When you're dealing with football in the spring, pride is on the line.
Wallace Wade Stadium is the site of the battle ground when blue meets white in the annual Spring Game Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
The offense versus defense intra-squad scrimmage is a time for Duke to test plays and schemes on both sides of the ball, as well as a chance for players to battle for starting and backup duties. For a team which is graduating a lot of starters from the 2003 season and is operating under a new coaching staff, Saturday will be an opportunity to begin the building of a new personality for Duke football.
"We still got some work to do establishing an identity to our football team, what we are, who are the guys who are going to take the bull by the horn so to speak," Roof said. "We still have some to work to do, and a lot of that will play itself out."
A critical position battle is for at quarterback. Redshirt freshman Mike Schneider, freshman Curt Dukes and senior Chris Dapolito are each competing for playing time. Currently Schneider is winning the battle, but all three quarterbacks are worthy of action in the regular season.
"I think you're going to see all three of them," Roof said. "I think that's an accurate statement. In what capacity and what situations, who knows, but yeah, you're going to see all of them."
In the passing game, the team has worked hard on timing during the spring workouts. Roof hopes that if this facet of the offense can be improved, Duke can cut down on costly negative yardage plays and turnovers.
Saturday will not only be a good time to see the varying talents of Duke's quarterback trio, but an opportunity to see a new era of tailbacks.
Stepping in the shoes of Alex Wade and Chris Douglas are two fairly new faces. Freshman Aaron Fryer and sophomore Cedric Dargan are expected to take majority of the snaps for Duke during the regular season. Dargan has had a very solid spring so far, rushing for 57 yards and two touchdowns during the team's last scrimmage Wednesday. And Fryer is a talented prospect, ranked by Rivals100.com to be in the top 50 of his class.
Saturday's game will also be the debut at new positions for a group Blue Devils. Brian Greene has moved from corner to safety, and Giuseppe Aguanno has switched from outside to middle linebacker. There are also several Duke players who are moving to the other side of the ball including B.J. Smith, switching to fullback, and John Paul Kimbrough, going to tailback. Smith and Kimbrough will help alleviate the depth crunch in the offensive backfield.
"We have thrown a lot at them from a schematic standpoint, both offensively and defensively," Roof said. "Especially offensively, learning an entire new offense, and defensively some new wrinkles and some new changeups and just a new way of doing things."
Overall, Roof hopes the game helps the Blue Devils sustain the positive attitude surrounding the team since the end of the 2003 season.
"I'm just excited about finishing up the last part of it and taking some momentum into the offseason," he said.
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