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Jamison Crowder is Duke football's sparkplug

(09/27/13 7:37am)

____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Following a quiet breakout season in 2012, junior wide receiver Jamison Crowder was tasked with replacing the ACC's all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards and becoming the focal point of Duke's offense.He has stepped up to the challenge.Racking up 279 all-purpose yards last week in a 58-55 loss against Pittsburgh, the speedy 5-foot-9 receiver continues to take his game to new heights in the absence of the recently-graduated Conner Vernon."Real proud of what Jamison is doing. Where Jamison gets it done is in practice," head coach David Cutcliffe said. "If you watch Jamison Crowder's practice habits, you start to understand why he can do what he does on game day."Crowder's versatility has been one of Duke's greatest assets this season. The wide receiver scored three times, three different ways in the second quarter of last Saturday's loss to the Panthers, becoming the first Blue Devil to score a touchdown receiving, rushing and returning since Scottie Montgomery in 1999.With his team trailing 27-7, Crowder singlehandedly clawed the Blue Devils back into the game, catching a 62-yard pass from Brandon Connette, taking a carry out of the backfield for a 7-yard score and capping things off with an electrifying 82-yard punt return. Crowder's heroics sent Duke into halftime trailing by just two points. He would finish with seven receptions for 141 yards on the afternoon."Most college football players don't have the option of playing with someone like that," redshirt junior quarterback Brandon Connette said. "He's a special football player."Versatility has been Crowder's game since the time he was a standout performer at Monroe High School. He was never the biggest or strongest player on the field, but Crowder's speed and athleticism made him a threat to take it to the house on any play—regardless of whether he was playing offense or defense.In addition to being a star wide receiver, Crowder also played cornerback during his four-year career at Monroe, and recalls scoring touchdowns throwing, rushing, receiving, returning and on interceptions and fumbles."He's a very, very gifted athlete," Cutcliffe said. "He can throw the ball—he can throw the heck out of that ball."Three touchdowns in a quarter is no small feat, but during his high school career Crowder found a way to set that bar even higher."My junior year I had four touchdowns in the first half, four different ways," Crowder said.Entering Saturday's homecoming contest against Troy, Crowder is the ACC's leader in receptions with 30 through four games. He ranks third with 381 yards but has found the end zone just once on a catch. Both Crowder's receptions and yardage numbers are ahead of his pace from last season, when he caught 74 passes for 1,074 yards and eight touchdowns.Crowder also leads the ACC by averaging 19.8 yards per punt return and is the only player in the conference to return a punt for a score—he has done it twice already, matching Duke's single-season record.With so many ways to put the ball in the back of the end zone, Crowder's toughest decision is deciding what his favorite way to score is. When asked if he preferred catching touchdown passes or taking punts to the house, the junior wide receiver had to stop and think about it."Both," Crowder said with a smile. "If I had to choose, I would definitely say returning punts."

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2013/09/jamison-crowder-duke-footballs-sparkplug

ESPN updates Class of 2014 recruiting rankings

(09/26/13 10:01pm)

____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>ESPN's recruiting rankings were updated today for the first time since the summer and Duke's Class of 2014 targets were among the biggest movers.The Blue Devils' top target for next year's class stayed pat at the top of the list, however, as Chicago center Jahlil Okafor remained the top recruit in the Class of 2014.

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2013/09/espn-updates-class-2014-recruiting-rankings

Washington Post calls Coach K the 'caretaker of college basketball'

(09/26/13 8:39pm)

____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>According to Washington Post columnist Mike Wise, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is the most influential figure in college basketball since John Wooden.Krzyzewski made the trip to Washington D.C. earlier this week to receive the Nell and John Wooden Leadership in Coaching Award at a gala event. College basketball's all-time winningest coach was presented the award by the legendary UCLA coach's daughter, Nan Wooden.In Krzyzewski's interview with Wise, the Duke head coach discussed the NBA age limit, Maryland's impending move to the Big Ten and his experience coaching the United States Olympic Team. He also said that North Carolina's Michael Jordan and Maryland's Len Bias were the two most talented players he ever coached against and that the Terrapins' Steve Blake and Juan Dixon were two players whose leadership he would have loved to have at Duke.Krzyzewski also addressed his coaching future with the Blue Devils, reiterating statements he made this summer that he would coach at Duke at least through the 2016 Olympics.

