It looks as if the experience on Duke's football team just took another blow.
When the Blue Devils take the field this Saturday at 6 p.m. in Wallace Wade Stadium for their game against the East Carolina Pirates, their already inexperienced defense will be lacking both junior strong safety B.J. Hill and senior tackle Nate Krill. However, coach Carl Franks views this contest as a wonderful opportunity for his young team to gain some valuable experience.
"We just have to get these guys some experience," Franks said. "We have to get them in the game and let them play because things usually happen differently in a game because once that game starts much of it is mental. There's no substitute for having actually been on the field during a football game."
Although these injuries will allow younger players to gain experience, the Blue Devils will sorely miss two of their top upperclass defenders.
Hill, a junior from Detroit, originally came to Duke to play defensive back, but was moved to running back just three weeks prior to the start of the
The following season he returned as a running back, but his bid to lead the team in rushing for the second consecutive year was cut short when he tore his ACL during Duke's 25-22 win over Maryland in the eighth game of the season. He finished last year with 237 yards and two touchdowns. This year Hill finally gets his wish, moving to the defensive side of the ball.
Krill, who hails from McLean, Va., plans on becoming a full-time starter this year after three years of work as a reserve. He has made eight starts during his career and has tallied 60 tackles.
He has not participated in any drills since off-season surgery on both shoulders, but he hopes to be back by the second or third game.
These key injuries further deplete a defense hit hard by graduation. Franks noted that it is hard to predict how a young defense will perform in their first game together.
"It's hard for me to give you an evaluation on our defense," Franks said. "We have not played anybody yet but ourselves. It's a group that has a lot of leadership, but it's a group that's mostly untested.... There are guys that need to step out there and have great contributions for us to have a good defense."
This lack of experience could both hurt and help the Blue Devils this weekend. With the plethora of young talent, the Blue Devils hope to have enough depth to compete with an East Carolina team that outscored its opponents by almost a two-to-one margin in the fourth quarter last season.
However, the pressure could also be very overwhelming for a young team, even at home. There is some concern that more East Carolina fans will show up than Duke fans.
However, Franks remained optimistic about the turnout. "They have more alumni in this state than we do so you would think they have a chance to have more people in there than we do," he said. "Hopefully the students will turn out... I hope it gets pretty even."
Whether the crowd has an influence or not, Duke's lack of experience and injuries will definitely be a factor.
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