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Fierce: Durant Galloping On Record Pace
11/5/2021 8:45:00 AM | Football
by Jim Sumner, GoDuke The MagazineÂ
One thousand yards. Doesn't seem like much. You can probably walk that distance in 10 minutes, maybe 12. A world-class male runner can run 1,000 yards in a little over two minutes.
Spread that 1,000 yards out over three months and it seems almost trivial.
Unless…
Unless you're carrying a football, with 11 strong, fast, skilled and highly-motivated opponents contesting every inch of that 1,000 yards, trying to drive a shoulder through your solar plexus or tackle you off your feet or move you completely off the field.
So yes, you have to be good to rush for 1,000 yards in a college football season. But you also have to be consistent, you have to be durable, you have to be tough and you certainly need help from your own group of strong, fast, skilled and highly-motivated teammates.
No one has ever called Duke "Tailback U." Duke has only had four 1,000 yard rushers in its history. Or five. I'll get to that later.Â
Which makes Mataeo Durant's 2021 season all the more exceptional. At the midpoint of the season the senior from South Carolina is halfway to demolishing a bunch of season and career rushing records at Duke.
Some context…
Bill Murray was the second-most successful coach in Duke football history, behind Wallace Wade. But before that, he was a standout back at Duke. Contemporary sources credit Murray with 1,030 rushing yards as a senior in 1930. But Duke didn't start to officially track this sort of thing until 1938.
Excluding Murray we have to go back more than four decades to find Duke's first 1,000 yard rusher.Â
What about all those Wallace Wade superstars from the glory years?
Ace Parker finished up in 1936, so we don't know for sure. But we do know that Hall of Famers George McAfee, Eric Tipton, Elmore Hackney and Steve Lach all fell well short.
There are several reasons. Duke only played nine games in those season, the schemes Wade used employed multiple runners and players saw the field on offense and defense. The spectacularly gifted McAfee, a member of both the college and pro football halls of fame, carried the ball only 96 times in 1939, for example.
Wray Carlton rushed for 833 yards in 1957, the school record for the limited-substitution era.
Steve Jones broke that mark three times. Arguably Tom Harp's highest-profile recruit, Jones rushed for 854 yards in 1970, despite playing in an offense designed to feature the pass-catch combo of Leo Hart to Wes Chesson. Jones missed four games in 1971 following an automobile accident but still rushed for 861 yards (getting 204 in one game vs. Florida).
Jones then put it all together in 1972, Mike McGee's second year at the helm. Jones was fully healthy and Duke's passing game was woeful. Jones carried the pigskin 287 times for 1,236 yards, in an 11-game season. He had 201 against Wake Forest and 188 against Virginia that year.
Despite Duke's 5-6 record, Jones was voted 1972 ACC Player of the Year.
Randy Cuthbert was next. He rushed for 1,028 yards in 1989 and 1, 031 in 1992, after getting a medical hardship in 1991. Cuthbert is the only Blue Devil to surpass 1,000 yards for a season twice and he's the only one to do so for an ACC champion, Duke's 1989 co-title team.
Cuthbert's 1989 season is best remembered for a late touchdown in a win over Clemson. But his 234-yard game in a 30-19 win over Georgia Tech was equally important in that title run.
Robert Baldwin rushed for 1,187 yards in 1994 and joined Jones as ACC Player of the Year. This was Fred Goldsmith's first season at Duke, a magical season when Duke started 7-0.
Baldwin opened that season with a then school-record 238 rushing yards in a 49-16 win over Maryland. It remains the third-best rushing game in Duke history.
Chris Douglas ran for 1,138 yards as a senior in 2003. He also got his career best against the Yellow Jackets, 218 yards in a 41-17 win. Douglas ended his career with 3,122 yards, atop the Duke career charts.
Then, nothing. Not even David Cutcliffe's best Duke teams have had a 1,000-yard rusher. In fact, prior to 2021, he hadn't had anyone seriously challenge that mark.
It's not because he hasn't had good running backs. Rather it's a philosophical view that spreading the wealth keeps his running backs fresher and healthier, both in individual games and over the course of a season. His 2013 Coastal Division champions had Josh Snead, Jela Duncan, Juwan Thompson and Shaquille Powell all between 70 and 126 touches (rushes plus receptions).