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2013/09/washington-post-calls-coach-k-caretaker-college-basketball

Cutcliffe's Calling

(09/26/13 6:08pm)

____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a coaching career that spans back 33 years, David Cutcliffe has a laundry list of accomplishments that the average person wouldn’t dream of matching. He has coached under a college football legend, mentored a future NFL Hall of Famer, won a national championship and guided a Duke program known only in recent memory for futility back to the postseason for the first time in nearly two decades.But before Cutcliffe wakes up and throws on his national championship ring, he starts his day the same way many people do—by taking a walk with his dog.Cutcliffe’s 5 a.m. walks with his miniature labradoodle serve as fleeting moments of leisure before the Blue Devil head coach re-enters the pressure cooker of the college football world. But the Birmingham, Ala., native can’t even get football off his mind during his quiet walks of reflection. His dog’s name is TD—short for touchdown, something he has seen more than a few of over the years.With the 2013 season quickly approaching, Cutcliffe is entrenched in preparation for Duke’s final set of practices during August training camp. By 6:30 a.m. on August 19, the head coach was already knee-deep in his practice notes for the day. The scratches on his yellow legal pad were laid out with meticulous detail, and each member of Cutcliffe’s staff held a full training camp schedule for every day leading up to the season.“There’s an art to this,” Cutcliffe said. “Almost every minute of the day matters.”As Cutcliffe scribbles his notes, a John Mellencamp song plays from his speakers in the background. Mellencamp’s son Hud walked onto Duke’s team last season, and Cougar is one of many celebrities Cutcliffe has rubbed elbows with over the years. But most of the others, including NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning and Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, are former pupils who went on to stardom in professional sports.“Coach Cut has been around a lot of great players, so I definitely feel like he has experience getting the best out of those players,” redshirt junior wide receiver Isaac Blakeney said. “He has the experience of how to work with great players and how to make good players great as well.”The coaching journey has been a long one for Cutcliffe—after spending nearly three decades in the SEC on staff at Alabama, Tennessee and Ole Miss, the head coach inherited a Duke team six years ago that had managed to win just two games in its previous three seasons. Five years later, the Blue Devils were taking the field at a bowl game for the first time in 18 years.Cutcliffe’s six-year stint at Duke seems short when compared to Blue Devil men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski. But by lasting six years with a Duke program that has seen limited stability since a young Steve Spurrier was at the helm in the late 1980s, Cutcliffe is actually the Blue Devils’ longest-tenured head coach since Mike McGee was fired following the 1978 season.The Duke program that Cutcliffe has been sought to build since 2007 is founded on what the head coach calls “the four Fs,” which are faith, family, future and football, in that order.Cutcliffe has never been shy that he is a man of great faith. When he opened the first full team meeting at 7:10 a.m. to address his squad, it was as though Cutcliffe had entered his personal cathedral. With every seat in the room filled, the public persona of a stoic head coach melted away as the preacher stepped up to his pulpit.It was the beginning of the last two-a-day Cutcliffe’s senior class will endure during their college football careers, and the team’s head coach had a special message for his squad.“The best thing this team can do is have the time of their life every play. There is no pressure. There is no looking back. There are no regrets,” Cutcliffe said. “It’s the next play, and that’s the play that we’ve got to have the time of our life. And that’s the greatest lesson that all of us can remind each other—we’re going to go have the time of our life. It is going to be exciting, because I cannot wait for that next play. I cannot wait for that next play. Regardless of the results, it doesn’t matter what just happened. That’s football—you’ve got a first, second, third and often fourth down. Anything can happen on any of them…. Let’s go for it. Let’s go for it with all the gusto we’ve got.”The entire room went dead silent—the players’ gaze locked onto their head coach. It took less than two minutes before the