Upward Trajectory

By Sullivan Bortner, GoDuke the Magazine

On September 2, 2017, Matt Skura was cut by the Baltimore Ravens and signed to the team’s practice squad. The decision hit hard for Skura, who believed he had done everything in his power throughout the preseason to make the final roster.

Twenty-two days later, Skura was in London, lined up as the Ravens’ starting right guard against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Moments such as these were not uncommon for Skura. Since going undrafted out of Duke in 2016, the All-America center has constantly been trying to prove himself worthy to NFL brass.

“It’s definitely been a wild journey so far, with some ups and downs,” Skura said. “Going undrafted was kind of like the first step. It’s tough, because every guy wants to be drafted coming out of college. For me, I just put it in my head that ‘I’m going to have to work that much harder than everyone else and the other undrafted guys that I’m competing against to try to make the team.’”

Following that September day against the Jaguars in London, Skura became a mainstay in the Ravens’ offensive line. A beneficiary of the unfortunate injury to 10-year starting guard Marshal Yanda, Skura went on to start a total of 12 games throughout the 2017 season and surrender just one sack.

With the next NFL season fast approaching, Skura now finds himself back at his home position, taking reps at center with the Ravens’ first-team offense. For the first time in his career, he entered the preseason as an NFL starter.

Much like Skura, former teammate Ryan Jensen emerged from a career backup role and became the Ravens’ starting center a season ago. A sixth-round pick out of Colorado State Pueblo, Jensen seized his opportunity when it was presented to him. Ultimately, Jensen played to the tune of a breakout campaign that resulted in his inking of a long-term free agent deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason to become the highest paid center in the NFL.

Skura says this season is still business as usual for him, but that witnessing Jensen’s rapid ascent has helped him to stay focused on maintaining a starting role.

“Playing next to him and also just being around him and understanding his story, it’s definitely given me motivation,” Skura said. “It helps me understand you have to be patient and when your time comes, you have to take advantage of it.”

Paired with this motivation is the memory of how the Ravens’ season concluded a year ago. Needing a win or a tie against the Cincinnati Bengals in order to make the playoffs, Baltimore was stunned on its home turf. Skura watched from the sideline as quarterback Andy Dalton completed the go-ahead 49-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd with 44 seconds remaining, ending the Ravens’ campaign and sending the Buffalo Bills to the AFC wild card game.

“I think that has created a lot of motivation for us because we knew we should have been in the playoffs,” Skura said.

Backtracking to his days as a Blue Devil from 2012-15, Skura has been preparing for his crack at becoming an NFL regular for years. During his time in Durham, Skura was tested in a multitude of ways, both on and off the field.

“I think from both academic and sports sides at Duke, from the moment you get on campus, you’re very challenged,” Skura said. “You’re going to be challenged in the classroom to think critically. You’re going to be given new perspectives. You’re going to be given a heavy workload and things you’ve never learned before.”

Learning to deal with foreign and stressful situations was one of Skura’s biggest takeaways from his Duke experience. Head coach David Cutcliffe always made sure Skura and his teammates were exposed to these instances in practice, so when they arrived in a game or in real life, nothing felt out of the ordinary. Skura’s relationship with Cutcliffe left a lasting impression on him and taught him countless lessons about how to be successful in his endeavors after his time at Duke was done.

“The things that Coach (Cutcliffe) taught me and taught all of us about preparation and making sure you do your due diligence in the classroom, studying film, on the field, all that stuff translates really well into the NFL and anywhere in life,” he said. “We definitely keep an open relationship. I love talking to Coach all the time. He’s a great guy.”

As Skura works to mold himself into a starting center in the NFL, the Duke football program is embarking on new horizons as well. As far back as his high school days, Skura can recall how far the program has come.

“Even the year before I got to Duke, while I was still in high school, Coach laid out a whole bunch of pictures,” Skura said. “He was showing me where he was going to put the new indoor practice field and what the stadium was going to look like.”

In Skura’s first year with the team in 2011, Duke went 3-9 and ended the season on a seven-game losing streak. This was not what he had expected when he committed to being a Blue Devil, but the trajectory of the program was about to change.

“After some patience, we go to the Belk Bowl the next year, which I think really started getting the ball rolling as far as getting the players’ confidence up,” Skura said.

A year later, Duke went to the Chick-fil-A Bowl and in 2014, the Hyundai Sun Bowl. Still, the Blue Devils found themselves unable to come out on top in any of these contests.

“Finally, my senior year, in 2015, we win the (New Era) Pinstripe Bowl,” Skura recalled. “I think that was just another huge milestone for the program.”

Duke’s 2015 postseason win over Indiana at Yankee Stadium marked the program’s first bowl victory since 1961, a span covering 54 years. After registering another bowl win in 2017, the Blue Devils have come a long way since the day Cutcliffe relayed his future plans to Skura in his office.

“Now, there’s even more of a ceiling that they can achieve because they have more guys that are NFL prospects and more fans coming to the games,” Skura said. “Duke football, as a brand, has gotten even bigger as well.”

As the Duke football program’s threshold of achievement continues to expand, so does that of Skura. Although there are high expectations for the action on the gridiron at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium this year, Skura will be looking to produce a breakout season in order to cement himself as an NFL starter.

“I think becoming the best NFL center is something that I need to have aspirations for, and I do,” Skura said. “I think if you just keep your goals set really high, that will help you achieve a ton of goals that you want to have.”

The Ravens will begin their regular season action on September 9 at home, when the Bills, of all teams, head to town.

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