Sean Renfree may have had his worst moments as Duke’s quarterback last Saturday after playing Miami. The sophomore had just completed less than half of his passes, and worse, threw five interceptions. He even fumbled a snap.
Not many quarterbacks can simply shrug off that type of game. And such performances usually result in the quarterback blaming himself, even though it takes a team to lose.
The collective disappointment of the thousands of Duke fans in attendance, who have watched the Blue Devils drop five straight games, might also be wearing down on Renfree. His teammates agree that the start has been difficult.
“It’s only his first year as quarterback,” sophomore Connor Vernon said. “It’s going to be tough.”
At times like this, head coach David Cutcliffe knows the importance of reminding Renfree that Duke’s struggles are not his burden alone to carry.
“His greatest enemy is the man he faces in the mirror,” Cutcliffe said.
The position of quarterback may naturally lend itself to bearing the responsibility of a team’s success or failure, but in reality football is considered by many to be among the purest team sports. Cutcliffe said “eleven hearts beating at once” is needed to achieve success. Theoretically at least, the blame cast mostly on Renfree should be equally distributed among these eleven players.
His Saturday performance exemplifies this point. Referee might have thrown five picks, but it requires a mistake between two players to cause an interception to occur—the quarterback and wide receiver. Additionally, on some of Renfree’s missed passes, his targets simply dropped the ball, a season-long problem for the Duke receiving corps.
“I’d say probably half his picks this year are from [the wide receivers] anyway. They are plays that we should make,” Vernon said. “We just keep telling him to continue what he’s doing… but he’s still going to take it hard on himself. Nobody wants to throw interceptions.”
And at this point in the season, Renfree knows he cannot afford to allow past demons haunt his future performances. While the Blue Devils are out of the chase for a bowl game berth, they could still salvage a respectable season by pulling together a string of victories.
A support system will help Renfree as he tries to do just that for Duke in its final six games.
His coach says he does not blame him for Duke’s disappointing season to date, and his teammates have expressed similar sentiments. Over the weekend, he received calls of encouragement and advice from multiple sources, ranging from his own father to current NFL backup Thaddeus Lewis.
Time will tell, however, if the calls will help Renfree restore his own confidence, and get himself—and the team—back on track.
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