tired student-athletes were ready to put in a full day’s work.Duke’s special teams unit remained in the room as special teams coordinator Zac Roper ran film of kickoff coverage. Shortly after, it was wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery who took the room for his position meeting.Montgomery is entering the first year of his second stint on the Blue Devil coaching staff, retrurning to his alma mater after three years as the wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He began the meeting by reciting the day’s drills from memory and breaking down each play on film, critiquing each player position by position. Montgomery made a point of adding that “it’s the detail” that separates good players from great ones.By 8:30 a.m., the Blue Devils were en route to the practice facility for their morning workout. Before exiting the Yoh Football Center, every player walked past the Victory Bell, the trophy Duke earned after its last-second victory against North Carolina to secure bowl eligibility in 2012. The bell sits directly between the team’s weight room and training room, serving as a reminder of the ultimate goal that is born out of significant sacrifice.The scene was chaotic when the Blue Devils first arrived at the field for practice. Different units were spread out in all corners of Pascal Fieldhouse discussing plans with position coaches and waiting for the day to begin. As soon as Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” blasted over the PA system, everything seemed to snap into place.Practice started slowly, synchronized with the ticking of the scoreboard clock. But as the short period ran out and drills shifted, the pace revved up until Duke’s workout was nothing short of a well-oiled football machine. Position groups moved about the fieldhouse, always ready for their next task as soon as the clock struck zero. The team’s managers and training staff provided scenery changes as the practice field became a crowded stage, ushering in construction barrels, pads and rope ladders for drills.The Aug. 19 practice was scheduled for 68 minutes—not a moment more or a moment less.On the field, the intensity level rose. Freshman Johnell Barnes showcased his breakaway speed on a deep route, but lets what would have been an easy touchdown pass slip through his hands. On his way back to the line of scrimmage, the rookie is immediately pulled aside by Blakeney for a pep talk.There was plenty of action on the sidelines as well. Redshirt freshman quarterback Thomas Sirk, who suffered a ruptured Achilles in April, tossed a football as he continues to rehab. On the receiving end was wide receiver Blair Holliday, who has returned to school after a year-long leave of absence following a nearly fatal jetski accident during the summer of 2012. Holliday will serve as an undergraduate assistant coach this season.Duke’s young players have opportunities to learn both on and off the field during training camp. In the evenings, Cutcliffe often arranges the team’s veteran players to lead lectures and discussions regarding topics such as academics, dorm life and social life, bringing the learning experience full circle."You’re developing leaders, which is something that we want to do out of this program," Cutcliffe said. "We want them all to leave officers, so to speak. And I think it’s just more effective coming from the people who have lived it.”There is no shortage to Cutcliffe’s intensity on the gridiron, but when it comes to dealing with his players, the Duke head coach could not be more laid back. Cutcliffe did not raise his voice once in frustration, only in encouragement, and that is a quality that is not lost on his players.“He’s super positive. He knows how to treat his players,” senior wide receiver Brandon Braxton said. “He knows when to work us and he knows when to back up. He’s a personable guy. He cracks jokes, he’ll crack on people in the meeting room, but when it comes down to it, if you’re going to be messing around he’s going to get on your butt.”When practice drew to a close, Cutcliffe gathered his team again for another meeting. This time, he spoke to his players about holding themselves to a higher standard, and accomplishing the little things with excellence. As the head coach droned along in his southern drawl, another type of music played in the background.It wasn’t Mellencamp or Marley this time. Cutcliffe’s speech was interrupted by the opening of the fieldhouse door, which revealed that the ice cream truck had arrived.You’ll never see 100 football players more excited for ice cream at 9:30 in the morning. It was that raw joy that showed why they had all chosen to play this game starting