Duke hasn't duplicated that kind of running back depth since then. But Cutcliffe  usually has had two or three running backs sharing the load.
Shaun Wilson broke Baldwin's single-game Duke rushing record as a freshman in 2014 and rushed for 818 yards as a senior in 2017, and Deon Jackson rushed for 847 in 2018. But both shared the wealth with other running backs.
As was the case in 2020. Jackson rushed for 513 yards on 131 carries, 3.9 yards per carry, while his junior running mate Mataeo Durant had a breakout season. Despite carrying the ball 120 times, 11 fewer than Jackson, Durant led the team with 817 yards, a spectacular 6.8 yards per carry — the fourth best average in Duke annals.
Durant and Jackson could have been Duke's 2021 twin tandem. But Jackson elected to give up his covid extra season and try for the NFL.
Which left Durant to shoulder much of the load. Jordan Waters is a converted defensive back, still learning the nuances of his position. Injuries kept Jaylen Coleman off the field last season and ended the career of Marvin Hubbard. A couple of true freshmen are in the development stage.
Durant knew the situation and reacted accordingly. He worked harder on conditioning this offseason than ever before in preparation for a heavy workload. He improved his blocking and receiving skills to become a true three-down back.Â
He didn't exactly come out of nowhere. Durant was the only Blue Devil picked preseason All-ACC.
But even in that context, the first half of Mataeo Durant's senior season has been spectacular, so spectacular that he's on track to shatter multiple school records.Â
Duke opened at Charlotte. Durant gave Duke a 21-17 lead a with a 59-yard touchdown run and a 28-24 lead with a 53-yard touchdown run, both in the fourth quarter.Â
These were his second and third touchdowns of the game.
Durant ended the game with a school record 255 rushing yards, on 29 carries, an average of 8.8 yards per carry.
But Duke's defense couldn't hold the leads and Duke fell 31-28.
Durant left little doubt after the game that the record meant little in the context of a loss. "The record is cool and everything," he said, "but I'm a very team-first guy and we wanted to come out and get the win."
"Baller. Stud. Unbelievable player," Charlotte coach Will Healy enthused after the game.
Durant had another three-touchdown game against North Carolina A&T and ran for over 100 yards in wins over Northwestern and Kansas and losses to North Carolina and Georgia Tech, almost all of those against defenses stacked to stop him.
He broke another Duke record against the Yellow Jackets in week six. Durant carried the ball 43 times, breaking Art Bosetti's 1970 record by one. He gained 152 yards, almost all between the tackles, no run longer than 11 yards, moving the pile, driving forward for every inch.
"There were a couple of times when we were going to take him out of the game and he wanted to stay," Cutcliffe noted. "When you have a player like that, you follow the guide."
But again Duke couldn't pull out the win and again Durant discounted his record-setting game. "The stats are cool but I'd rather have a win."
The Georgia Tech game was the exact midpoint of the season. Durant added 82 yards in a subsequent loss at Virginia, giving him 870 total with five games remaining after an open date. He is poised to not only break but shatter Steve Jones' 1972 record. He has nine rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. Winston Siegfried (1941) and Brandon Connette (2013) share the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 14, while receiver Clarkston Hines holds the school record for touchdowns in a season, with 17 in 1989. Jones had 287 carries in 1972 (in 11 games). Durant had 166 after seven games. He's on track to break a lot of school single-season records.
Career records are likely out of reach. Another 500 or so rushing yards would place him in the career top 10, while he currently sits fourth in rushing yards per carry at 5.5. Red Smith averaged 6.05 in the early 1950s.
Cutcliffe summed up Durant's virtues and seasons at the midpoint of the season.
"He's got the skill and the talent level to be an explosive-type runner, create explosives. He can run 50-yard touchdowns. He's proven that. But he's also a guy that can consistently give you what I call the 'dirty yards.' If a run is a three-yard run, he's likely going to give you four, four-and-a-half out of it, which is a very successful run. His endurance is obviously special. He's been a great decision-maker."
There's a word Cutcliffe often uses to describe Durant.
