David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"It's been a busy few days, and I don't want to steal your question thunder, so I'm going to talk a bit about the Showcase on Saturday and Pro Day yesterday. Really, both events went really well from a showcase standpoint. We got a lot of work in, situational work, not as much pure game like. I was glad we got some practice time in because that was really practice nine for us and we needed that. But some scrimmage work on top of it and a lot of good things, a lot of good things.
"From the Pro Day standpoint, really proud of our guys. They came ready. Not only were they fit and fast and prepared, but they also did a great job of being focused throughout the process. I thought it was a very well-run Pro Day by our coaches and was very successful."
(Ref.: On if the team is going make up practices after having to pause workouts due to COVID)
"Yes, we are kind of rocking along. What we decided to do, just because of following a scrimmage on Saturday, we did our normal game week on Sunday. That means meetings and lift and, you know, get a good sweat in. We did a light practice in the indoor, kicking circuit and it introduced a Sunday practice to all. We're a pretty young team so to a lot of young players that ended up being practice number 10. Tomorrow's number 11. More than likely will go Friday and Saturday to 12 and 13, and then we'll finish up next week."
(Ref.: On how this spring helped rebuilt the culture)
"Yeah, I mean, we have faced circumstances somewhat like this, but these are really not issues or problems, they are opportunities for a team. The first word I'm going to give you is hungry, maybe emaciated. That started back in January when this team got a great kick start. That will continue in our process. This is not something that you decide suddenly you're going to be better. There's an old farmer's tale that says, 'you better plant well in the spring or beg well come fall.' I think this team has had and understood that approach, starting in January, February, and now we're about to complete March. The work has been really good. It's been hungry. The chemistry of this team has been really good. What happens is that you're trying to win games right now, and you have to have that mentality. We are that kind of program and being true to that is so critically important. The year before when we didn't go (to a bowl game), we were, quote, close and had opportunities. But last year is really an outlier. Such an unusual circumstance for all of us. One of our players came up to me this morning and said, 'coach, you know, we weren't even around each other hardly at all it seemed like during the season. Our whole summer was gone.' And, you know, it impacted me when I heard it. Just being together. It's something that you do value as a member of a team, coach included, that those relationships are important.
"From a spring standpoint, how do you get back? It obviously has to go to the quality on that practice field. Every drill, every rep purposely. Focus is a word I've used a lot with this team. I want to see focused work. Mistakes come when you lose focus in any task. So, we have to find that even back to our morning runs. We had more commands, more focus issues, they had to follow purposely, and they've done a good job of accepting that.
"From a standpoint of just football, we're pretty thin in numbers. This is not a big squad number wise. We had a lot of people still recovering from those season ending surgeries a year ago and we've had the COVID stoppage. You forget sometimes that you also get not somebody with covid, but somebody that's in a quarantine circumstance. So, we were down at times to seven offensive linemen. It's really been a good thing. Different combinations. I'll start on offense. Different combinations on the offensive line have grown us. Quarterbacks throw to different sets of receivers. A lot of good skill work that is done by this large variation that occurs. But I think maybe the biggest benefit is people play in center, guard and tackle. People playing left side, right side. It's going to help us in the long run. I think we're better just at that task of blocking and protecting. Defensively, we know we have to replace a lot of people up front. I think that's going really well. I'm really pleased with DeWayne Carter, Gary Smith III, Ben Frye, Caleb Oppan. That's the top four right now, but we got a lot of others vying for playing time. And then Shaka Heyward has had a great spring, in fact, really our linebackers, Rocky Shelton II's one, an older one. But a lot of our young people are really working at high level. I think our secondary has done well, Leonard Johnson's jumping out at you, Josh Blackwell is back out there now. And then let's not forget the kicking game. I think Charlie (Ham) and Porter (Wilson) look like different guys. I mean, they're great talents. Our return people. We've worked all four phases of the kicking game purposely and so I like what we're doing and they're hungry to practice. We're going to give them plenty of practice."
