With road trip to Notre Dame looming, Duke’s defense looks to gel quickly

For Duke football, the offseason and early part of fall camp have been anything but normal because of coronavirus.

Some practices were postponed; The Blue Devils watched as the Pac-12 and the Big Ten canceled their fall sports seasons; And the future of the ACC football season, which features a schedule of all conference games along with one nonconference matchup for each team, is up in the air.

Still, junior cornerback Josh Blackwell said he felt the only thing the team really lost was a little bit of cohesion on the field. As they work to find that chemistry, the Blue Devils are embracing the uniqueness of the situation.

“It is great to be back doing what we love to do with the people we love to do it with,” said Co-Defensive Coordinator Matt Guerrieri, “and it’s been awesome to see our defense and our team running around with great energy and enthusiasm.”

That effort will be important for a unit that finished 77th nationally last season in points allowed per game. But with high-end pass rushers Victor Dimukeje and Chris Rumph II bookending the line, it could be much improved.

“How we look at defenses is ‘Okay, how do we stop the run? How do we rush the passer? How do we defend the pass?’ if you’re just gonna simplify it into those things,” Guerrieri said. “And we definitely have some guys that have real juice off the edge for us.”

The secondary should also be deep, with players like cornerbacks Mark Gilbert, who is returning after suffering two season-ending injuries, Blackwell, Leonard Johnson and senior safety Michael Carter II giving the Blue Devils the ability to play tight coverage.

However, there are two defensive positions that faced attrition and are lacking experience and depth — tackle and linebacker. Guerrieri said it is likely that fans will “see a number of guys play at those spots that you may not have seen in the past.”

With their first game in 24 days against Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind., Duke’s defense doesn’t have a lot of time to gel.

“We get into this habit of kind of getting lackadaisical, and I think if you just keep applying pressure and stay in it, I think we’ll be fine,” Blackwell said. “I would say just keep applying pressure and play like it’s our last game.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 2:29 PM with the headline "With road trip to Notre Dame looming, Duke’s defense looks to gel quickly."