School was in session for more than just students on Wednesday.
About 15 members of the local media were offered an in-depth look at the upcoming 2011 Duke football season at the first annual ‘Football 101 with David Cutcliffe.’ Cutcliffe hosted the three-hour event alongisde defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, offensive line coach Matt Luke and associate head coach, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Ron Middleton.
After an introduction by Cutcliffe, Knowles broke down the 4-2-5 defensive package that the team had spent all spring beginning to institute. The scheme, featuring five defensive backs, will help keep the Blue Devils versatile by keeping their fastest athletes on the field, especially important against a spread offense.
While the details of his package were altered from those his players were used to, Knowles planned to maintain the aggressive, blitzing playcalling that has recently become Duke’s hallmark.
“We are a very blitz-heavy team,” Knowles said. “But we weren’t very good at it last year.”
Knowles’ defense has a proven track record of success, beginning at Western Michigan over a decade ago and carrying over to his stint as head coach at Cornell. In 2003, the Big Red gave up over 30 points per game, along with an average of 4.6 yards per carry. The following season, Knowles’ first at the helm, opponents averaged just 18.1 points per game and a paltry 2.9 yards per carry. After giving up the most rushing yards per game in the ACC last season, Knowles has an uphill battle in front of him.
“Blitzing is about confidence,” Knowles said. “For the first half of the spring we were terrible... but if you saw the spring game you could see how far we’ve come.”
On the offensive side, Duke will continue to try to balance the rushing and passing games. Last season, the Blue Devils averaged 110 yards on the ground and 271 yards in the air per game, last and second in the ACC, respectively.
Luke acknowledged that in the past, a lack of depth on the offensive line made it difficult for Duke to run the ball consistently. This year he believes there are about seven linemen he can shuffle through during the course of a game, a significant increase on previous seasons although that even might not be enough.
“Ideally, I’d like to have a full second line, like hockey,” Luke said.
After successfully recovering 4-of-6 onside kicks last fall, Middleton is excited to have first team All-American Will Snyderwine back as the Blue Devils’ kicker.
“He can make that ball do tricks,” Middleton said.
The 2011 Blue Devils will sport a very young roster, two-thirds of which is made up of freshmen and sophomores. Even so, they will return 17 starters from a team that won three games last season, and lost four more by a mere 21 combined points.
“We’re a lot closer than you might ever dream right now,” Cutcliffe said. “We’re as optimistic as we get.”
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