You have already heard it a thousand times this football season-the Blue Devils are a young team, struggling through a building year.
One of those at the heart of the youth movement is sophomore defensive end Chris Ruzic.
Defense is what wins championships and a solid defensive line is vital to building that defense. In this year of inexperience, Ruzic is one of the central players in that building process.
Ruzic, who is in his third year at Duke after having redshirted in 1994, is seeing the first extensive action of his career this year. After serving primarily as a reserve in 1995, registering a total of two tackles, he has moved into a starting role on the line.
If you scan the Duke depth chart, across the defensive line you will find inexperience stacked at every position.
"The only guy with a lot of experience is [senior] Curtis Bunch," Ruzic said. "There are a lot of things that you learn in the game that you aren't going to learn in practice or in high school."
That experience is one purely positive thing that has come out of this season so far.
Despite his youth, Ruzic has become one of the leaders on the line.
"I hate to be called an upperclassmen because I'm only a redshirt sophomore, but I feel it is important for me to keep control of the team," Ruzic said.
With such a young group on defense, Ruzic feels that a focus on improving fundamentals is the most immediate concern.
Something else that Ruzic brings to this team, which includes 44 true and redshirt freshmen, is a link to Duke's past success. During his first year, Ruzic watched from the sidelines and experienced on the practice field what it takes to win as the 1994 Blue Devils squad fought for respect and a trip to the Hall of Fame Bowl.
"What I learned was a winning attitude," Ruzic said. "Those guys came out to practice and worked hard every day. There was something about that team that just really wanted to win and they had guys who came through in the clutch.
"I feel it is my responsibility to show [the younger players] the attitude since they weren't here on that winning team just to kind of take that attitude on the field and show them what it took then to win."
On the field, Ruzic has performed well, registering 10 tackles and one sack, playing a position that does not generally yield significant statistical output. Despite nagging injuries, Ruzic has made tremendous strides on the field this year.
"I've had a few injuries that have hampered me, so I haven't really progressed as much as I would like to," Ruzic said. "I had a great spring last year. I can never really be pleased with myself, because I am just that kind of player. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm only a sophomore."
After tallying three solo tackles at Georgia Tech, Ruzic will be relied upon heavily once again on Saturday at Navy.
"My responsibility is 'dive' on the triple option," Ruzic said. "They dive first and the quarterback rolls out to pitch-that is what is called the triple option. If I don't tackle the dive every single play, even if they run the option, they'll see that no one was on the dive and they'll hand it to him the next play."
For Duke to have a chance against Navy, the defense will have to shut down its option-oriented offense-which is similar to Army's.
Coach Fred Goldsmith noted that Navy does pose different threats, tending to run outside more. Still, Ruzic's containment of the dive while be essential.
The fact that Ruzic is here at Duke is due almost entirely to a stroke of fortunate timing. During his senior year at Grapevine High School in Colleyville, Texas he was paid a recruiting visit by then Rice defensive coordinator Jeff McInerney. Despite McInerney's diligent efforts, Ruzic remained uninterested, preferring the likes of Texas and TCU.
McInerney left having received a lukewarm offer by Ruzic to at least visit the Rice campus. McInerney had not even gotten out of Ruzic's neighborhood when he got a call on his car phone from then Rice head coach Fred Goldsmith, telling him that he had accepted the Duke job.
McInerney turned around and drove back to Ruzic's house and asked him how he felt about being a Blue Devil. Despite having very little prior knowledge about Duke, Ruzic accepted the coach's offer to visit the campus. Upon visiting, he fell in love with the school, and the rest is history.
In on the ground floor, Ruzic is now entrenched as a solid part of the foundation. Paying his dues today, he will hopefully reap the rewards, along with the rest of the Blue Devils, in the future.
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