Healthy Bryon Fields returns to give Duke football a rejuvenated secondary

<p>Bryon Fields is back for a Duke defense that should have more depth than it did last season, when it allowed more than 300 yards passing in its last three games.</p>

Bryon Fields is back for a Duke defense that should have more depth than it did last season, when it allowed more than 300 yards passing in its last three games.

Before the Blue Devils started practicing in full pads Aug. 13, they planned to move rover safety DeVon Edwards to cornerback, where he was forced to play during the latter part of the 2015 season due to injuries.

But on that day, head coach David Cutcliffe reversed course, saying that Edwards would stay at his more natural playmaking safety position and use his vision and quickness to wreak havoc.

The reason Cutcliffe and his staff made the decision? Duke finally has its full complement of cornerbacks healthy and ready for 2016.

After suffering a torn ACL in spring 2015, starter Bryon Fields missed all of last season, forcing inexperienced cornerbacks Alonzo Saxton II and Jeremy McDuffie into action. The two had their share of growing pains opposite Breon Borders, with the Blue Devils finishing 12th in the ACC in pass defense and giving up more than 300 yards through the air in each of their last three games.

Now Duke has Fields back at full speed, and the redshirt junior has an even greater appreciation for the opportunity in front of him.

“It was my first year missing a season—injury or whatever—since I was maybe five years old,” Fields said. “You take it for granted. I had been here two years, played a lot, and I feel like I was taking it for granted.”

With the Charlotte native and Borders manning the cornerback positions in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ 4-2-5 scheme this year, the Blue Devils should have the speed and depth to avoid giving up a high volume of explosive plays over the top. Part of that is contingent on a more effective pass rush—Duke tied for 114th in the nation out of 127 teams in sacks last year—but the Blue Devils should also be able to create more game-changing plays on the back end of its defense with McDuffie back as a sophomore and veteran safeties in Edwards and Deondre Singleton.

The only new starter in the Duke secondary is strike safety Corbin McCarthy, a redshirt senior tasked with filling the shoes of ACC Defensive Player of the Year Jeremy Cash. McCarthy’s teammates know the Norco, Calif., native isn’t Cash, but they also know he is going to have plenty of opportunities to make plays attacking the line of scrimmage if they do their jobs.

“We feel like Corbin even makes the defense better, a little bit faster than it was last year. He’s a guy who’s been here,” Fields said. “We’ve seen him working in practices and even when he’s gotten in the game, special teams, he’s done a great job. We have no doubt he’s going to step in there and be very productive.”

No one who plays in the secondary has been as productive as Borders, who has led the Blue Devils in interceptions in each of his first three seasons. If Fields can hold his own, Duke could have one of the most underrated cornerback duos in the country given their experience. A native of Statesville, N.C., Borders has focused on coming back even stronger in 2016.

His coaches have taken notice of the 6-foot, 180-pound ball hawk’s improvement, so much so that they have a pretty simple test for determining which wide receivers should start.

“We are going against a pretty formidable secondary. If they can beat Breon [Borders] one-on-one, then they got a chance to play,” Cutcliffe said at the start of fall camp. “In the spring, I don’t know if I saw anyone do that.”

And even if the starters are sidelined for any reason, the Blue Devil defensive backs are in much better position to handle adversity this year than they were a year ago.

Knowles said he expects McDuffie to stand out this year after adjusting to the college game a year ago, and freshman Mark Gilbert has also impressed since arriving in Durham. Gilbert has looked so strong that Cutcliffe said he expects the Fayetteville, N.C., native to see time Saturday against N.C. Central after turning down offers from schools like Michigan, Louisville and North Carolina.

At safety, Duke has a bevy of options behind its starters, with redshirt freshmen Jordan Hayes and Brandon Feamster potentially up for playing time this year and Saxton moving to rover safety to back up Edwards. The Blue Devils should also get Philip Carter back after he serves his three-game suspension, and brought in four-star freshman Dylan Singleton—Deondre’s younger brother—who turned down offers from Ohio State, Oklahoma and Georgia to join his brother at Duke.

Despite their struggles last year, position coach Derek Jones’ defensive backs should more resemble the group that earned the nickname “Cheetahs” in 2014.

“We want to come into this year with attitude. And with that comes confidence,” Borders said. “Defensively, me personally and a few of my teammates, we’re going to try to bring a little bit of style, a little bit of swag and a lot of attitude back to the team, to the defense, to the program.”

With Fields back, the Blue Devils will get to see how far that confidence can take them against some of the most prolific offenses in the nation in Notre Dame, Louisville and North Carolina.

“The sky is the limit for us,” Fields said. “Physically, we all have the tools to get it done.”

Amrith Ramkumar and Hank Tucker contributed reporting.

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