from the time they were five or six years old, making sacrifices along the way to reach this point.After the players lined up for their frozen treats (seniors first, of course), Cutcliffe retreated back to his office to watch the tape of that day’s practice.Cutcliffe said he first learned his organizational skills from Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, the college football legend who gave the Duke head coach his start as an undergraduate assistant in the 1970s.In a game where coaching trees are constantly dissected an analyzed, Cutcliffe remains one of Bryant’s last direct coaching disciples.The Duke head coach sat at his desk, watching each drill with a meticulous attention to detail as his mentor had—but Bear Bryant wasn’t taking down practice notes on his iPhone.“People know where to go and what to do—that doesn’t happen by accident. We have a system. We’re not just out there by the seat of our pants,” Cutcliffe said. “It goes back to something [Bryant] told me, ‘Don’t get in this because you love it. The only reason you do it is because you can’t live without it.’"As he reviewed that day's drills, Cutcliffe chose to focus on the cornerbacks, a position that graduated two of its top-three players last season and was a part of a secondary that gave up more gains of 25 yards or more than any unit in the country.Cutcliffe paid particular attention to freshmen Breon Borders and Bryon Fields, both of whom saw action in their first collegiate game, with Borders recording the first interception of his career.The Blue Devils’ current freshman class is the most talented Cutcliffe has brought to Duke during his tenure. As the program continues to rise, recruiting dividends will follow. The quarterback guru has sent his last seven starting quarterbacks to play in the NFL—the future that all college football recruits desire. Cutcliffe made his biggest recruiting splash during the past summer when he received a verbal commitment from four-star signal-caller Nico Pierre—Duke’s first ever recruit ranked in the ESPN 300.Braxton said he has seen the caliber of recruits entering the Duke footall program rise throughout his four-year college career.“This recruiting class we got is phenomenal,” he said. “There’s definitely a lot of competition. There’s way more competition now at every position than there ever was. So that’s huge because it’s making everybody else better.”The head coach made the short trip from his office to the conference room for his 11 a.m. staff meeting. Coaches crowded around the table as the room quickly reached full capacity. Position coaches all sat at the table, but graduate assistants and video coordinators were relegated to sitting on the ledge by the window.It was as though Duke football’s family had just sat down to dinner together. Laughter and joking filled the room, and light-hearted moments were shared between some men who have coached together for decades, others who played for their current colleagues.The meeting started with every coach around the table grabbing a pen and some stationary. Two recruits’ names flashed on the television screen in the conference room as the coaches tried to explain to 17-year-old kids why their future should be a part of Duke’s future. Cutcliffe has a history of barraging prospective recruits with some good-old-fashioned snail mail—a series of tweets this summer showed prospects receiving as many as 115 handrwritten letters from Duke, all in the same day.The coaches spent the remainder of the meeting discussing the team’s play from the day’s first practice and debating drills for the afternoon session. As the group broke their meeting, they departed for lunch after a long morning’s work.But for Cutcliffe, there is no such thing as a lunch break. A self-proclaimed “brown bagger,” the head coach prefers to work through meals, estimating that he goes out to lunch only once during football season.Working through lunch is just another part of Cutcliffe’s many routines that make up his long-term plans. As the old ball coach says, every minute spent preparing in August will pay its dividends come November and December.Defensive end Kenny Anunike, a redshirt senior, was a part of Cutcliffe’s original recruiting class at Duke, coming into a program that at the time was famous only for its futility on the gridiron. Anunike has watched his head coach grow this program and said the difference between his first season and his last is night and day.“I know that coming through here was the best decision of my life, and I’ll never regret it,” Anunike said. “Even though I was recruited by many other schools, I don’t ever regret signing to Coach Cutcliffe and Duke.”