(Ref.: On how the coaching changes are working out so far, especially the co-offensive coordinators)
"The first thing – just the adjustment with a staff when we lost a coach, we lost our corners coach, and I saw it as an opportunity. Trooper Taylor, one of the most talented coaches I've been around in a lot of ways. But from a football perspective, I've been with him where he's been coaching running backs, receivers, secondary, and he played corner. He's probably spent as much, if not more time coaching defense. I love the energy that he brought and the enthusiasm that he's taken to the defensive side of the football. And that was the first move. Then after losing Trooper on offense, I had to make a decision in the direction that I wanted to go there. I've been impressed with Calvin McGee for quite some time. I felt like it was an opportunity to bring a real veteran. He and Greg Frey have worked together before. A guy that is outstanding in the run game. And then we've got two really talented coaches in Jeff Faris and Re'quan Boyette. The co-coordinator thing, if you got the right people it kind of adds a little spice to it. You know, none of us individually are as smart as all of us or both of us or whatever the circumstances are. If they can work together it creates more imagination and creativity. Zac Roper's a great football coach, he's the deputy head coach. I can turn things over to him. He has coached running backs, tight ends, quarterbacks, I mean, he can coach it all. So, the versatility of the staff is at an all-time high. It allows me to step back where I really need to be in this program and be a head coach and be a part of all of it. Kirk Benedict gets more help that way. Zac has been a special teams coach before. That gets me back in that mode more. It's an area that we do exceptionally well. Kirk in my book is as good as there is in this country as a special team coordinator. So, I like where our staff is. They like each other. The continuity is good. Energy is good. And as I said, I want to be inclusive as a staff. None of us individually are ever going to be as smart as all of us. So, both sides of the ball now, you've got inputs, not just the co-coordinators. Then when Lanier (Goethie) left, Sam McGrath has been here. He's family. He knows our system backward and forward and knows the players. It was an easier transition. Once Lanier left, that was the next move and Sam has stepped in there really nicely and done a great job so far."
(Ref.: On seeing the seven guys perform at such a high level during Pro Day, especially Mark Gilbert)
"Yeah, I think it was an emotional time for Mark. I mean, you want to talk about two years of some real difficulty emotionally. He and I have had a lot of long talks, and I think it proved that he's not only physically tough, but he's also mentally tough. To overcome and to work at the level he's working at right now. What you saw with all of our guys, Chris Rumph II didn't get to – he has a little tweak of a hamstring, but he looks great. You could see the work, every pro scout, you know, 31 of the 32 teams were there, commented on the fitness level. They commented on their focus, moving from drill to drill. I think they were all shocked how well across the board, everyone ran and jumped. The individual drills were run by our coaches. The NFL put out things they wanted to see. Our coaches did a great job. I don't know how much of it you got to see, but I thought they all performed at a high level. You know what was fun for me? You're asking, how did it make me feel. When I see them care about each other. They were encouraging each other. They got joy from their teammates doing well, from whether it was running or making a good play on a drill. It was really an encouraging day. The sad part was we couldn't have our current players down there just because of the protocol circumstance. But, you know, wow was that a good showing by those seven young men."
(Ref.: On where he wants to see the quarterback room grow from now to the fall)
"Well, Gunnar (Holmberg), by far and away is the most experienced. What I can tell and what I've liked about Gunner's performance, to start with him, is that he has not sat on his time. He is further ahead mentally. He has studied the game. He has taken advantage of this opportunity. He's throwing it well. He's doing those things. But command of what we're doing is much better. He is much further ahead than Luca (Diamont) and Jordan (Moore), who are the next two in line. Jordan just got to campus, of course. Now, Luca, he's got a lot of skill sets, a lot of different ways that he can beat you and still got a lot to learn about the system, a lot to learn about, you know, how are you going to go about winning games. He didn't get a boatload of reps a year ago just because of the circumstance that we had. He was to begin with sitting at number four, and then when Chris Katrenick opted out, he got some. Then certainly when we end up getting him thrust in a ball game when Chase (Brice) went out. So, he's gotten some valuable practice time, but needs more. Jordan has been fun to watch. He's a quick study. He's a talent. All three of them can really run. That's why I want the creativity there of the staff. There's a lot of things we can do with them. They can throw it, but they're going to definitely be dual threat guys and it gives us an opportunity to get them ready, maybe a little differently than I have some other quarterbacks in my past."
