All the Pieces
With so much production returning, Duke offense prepares potent attack
Meredith Rider, GoDuke The Magazine
This story originally appeared in the 2023 Duke Football Yearbook
The devil’s in the details. For Duke Blue Devils football that is. With 98 percent of the offensive production returning from a season in which Duke averaged 33 points and 415 yards per game, the Blue Devils have revised their focus in year two under head coach Mike Elko.
“Coach Elko’s message (this offseason) was not what to do, but how to do it this year,” said quarterback Riley Leonard. “So that means we’re not running around thinking, ‘What do I do on this play, what do I do here?’ We know that like the back of our hand being in this offense for a year. The thing is, ‘How do you do it? How do you take the perfect number of steps on a route, how do I approach the line of scrimmage. How do I make sure everybody’s on the same page?’ That way we can get four yards a play and that’s all we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to get four yards a play. That’s our thought process.”
The Blue Devils know their offense. If you ask anyone from that unit to rate their comfort level in the system on a scale of one to 10, they say without hesitation, 10.
Or if you’re graduate student running back Jordan Waters, you are off the charts.
“My scale is broken,” said Waters with a wry smile. “I’m at like a 12.”
Redshirt senior wide receiver Jalen Calhoun is equally as confident, while also being a little more introspective.
“I’m at a 10 out of 10,” said Calhoun. “I feel like with the new staff having come in and us getting that first year under our belt and doing what we did (gave us confidence). We knew we could do all that from the start, but now I just feel like year two is another boost of confidence for us.”
In year one of a new coaching staff, Duke surpassed all outside expectations by winning nine games — the most since 2013 and one fewer than the three previous years combined. Without a single player tabbed as a “star” in any of the 2022 preseason scouting reports, the Blue Devils proved they had all the pieces of the puzzle to be successful. Now they’re back and better than ever.
When you tell Leonard his teammates’ thoughts about the offense, he is neither surprised nor does he disagree. After all, last season was the first for Leonard as Duke’s signal-caller and the Blue Devils averaged more points per game than they had in the previous 10 seasons and won nine times, including a 30-13 victory in the Military Bowl. Imagine the possibilities for the Duke offense after an offseason of Saturday morning RVA (routes versus air) sessions, workouts with sports performance coach David Feeley and time in the film room dissecting the previous season.
With the edges, corners and guts of the puzzle on offense all remaining intact, the Blue Devils know they won’t be able to sneak up on any opponents in 2023. Therefore, they’ve spent a lot of the offseason honing the tiny details they believe will elevate the offense another level against a competitive schedule.
“I think in the locker room we critiqued ourselves so much to where, while nobody is perfect, we work toward being perfect,” Calhoun said. “I felt like in some losses (last year) we just didn’t execute some plays that got us behind. It’s going back to square one and asking why did this work and why didn’t this work? And looking at both sides of that and focusing on what didn’t work and paying attention to fixing those details. Critiquing those plays as an offense and continuing to do that will take us over the top.”
As many teams around the country spent the spring season filling holes left by departing players, the Blue Devils had the luxury of not having to find the blocks to build upon, but rather worked to make them stronger in mind and body.
No detail was left unturned off the field as the Blue Devils hit career-high marks in the weight room. The two extra pounds of muscle or the mental fortitude to be able to push through an extra 110-yard sprint, while not visible to the naked eye, are the fine tunings a talented and cohesive Duke offense needs to take that next step forward.
“Definitely the success (from last season gives us confidence),” Waters said. “I know it has nothing to do with this year, but we know what we are capable of and a lot of it has to do with Coach Feeley. The stuff we go through in the offseason, the grind, the running, the lifting definitely boosts everyone’s confidence.”
Duke returns 50 of the 51 touchdowns scored last season, meaning opposing defenses will have to pick their poison when it comes to finding ways to stop the Blue Devils. For the first time in program history, Duke had four players rush for over 400 yards in the season, including Leonard with 699 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns.
Waters carried the ball 123 times for 566 yards, while Jaquez Moore ran for 508 yards on just 79 touches and Jaylen Coleman scampered to 480. The Blue Devils’ depth puts Waters at ease a little as he knows one of his teammates can step in if he’s not at his best or not in the game.
“It definitely helps me knowing if I’m out of the game we have another running back in there who is going to do the same thing I can do or even better,” Waters said. “We have a quarterback who can run and that’s dangerous for defenses. And then you’ve got three other running backs in me, Jaquez Moore, and Jaylen Coleman.”
Waters, a bruising back who likes to run through defenders, has been working on his physicality after his breakout season in Duke’s backfield. He and his fellow running backs continue to build their football IQ as well as making sure they protect Leonard and the football like they did in 2022.
The Blue Devils turned the ball over just 10 times in 2022, the fewest by five in the past 10 seasons. Only four came from fumbles, with one coming out of the hands of Waters in a setback to Pittsburgh.
“We are always focusing on the little things,” Waters said. “For Coach (Trooper Taylor) it was blocking and protecting the quarterback, always protecting the football and running the ball. We’ve got all the pieces to the puzzle. We have more than half of the people back from last year so improving even just one percent will make us that much better.”
While Leonard racked up nearly 700 yards using his legs, his arm was even more dangerous as he threw for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns with just six interceptions.
Calhoun was Leonard’s primary target with 62 catches. Junior Jordan Moore was right behind him at 60 as the pair combined for nine of the 20 touchdowns through the air. Redshirt sophomore Sahmir Hagans pulled in 31 catches with five scores, while tight end Nicky Dalmolin had four touchdown catches as well as countless other blocks and plays that didn’t end up on the stats sheet.
“I feel like our receiver corps is really deep,” Calhoun said. “So even stat-wise, with me being Riley’s No. 1 target, (our group) is so deep defenses can’t just pinpoint one player. I feel like that speaks on the offense. I feel like as time went on with Riley, off the field we built a relationship and on the field we have a relationship. Every practice and every game we just get better and better as a unit.”
This, along with a steady offensive line, is Leonard’s village. And it takes a village.
“All the eyes are at the quarterback position, but I can’t stress enough how dependent my job is on the 10 guys around me,” said Leonard. “Everybody has to be moving perfectly for me to succeed. If one guy makes a mistake, my game is not very good. If I can’t get one pass off because of one missed assignment, ultimately that falls on me. I take full ownership of that, but I’m super thankful we have a bunch of great guys on our squad on offense and I trust them in any situation.”
The Blue Devils opened camp August 4 and make their 2023 debut under the lights on Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium one month later against Clemson. If you haven’t done so already, buy your tickets and work on the gameday timing and tailgating details so you can be as game ready come Labor Day as the Blue Devils are sure to be.
“I’m so excited,” Calhoun said. “I can’t wait to get through camp and get to the first game. It’s been a long road. We’ve put in a lot of hard work and I feel like we will reap the benefits.”
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