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2013/09/cutcliffes-calling

David Cutcliffe calls out Arian Foster in pay-for-play debate

(09/25/13 10:00am)

____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Week four around the NCAA was the first time since the 30-minute suspension of Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel that issues surrounding pay-for-play took center stage.This time, the discussion hit a lot closer to home for Duke.Shockwaves were sent through the college football community Friday when an interview clip featuring Houston Texans running back Arian Foster from the documentary "Schooled: The Price of College Sports" was obtained by Sports Illustrated. In the segment, Foster admitted that he had accepted side payments during his collegiate career at Tennessee.Although the recent issues surrounding pay-for-play have concerned the NCAA's use of players' likenesses for merchandizing and sales purposes, Foster said his concerns were with paying for food and rent."I go to my dorm room, open my fridge and there's nothing in my fridge," Foster said in the interview. "Hold up, man. What just happened? Why don't I have anything to show for what I just did? There was a point where we had no food, no money, so I called my coach, and I said, 'Coach, we don't have no food. We don't have no money. We're hungry. Either you give us some food, or I'm gonna go do something stupid.' He came down and he brought like 50 tacos for like four or five of us, which is an NCAA violation. But then, the next day I walk up to the facility, and I see my coach pull up in a brand new Lexus. Beautiful."Duke head coach David Cutcliffe served as Foster's offensive coordinator at Tennessee during the running back's sophomore and junior seasons. At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Cutcliffe was quick to dismiss Foster's claims, calling the Texans' running back's interview one of the worst he'd ever seen."Arian never looked hungry his entire career," Cutcliffe said. "[His scholarship] pays food and rent, and on gameday when you go back to your dorm, you usually have $15 of meal money on you, which will buy 10 tacos."One of Cutcliffe's team captains, redshirt senior cornerback Ross Cockrell, echoed his head coach's sentiment when he said that his Duke scholarship helps him keep food on the table and a roof over his head."Here we have everything that's covered. I don't know what goes on at other programs," Cockrell said. "I feel like at Duke we have a great situation. I'm happy about how we're treated here."With Foster's words echoing throughout college football stadiums throughout the country, several groups of players took to the field with protests Saturday. Among these groups were several players from Georgia Tech, including quarterback and Durham native Vad Lee and defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu. They wore armbands with the hashtag #APU, an acronym for "All Players United," to support the National Collegiate Players Association, an advocacy group that supports NCAA reform. The Yellow Jackets had taken the field Wallace Wade Stadium and defeated the Blue Devils 38-14 just one week before the protest.Although Cutcliffe said he was unaware of the protests, which included players from Georgia and Northwestern as well, it appears the winds of change are sweeping back through the ACC.Before the start of the college football season, Clemson cornerback Darius Robinson was one of six current NCAA football players to join the class action lawsuit started by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon, who is suing the NCAA, EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company for profiting from players' likenesses in college sports video games."As long as there's the amount of media we have and the opportunity, you're going to see these protests," Cutcliffe said. "I don't see anybody getting abused."Even with the foreseeable end to conference realignment, college football is a sport that will continue to undergo significant changes in the coming year. On the field, these changes are widely viewed to be positive ones, most notably the end of the BCS era and the inception of a long-awaited playoff system. But off-field issues continue to hamper the sport. Even as Penn State presses on in the post-Jerry Sandusky era and Miami attempts to move past the Nevin Shapiro investigation, a budding scandal at Oklahoma State that encompasses everything from illegal payments to sex and drugs is keeping the dangers of mixing big money and college sports in the national spotlight.Because NCAA scholarships are only allowed to cover tuition and fees, room and board and required course-related books, one of the proposed solutions is to amend college scholarships to reflect the full cost of attendance, which would provide athletes with a stipend of a few thousand dollars per year to help pay for expenditures not covered by their scholarships.Such expenditures could include travel, clothing and laundry, but Cutcliffe added that the majority of these expenses could be covered by a need-based Pell Grant or the NCAA's needy student assistance fund, which spent more than $53 million on 81,000 student-athletes in 2010-11.As the debates surrounding pay-for-play continue to rage on, Cutcliffe urged players and coaches around the country to take a step back and examine the broader perspective."Let's be careful what we're complaining about," Cutcliffe said. "I keep hearing it's so broken. Good gosh, look at the attendance. Look what's going on every weekend. What is so broken? Somebody said that it's just not working. When did it quit working? That's my question."Although the idea of scholarships covering full cost of attendance is a popular one among players and pundits, Cutcliffe was quick to point out the potential negative effects such a system could have on college football."Let me tell you what it's going to do. All of that is going to make it so expensive to come to a college athletics event that then it will be broken," Cutcliffe said. "I'm sorry to disagree with so many intelligent people who seem to think they understand the circumstance."