"He is fierce. Just look at him near a first-down marker or on the goal line. That's why you feel good thinking players not plays. He is a fierce competitor."Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
One thousand yards. Doesn't seem like much. You can probably walk that distance in 10 minutes, maybe 12. A world-class male runner can run 1,000 yards in a little over two minutes.
Spread that 1,000 yards out over three months and it seems almost trivial.
Unless…
Unless you're carrying a football, with 11 strong, fast, skilled and highly-motivated opponents contesting every inch of that 1,000 yards, trying to drive a shoulder through your solar plexus or tackle you off your feet or move you completely off the field.
So yes, you have to be good to rush for 1,000 yards in a college football season. But you also have to be consistent, you have to be durable, you have to be tough and you certainly need help from your own group of strong, fast, skilled and highly-motivated teammates.
No one has ever called Duke "Tailback U." Duke has only had four 1,000 yard rushers in its history. Or five. I'll get to that later.Â
Which makes Mataeo Durant's 2021 season all the more exceptional. At the midpoint of the season the senior from South Carolina is halfway to demolishing a bunch of season and career rushing records at Duke.
Some context…
Bill Murray was the second-most successful coach in Duke football history, behind Wallace Wade. But before that, he was a standout back at Duke. Contemporary sources credit Murray with 1,030 rushing yards as a senior in 1930. But Duke didn't start to officially track this sort of thing until 1938.
Excluding Murray we have to go back more than four decades to find Duke's first 1,000 yard rusher.Â
What about all those Wallace Wade superstars from the glory years?
Ace Parker finished up in 1936, so we don't know for sure. But we do know that Hall of Famers George McAfee, Eric Tipton, Elmore Hackney and Steve Lach all fell well short.
There are several reasons. Duke only played nine games in those season, the schemes Wade used employed multiple runners and players saw the field on offense and defense. The spectacularly gifted McAfee, a member of both the college and pro football halls of fame, carried the ball only 96 times in 1939, for example.
Wray Carlton rushed for 833 yards in 1957, the school record for the limited-substitution era.
Steve Jones broke that mark three times. Arguably Tom Harp's highest-profile recruit, Jones rushed for 854 yards in 1970, despite playing in an offense designed to feature the pass-catch combo of Leo Hart to Wes Chesson. Jones missed four games in 1971 following an automobile accident but still rushed for 861 yards (getting 204 in one game vs. Florida).
Jones then put it all together in 1972, Mike McGee's second year at the helm. Jones was fully healthy and Duke's passing game was woeful. Jones carried the pigskin 287 times for 1,236 yards, in an 11-game season. He had 201 against Wake Forest and 188 against Virginia that year.
Despite Duke's 5-6 record, Jones was voted 1972 ACC Player of the Year.
Randy Cuthbert was next. He rushed for 1,028 yards in 1989 and 1, 031 in 1992, after getting a medical hardship in 1991. Cuthbert is the only Blue Devil to surpass 1,000 yards for a season twice and he's the only one to do so for an ACC champion, Duke's 1989 co-title team.
Cuthbert's 1989 season is best remembered for a late touchdown in a win over Clemson. But his 234-yard game in a 30-19 win over Georgia Tech was equally important in that title run.
Robert Baldwin rushed for 1,187 yards in 1994 and joined Jones as ACC Player of the Year. This was Fred Goldsmith's first season at Duke, a magical season when Duke started 7-0.
Baldwin opened that season with a then school-record 238 rushing yards in a 49-16 win over Maryland. It remains the third-best rushing game in Duke history.
Chris Douglas ran for 1,138 yards as a senior in 2003. He also got his career best against the Yellow Jackets, 218 yards in a 41-17 win. Douglas ended his career with 3,122 yards, atop the Duke career charts.
Then, nothing. Not even David Cutcliffe's best Duke teams have had a 1,000-yard rusher. In fact, prior to 2021, he hadn't had anyone seriously challenge that mark.
It's not because he hasn't had good running backs. Rather it's a philosophical view that spreading the wealth keeps his running backs fresher and healthier, both in individual games and over the course of a season. His 2013 Coastal Division champions had Josh Snead, Jela Duncan, Juwan Thompson and Shaquille Powell all between 70 and 126 touches (rushes plus receptions).
