter. Something truly shattered when Riley got torn down by the face mask and re-injured in Tallahassee. That was the biggest impact of ND, IMO.

The overall level of play between Clemson week one and the FSU face mask was undoubtedly the highest since Spurrier. After that, Duke looked more like a 2019 Cutcliffe team.
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I must quibble a bit with your assessment here....that was a horrible NC State team we beat...they became good later, but they were awful for a couple of weeks and we caught one of those weeks. And yes, the face mask put Riley down for good, but he was never the same after the Notre Dame hit.....only happened because of 4th and 16.

4th and 16 was a major turning point.....like Miami Halloween. Yeah, some things happened after 4th and 16 that were not terrible..and the face mask play made it worse, but the "disturbance in the force" was 4th and 16.
 
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