Aeneas the Warrior
Defensive lineman's re-dedication to the game has provided a major boost for the Blue Devils
Jim Sumner, GoDuke The Magazine
This story originally appeared in the October 2023 edition of GoDuke The Magazine
Was Aeneas Peebles named after the mythical Trojan warrior Aeneas?
Peebles says sort of.
He actually was named after former NFL standout Aeneas Williams, who most definitely was named after Aeneas. In fact, Williams has a brother named Achilles, who of course fought against Aeneas in the Trojan War.
Peebles says he embraces the warrior ethos implied by his first name. The Duke defensive tackle is not skilled in swords or spears but he’s certainly skilled in the football arts.
Peebles comes from a distinguished football background. His maternal grandfather Doug Wilkerson might be the best player in North Carolina Central University football history. Playing most of his NFL career with the then San Diego Chargers, Wilkerson appeared in three Pro Bowls and was first-team All-NFL as an offensive guard in 1980.
Then there’s Peebles’ father, William, a standout defensive lineman at Appalachian State in the early 1990s. William Peebles had 11.5 sacks in 1994, the same year he had six tackles for loss against East Tennessee State, the latter a school record that still stands.
Older brother Caleb Hawkins starred at Western Carolina.
So, it’s no surprise that Peebles was introduced to football at an early age.
“Almost every man in my family that I can remember has played football at some level,” he says. “The first days my dad could get me into a football league, he got me into it, whether it was flag football or Pop Warner.”
William also coached his son at many of those stops.
Like most big kids he had to play up a year or so but says his dad always found a way to make it work.
But football wasn’t the only sport in Peebles’ DNA. His mother Gia was the first black woman to play softball for the Cal State Long Beach team. One of the best players in school history, she helped that program to the softball College World Series four times (1990-1993). She came east to play professionally for the Durham Dragons and also coached the NC Central team.
She and William married in 2000.
Not surprisingly Peebles also played baseball, right field and third base, and it just wasn’t a way to stay in shape during the offseason.
“I love baseball. But I didn’t have the attention span to play it all the time.”
But by the time Peebles was a senior at Knightdale High School, just east of Raleigh, he weighed 265 pounds and was ranked as one of the nation’s top 50 defensive tackles.
The choice of sport was clear.
The choice of schools was not. His father’s alma mater aggressively recruited Peebles.
“I definitely wanted to go to App State for awhile. As my recruiting process went on, I just sought out other places and made the best decision I could. But App State was definitely up there.”
Louisville was the third finalist.
Why Duke?
“It just felt like a place that was home and I really saw myself as able to grow.”
Peebles enrolled early in the spring of 2020 around the time covid began to shut everything down. Being close to home and family made the trial a little easier for Peebles.
Linemen don’t often play much as true freshmen and the 2020 team had veterans like Ben Frye and Derrick Tangelo at defensive tackle ahead of youngsters like Peebles and redshirt freshman DeWayne Carter.
But Peebles did see action in 10 games, evidence that David Cutcliffe saw positive signs in his game.
Peebles became a rotation player in 2021, as a true sophomore. He played in all 12 games, starting two, and notched the first two sacks of his college career.
Cutcliffe and Duke parted company after the 2021 season. Peebles says leaving “wasn’t particularly an option” and that he trusted Duke to “make a great decision” replacing Cutcliffe.
First impressions of Mike Elko?
“My first experience with him is exactly what I would want from a head coach. He told it to me straight. That’s really all you can ask. He wants the best for me.”
Jess Simpson is Elko’s defensive line coach and he says from day one he liked everything he saw about Peebles.
“He’s a really, really good athlete. And that’s what we want at Duke at D-tackle. We’re just not necessarily looking for big guys, we’re looking for athletes. Aeneas is a very twitched-up kid, he’s very sudden, he can win one-on-one when he comes out of his stance in the run game. He can play with some power.”
But it’s not just his physical traits that impress Simpson.
“The other thing about Aeneas is he is a real skill learner. You can show him a video, teach him a drill and he just picks up things really, really fast. He literally has hand-eye-foot coordination. He has efficient movement. He’s fun to watch, fun to coach.”
Peebles and Simpson both see a carryover from his prep days, when he played multiple sports.
“He shows me basketball videos of him dunking in middle school,” Simpson laughs. “You can see that he’s an athlete.”
Simpson says Peebles began to come on down the stretch of last season.
“I really felt it and saw it in the second half of last season. During the Miami game he started making play after play.”
But Peebles says he thought he had another gear.
“I just decided to be straight with myself. I just wasn’t going to be satisfied being a player who just gets in the game. I wasn’t going to be the guy who had flashes. One of the things I’ve heard since my freshmen year is he’s a guy who has flashes but isn’t consistent. At some point I just got tired of hearing that and I just made a decision that I’m not going to be that guy. I’m going to be more than that. I started expecting more of myself.”
A lot of that work was done in the weight room, where he credits strength and conditioning coach David Feeley.
“I really made a focus this year to drop my body-fat percentage, to eat leaner, to be as quick as possible. When I’m as quick as possible, that's when I’m at my best.”
His teammates noticed.
“He’s re-dedicated himself to the game,” fellow defensive tackle and co-captain DeWayne Carter said in fall practice. “He’s improved body-wise, knowledge-wise, game speed, football intelligence.”
Defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci adds to the chorus. “Improved conditioning helps you play football at a higher level but it builds another level of confidence and that’s important, to play the game with confidence, to walk around with confidence and his performance on the field is matching that.”
Simpson notes that he could tell a difference back in the spring.
“He was a guy who was hard to block. He became more consistent.”
Carter remains Duke’s undisputed star at that position but Peebles and Ja’Mion Franklin have supported him at a high level. Peebles notched 1.5 sacks against Connecticut, had a crucial sack against NC State and has totaled 5.5 tackles for loss through the first half of the season for a Duke defense that has ranked in the top-five in fewest points allowed.
“We’ve got three defensive tackles playing at a really high level in Ja’Mion, Aeneas and DeWayne,” Elko says, adding, “I don’t know if you can get better than that.”
Peebles is majoring in sociology, with a certificate in policy journalism and media studies. He wants to go into media when he hangs up his spikes.
“It’s one of the things I’ve been passionate about at Duke.”
He says he wants to stay around the game and sees himself as an analyst or something similar.
But Simpson believes Peebles’ best playing days are ahead of him.
“You don’t change overnight. It’s a process. From the day I stepped on campus, his arrow has been pointed up all the time. He’s just gradually improved. His knowledge has improved, his skill set has grown. His good plays are becoming the ordinary things he does. His flash plays show up more. He trusts himself, he trusts his skills. There’s a whole ‘nother level for him. Fingers crossed for next year. He would be the lead dog in the room.”
Next year?
Peebles has another year of eligibility remaining, the so-called covid bonus year. But he says he won’t even think about that until after this season.
“When the season’s over I’ll let the chips fall where they may and make a decision. But right now I’m just worried about playing my best football for Duke.”
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