When head coach David Cutcliffe announced Scottie Montgomery as the Blue Devils new offensive coordinator in February, he described the the former Steelers wide receiver's coach as bringing some "spice" to the Duke offensive system.
Heading into Montgomery's first regular season as offensive playcaller, Blue Devils across the board have tasted the difference.
"It is always fun when you have a guy calling the plays who played receiver," Cutcliffe said. "He has a bunch of energy [and] brings a bunch of tempo.... Scottie is a good thinker, an aggressive thinker."
Montgomery, a former Duke and NFL player before turning to coaching, assumed the offensive coordinator role following Kurt Roper's departure to the Florida Gators in January. Roper guided the Blue Devil offense to single-season records for total yards, points and touchdowns in 2013, and his exit left his successor big shoes to fill.
Cutcliffe chose Montgomery—then Duke's wide receivers coach—in part because he felt the Cherryville, N.C. native's level of comfort with the Duke system would smooth the transition.
"Kurt Roper is incredibly good, and was incredibly good for us," Cutcliffe said. "But change will always encourage some growth. It’s just some new fertilizer on the same crop."
Montgomery's current stint in Durham is his third since coming to Duke as a freshman wide receiver in 1996. After graduating in 2000, he went on to play in the NFL for four seasons before returning to the Blue Devils as a wide receivers coach in 2006. After four seasons under head coaches Ted Roof and David Cutcliffe, Montgomery left Duke to serve as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But following three seasons with the Steelers, Montgomery was back in Wallace Wade to lead the Blue Devil wide receivers through a historic 2013 campaign before assuming his current role as offensive coordinator.
"It’s great because Scottie is a veteran of our offense," Cutcliffe said. "So really, you’re not missing a beat of growth."
Montgomery has not shied away from bringing his own flavor to the Duke offense, however. Since taking the reigns from Roper, Montgomery has focused on a higher tempo in practice and more aggressive play across the board.
"I like to put a little more pressure on every situation in everything that we do," Montgomery said. "I want our mentality from a standpoint of what we do to remain aggressive and to make sure that our guys know up front when I call, it’s an aggressive play."
The Scottie Montgomery era has already made an impression on some of Duke's most seasoned veterans.
Captain and starting quarterback Anthony Boone worked with "Coach Mo" during the offseason on improving his agility and footwork, and the redshirt senior has seen a difference in the intensity with which his teammates approach and finish individual drills in practice.
Junior running back Shaquille Powell has noticed the change as well.
"Coach Montgomery wants to be a lot more high-tempo—he brings a lot more energy to the offense," Powell said. "He wants to be perfect. He wants to run the ball a lot more and not make us so one-dimensional."
Montgomery recognizes the level of intensity with which he coaches, and he believes that the energy he brings will be a force of good for his players.
"[I'm] probably a little bit more forceful sometimes with my words than they’ve heard in the past, but I think that’s a good thing," Montgomery said. "Pressure is going to prove itself to help us find out who the true competitors are."
With regular season kicking off Saturday and an ACC Coastal title to defend, the pressure remains on the Blue Devil offense as they attempt to deliver a successful repeat performance.
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