(Ref.: On what impressed you most about Mark Gilbert's Pro Day workout)
"Well, his flexibility. When you have a hip injury, full range of motion, all of those things become impacted. Once you have full range of motion impact than other things can nag. You can tell he's worked hard to get past that. His body strength is balanced. He was, you know, almost 190 pounds is what I recall. Strong, yet, as you just mentioned, ran really well. I thought his hip turns and back pedals and everything he was doing. You can really see quite honestly, they all were, but Mark's hungry. He loves to compete, loves to play football. It's important to him. And I think that showed through to all of those scouts as to just how hard he has worked to get back to this point where he's running and moving like he is and even at a better weight, a stronger weight for him. That was really encouraging to see."
(Ref.: On the team chemistry and getting back to enjoying football again)
"Yeah, it really started back in January when they came back from the break, which was you know, as we mentioned, far too long, no bowl game. I knew that we had had an unusual year, an unusual chemistry, a difficult rhythm to find, and it was really important for all of us. There was renewed enthusiasm and energy with the new year for the staff. The changes you asked about were good and they embraced that opportunity. One of the things people forget now, we didn't travel recruiting. Normally, when they (the student-athletes) come back to school, we're gone. We're on the road recruiting. I told our staff, we're going to take advantage – they can't go do anything else right now so we're going to take advantage of some time together. There's nothing stronger in sport than relationships. I think that's why we do it. We love to compete, but we love to compete with our teammates. So the staff certainly, as we were meeting and preparing for this, focused on it. The players bought in immediately. I knew they would because I knew they would be hungry for that same feeling. That's what Duke football has been built around – our relationships, extremely engaged relationships. We use that word for the reason. That we know when someone gets engaged the relationship is serious. So, that's been the approach. It will continue to be where we're going to be invested in each other and it's just a better way to go."
(Ref.: On if there is room on the roster for some additions such as graduate transfers)
"Well, we're not out shopping. You know, grad transfers, first of all, they're not all that readily in number available that can get into Duke, you guys realize that. But secondly, I'm a firm believer right now, you're only as good as your twos. You don't start counting things out there. We got some guys here now, non-scholarship players, that are trying to earn a scholarship. We've got some room. But it's not something I'm focused on as a fix per say. We have some other people that will be joining us that didn't join us mid-year, that are transferring in. That's already been settled and signed. We're excited about that. I should mention it's going really well with Kade Parmelly, who's playing center and guard and playing all over the place. He has really fit in well in the offensive line. The transfer from Abilene Christian, who is a great young man who fits our program. So, you know, that's the thing. First, they've got to fit who we are, and that's why it's always hard to predict that. But it's a good question. It's a part of what the elements are going to look like now in college football from this day forward, particularly if we get the one-time exception and name, image and likeness. It's going to be unique in the area of recruiting."
(Ref.: On the wide receivers and tight ends groups)
"Yeah, no question. We're big at receiver. We're physical at receiver. We're physical at tight end and athletic at tight end. We're loving that and trying to take advantage of it. I mean, (Jake) Bobo, it starts with him. He's had a great spring of contested catches. He controls his body so well, makes tough catches and we've all seen that. We'll be moving him around and the reason we can move him around a bit is you got guys like Eli Pancol or Jalon Calhoun, Darrell Harding Jr., and Jarett Garner. I mean, the list is pretty long, but our young people, Malik Bowen-Sims is coming along. I'm going to leave somebody out because I don't have the depth chart in front of me, but I like the depth of the group. Jontavis Robertson has done a good job, but overall it's a talented group. It's a physical group and they've got to build on that. I think Coach (Re'quan) Boyette brings in a physical mentality to coaching those receivers. I've been really impressed with the work he's doing."
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