Duke hasn't duplicated that kind of running back depth since then. But Cutcliffe  usually has had two or three running backs sharing the load.
Shaun Wilson broke Baldwin's single-game Duke rushing record as a freshman in 2014 and rushed for 818 yards as a senior in 2017, and Deon Jackson rushed for 847 in 2018. But both shared the wealth with other running backs.
As was the case in 2020. Jackson rushed for 513 yards on 131 carries, 3.9 yards per carry, while his junior running mate Mataeo Durant had a breakout season. Despite carrying the ball 120 times, 11 fewer than Jackson, Durant led the team with 817 yards, a spectacular 6.8 yards per carry — the fourth best average in Duke annals.
Durant and Jackson could have been Duke's 2021 twin tandem. But Jackson elected to give up his covid extra season and try for the NFL.
Which left Durant to shoulder much of the load. Jordan Waters is a converted defensive back, still learning the nuances of his position. Injuries kept Jaylen Coleman off the field last season and ended the career of Marvin Hubbard. A couple of true freshmen are in the development stage.
Durant knew the situation and reacted accordingly. He worked harder on conditioning this offseason than ever before in preparation for a heavy workload. He improved his blocking and receiving skills to become a true three-down back.Â
He didn't exactly come out of nowhere. Durant was the only Blue Devil picked preseason All-ACC.
But even in that context, the first half of Mataeo Durant's senior season has been spectacular, so spectacular that he's on track to shatter multiple school records.Â
Duke opened at Charlotte. Durant gave Duke a 21-17 lead a with a 59-yard touchdown run and a 28-24 lead with a 53-yard touchdown run, both in the fourth quarter.Â
These were his second and third touchdowns of the game.
Durant ended the game with a school record 255 rushing yards, on 29 carries, an average of 8.8 yards per carry.
But Duke's defense couldn't hold the leads and Duke fell 31-28.
Durant left little doubt after the game that the record meant little in the context of a loss. "The record is cool and everything," he said, "but I'm a very team-first guy and we wanted to come out and get the win."
"Baller. Stud. Unbelievable player," Charlotte coach Will Healy enthused after the game.
Durant had another three-touchdown game against North Carolina A&T and ran for over 100 yards in wins over Northwestern and Kansas and losses to North Carolina and Georgia Tech, almost all of those against defenses stacked to stop him.
He broke another Duke record against the Yellow Jackets in week six. Durant carried the ball 43 times, breaking Art Bosetti's 1970 record by one. He gained 152 yards, almost all between the tackles, no run longer than 11 yards, moving the pile, driving forward for every inch.
"There were a couple of times when we were going to take him out of the game and he wanted to stay," Cutcliffe noted. "When you have a player like that, you follow the guide."
But again Duke couldn't pull out the win and again Durant discounted his record-setting game. "The stats are cool but I'd rather have a win."
The Georgia Tech game was the exact midpoint of the season. Durant added 82 yards in a subsequent loss at Virginia, giving him 870 total with five games remaining after an open date. He is poised to not only break but shatter Steve Jones' 1972 record. He has nine rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. Winston Siegfried (1941) and Brandon Connette (2013) share the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 14, while receiver Clarkston Hines holds the school record for touchdowns in a season, with 17 in 1989. Jones had 287 carries in 1972 (in 11 games). Durant had 166 after seven games. He's on track to break a lot of school single-season records.
Career records are likely out of reach. Another 500 or so rushing yards would place him in the career top 10, while he currently sits fourth in rushing yards per carry at 5.5. Red Smith averaged 6.05 in the early 1950s.
Cutcliffe summed up Durant's virtues and seasons at the midpoint of the season.
"He's got the skill and the talent level to be an explosive-type runner, create explosives. He can run 50-yard touchdowns. He's proven that. But he's also a guy that can consistently give you what I call the 'dirty yards.' If a run is a three-yard run, he's likely going to give you four, four-and-a-half out of it, which is a very successful run. His endurance is obviously special. He's been a great decision-maker."
There's a word Cutcliffe often uses to describe Durant.
"He is fierce. Just look at him near a first-down marker or on the goal line. That's why you feel good thinking players not plays. He is a fierce competitor."Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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