One of Duke's biggest question marks in 2006-the offensive line-may become its biggest strength in 2007.
Duke returns every member of its 2006 line along with four red-shirt freshmen who may get opportunities for playing time. This added depth and experience will bolster the unit's performance, center Matt Rumsey said.
"It helps for a few reasons," the senior said. "First is just the comfort of playing with each other and having to go all season and offseason with each other, and then the way we communicate and the way we operate up front. It's a lot of things that just kind of come to us naturally without thinking about it."
The current situation for the Blue Devils is a welcome contrast to last year's struggles. Going into the first game against Richmond, Rumsey was the lone returning starter, as two starters from the year before chose not to return to the team. Duke's inexperience showed early on: through the first four games, the team averaged a mere 37.5 rushing yards per game and allowed 24 sacks. Over that stretch, the Blue Devils scored just 13 points-all in one game against Wake Forest.
Eventually, the line developed better chemistry and capped the season with a 44-point outburst against UNC, racking up almost 400 yards of offense.
"Obviously you're going to improve as the season goes along," Rumsey said. "A lot of that was just learning."
During the offseason, however, it appeared that Duke's offensive line might face difficulties again. Fifth-year senior Zach Maurides, a guard, missed much of preseason practice while recovering from back surgery. Junior tackle Fred Roland also missed much of the offseason because of injury.
"It makes guys step up and it creates depth," Rumsey said of the summer shake-ups. "It's caused guys to dance around and play positions they haven't played before. You'd like to have those guys in the preseason, but when you don't, you have to make positives out of it-and we did. I think we've gotten a lot better because of it."
Perhaps the biggest surprise for the Blue Devils was the emergence of Bryan Morgan, a true freshman, in Roland's place at right tackle. Morgan, who stands at just 6'3 and 255 pounds, shocked everyone with his rough play in practice and was named as the starter.
"We had a couple injuries there-actually a couple surgeries-and Fred Roland hadn't quite made it back and Bryan Morgan came out and won the job," head coach Ted Roof said. "You don't want to play true freshmen on the offensive line, but that's where we are."
Morgan's lack of size underscores a concern for Duke. The projected starting lineup averages at just 279 pounds, well on the light side for a BCS program. Nevertheless, Rumsey believes that the lack of size can be made up for with the continuity and chemistry developed over the past year.
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