The Duke Blue Devils defensive backs expect to be a team strength again. Here’s how
In an 8-part series, the News & Observer and Herald Sun will be examining Duke’s football depth chart, position by position, as the season opener on Sept. 3 at Charlotte draws near.
While the mountain of turnovers the offense committed had plenty to do with Duke’s struggles last season, the team’s season started going downhill early when injuries hit the defensive backs.
Veterans Mark Gilbert, Josh Blackwell and Lummie Young all saw their seasons cut short, and teams threw 22 touchdown passes against Duke, which allowed a league-worst 38.1 points per game while going 2-9.
Gilbert turned pro and signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Blackwell and Young spent the offseason recovering, and their health figures to go a long way toward determining how strong the Blue Devils defensive backfield is this season.
Blackwell played just two games before having surgery to repair a torn meniscus (knee cartilage). Young played five games before suffering a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.
Blackwell, in particular, has the experience and versatility to have a major impact. He played in 23 games, starting 15, during 2018 and 2019 before his injury-shortened 2020 campaign.
“Josh was playing on a high level until he hurt his leg,” Duke co-defensive coordinator Ben Albert said. “He gives us an ability to be a corner, he could be a nickel corner, you could play at slot and compete.”
Duke uses three safeties to go with two cornerbacks in its 4-2-5 defensive alignment. Players receive instruction getting them ready to play safety or cornerback and add flexibility. That happened plenty last season as the injuries mounted and cut into the team’s depth.
This season, Blackwell and senior Leonard Johnson are set to be starting cornerbacks with junior Jeremiah Lewis, who has appeared in all 23 games Duke has played over the last two seasons, also in line for playing time.
At safety, Young and juniors Jalen Alexander and Nate Thompson are set to receive the majority of the snaps with graduate student J’Marick Woods and sophomores Isaiah Fisher-Smith and Jaylen Stinson also pushing for playing time.
Having Blackwell and Young back in the mix should make the Blue Devils stronger in the defensive backfield.
“I feel like our leaders are in that back end,” Johnson said, “so we’ve got to carry it over from every practice to the games and just lead the way for those younger guys.”
The younger players Johnson made referenced to, like freshman cornerbacks Joshua Pickett and Cam Bergeron, can help Duke not by taking starting roles, but rather simply by proving they can handle 10-20 snaps or so per game.
“This year I feel like we’ve got some younger guys who can step in place of the older guys so we don’t have to play 80-90 snaps per game,” Johnson said. “If we need a breather, they can come in. If we need a breather on special teams, they can come in. We’ve got depth this year, a lot of competition at every defensive back position.”
As part of a re-shuffling of the coaching staff following last season, Trooper Taylor is now coaching the cornerbacks after previously tutoring Duke’s wide receivers. Taylor played defensive back in college at Baylor and coached that position at Arkansas State prior to coming to Duke in 2019.
Co-defensive coordinator Matt Guerrieri continues to coach safeties.
‘Coach Troop and Coach Guerrieri have kind of dug it into our heads to be technique sound and be correct in every thing that we do,” Blackwell said. “That’s the way we play. We play aggressive and I think it shows.”
Duke’s reputation for strong defensive back play in recent years play grew with last spring’s NFL Draft when the New York Jets selected safety Michael Carter II in the fifth round. Along with Gilbert, they join fellow Duke alums Breon Borders (Tennessee Titans) and Ross Cockrell (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) on NFL rosters.
That strong play wasn’t evident last season, though, especially late in the year after injuries hit the group.
During Duke’s season-ending, four-game losing streak, the Blue Devils allowed 11 touchdowns via the pass. UNC’s Sam Howell, Miami’s D’Eriq King and Georgia Tech’s Jeff Sims each threw for three scores in their team’s lopsided wins over the Blue Devils last November and December.
With Blackwell and Young healthy again, the plan is for Duke to be fresher and stronger to keep those totals much smaller this season.
Projected Duke safeties depth chart
| STARTERS | Height | Weight |
| Jalen Alexander (SO) | 5-11 | 160 |
| Lummie Young (SR) | 6-1 | 205 |
| Nate Thompson (JR) | 6-3 | 200 |
| RESERVES | ||
| Isaiah Fisher-Smith (SO) | 6-0 | 205 |
| Jaylen Stinson (SO) | 5-8 | 165 |
| J’Marick Woods (SR) | 6-3 | 215 |
Projected Duke cornerback depth chart
| STARTERS | Height | Weight |
| Leonard Johnson | 6-1 | 190 |
| Josh Blackwell | 6-0 | 175 |
| RESERVES | ||
| Jeremiah Lewis (JR) | 6-1 | 190 |
| Tony Davis (SO) | 6-2 | 195 |
Previous Duke preview installments
Wide receivers
Special teams
Other Triangle ACC previews
Defensive backs
Special teams
Wide receivers
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 5:15 AM with the headline "The Duke Blue Devils defensive backs expect to be a team strength again. Here’s how."