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2013/09/david-cutcliffe-calls-out-arian-foster-pay-play-debate

Duke football displays its resilience in improbable comeback attempt

(09/23/13 10:02am)

____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Allowing nearly 600 yards of offense and throwing four interceptions is not typically a part of the recipe for winning a football game. In a contest that head coach David Cutcliffe said was nothing short of "bizarre," Duke managed to claw its way back from a deficit of 20 points or more twice and still had a chance to win the game in the closing minutes."I told our squad that they represented the Duke football program well from the standpoint of how hard this team played for 60 minutes," head coach David Cutcliffe said. "It may be the most unusual game that I've ever been a part of—off the top of my head it probably is."After redshirt junior quarterback Brandon Connette threw two picks in his first three pass attempts, Pittsburgh was set up with a short field for some easy first-quarter points. But it wasn't until Panther quarterback Tom Savage flexed his muscles in the vertical passing game that Duke looked as though it would be in for a long afternoon.Savage burned the Blue Devil defense on back-to-back plays, hooking up with Devin Street and Tyler Boyd in the span of 56 seconds to give Pittsburgh a 27-7 advantage.Despite three second-quarter touchdowns from Jamison Crowder, Duke still could not contain the Panther offense, allowing a staggering 468 yards of total offense in the first half. The little momentum the Blue Devils could muster in the second quarter was erased by a last-second touchdown drive by Pittsburgh to close the half and 14 unanswered points to begin the third quarter.Trailing by 23 points, the game once against seemed out of reach for Duke, but after the worst half of football it has played this season, the Blue Devil defense helped the team to claw back into the game, holding Pittsburgh to just 130 yards in the second half.Cutcliffe often reduces efficient football to five keys for his Duke team—alignment, assignment, effort, aggressiveness and finishing. The Blue Devils could not have struggled more in the opening stages of Saturday's game, but one thing they did was finish strong."We're going to finish. That's something that we're priding ourselves on," redshirt senior cornerback Ross Cockrell said. "Coach talks about... five things that you have to do to win the game, and the last of that five is finish. We did that [Saturday], but unfortunately we didn't make enough plays."In his weekly teleconference Sunday, Cutcliffe identified 17 plays that allowed the Panthers to rack up 423 yards of offense. Aside from those explosive plays, the Blue Devil head coach said that his team allowed just 2.8 yards per play on its other 62 defensive snaps."We executed well at times on both sides of the ball at times, but it seems like we're one of those teams," Cutcliffe said. "We have a lapse in execution, it tends to blow up, not just be a non-productive play."Even when Connette tossed his third and fourth interceptions of the afternoon to put Duke down 58-41 with 8:30 remaining, an errant long snap on a punt set the Blue Devils up with a short field and allowed them to pull within three in the closing minutes.In a game that featured staggering offensive numbers and crucial turnovers, Duke did not just find a way to make this wild shootout a contest as a clock ticked down—the Blue Devils were actually in a position to win the game."I think the second half we definitely grew as a team. Second half, we came out there and we fought back—we fought back hard," redshirt senior defensive end Kenny Anunike said. "We just said let's go out there and just hit them back in the mouth. They came out swinging in the first and we just went in at halftime, came back out and we were ready to go."But close was not close enough for a Duke team that was able to put each phase of the game together at different points, but simply made too many mistakes to come away with a win.When asked whether or not he was happy posting a career-high six touchdowns and 55 points on Pittsburgh, Connette did not hesitate in his response."We needed to score 59," he said.

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2013/09/duke-football-displays-its-resilience-improbable-comeback-attempt