2013 Outlook - Duke

Throughout his career, David Cutcliffe has established a reputation as being an excellent coach to young QBs.  His signal callers tend to be exceptionally accurate, and fairly prolific as well.  Unfortunately, since coming to Durham, although he has gotten good production from his QBs, his team as a whole has not taken that step to get beyond cellar dweller. Will this be that year for Duke?

SR QB Sean Renfree is a great Cutcliffe QB.  He is a very accurate passer, and an excellent decision maker.    Going into his SR season, he seems poised to continue this trajectory, but I'm not sure that it will be enough. SR RB Desmond Scott is not really the kind of guy who intimidates opposing defenses, and if the defense doesn't think you can run, it becomes much harder to pass.  Renfree has lost one of his top targets as Duke's all time receiving leader, Donovan Varner has graduated, but the guy who does return to school, Conner Vernon, should break Varner's records before graduating this year.  Vernon is a very reliable target, but defenses should be able to focus on him a lot more this year without Varner on the other side. The o-line is fairly young, and this too could be a problem for this Duke offense.

Defensively, the Blue Devils will rely on SR DE Kenny Anunike to get pressure off the edge.  He was leading the ACC in sacks last year before his injury, so if he can come back at that level, that would be a great big help. At linebacker, JR OLB, Kelby Brown is Duke's best asset.  He tackles well, and cover ground fairly well too.  Unfortunately, there are not too many other bright spots in this unit.  Finally, in the secondary, JR CB Ross Cockrell is a good cover man.  He will have his hands full with top notch receivers though. Just like with the linebackers though, after their top guy, the secondary lacks real depth.

As is typical with Cutcliffe, his QB should play well in 2013.  Unfortunately, I am not convinced that the rest of this team is really up to the task of advancing the program just yet.  There are some bright spots on this roster, but all things considered, I see the Blue Devils outmatched most weeks this coming season.