{"id":8148,"date":"2015-04-23T22:33:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T02:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=8148"},"modified":"2015-07-07T19:31:18","modified_gmt":"2015-07-07T23:31:18","slug":"cutcliffe-talks-about-duke-spring-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=8148","title":{"rendered":"Cutcliffe talks about Duke spring football"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"David<\/a>
David Cutcliffe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: As Mike mentioned,
\nFebruary 28th we had our spring game. We
\nstarted immediately after national Signing Day in
\nrecruiting. So we were pleased. Obviously, the
\nbig questions were replacing a big defensive front.
\nFour of our starters are gone. Lose two
\noutstanding longtime starters
\non the offensive line.
\nAnd then replacing Anthony Boone and
\nJamison Crowder and David Helton, very
\nproductive players for us. David leading the ACC
\nin tackles the last two years. Anthony, the
\nwinningest quarterback in Duke football history.
\nAnd Jamison Crowder, who has caught more
\npasses than anyone other than Conner Vernon in
\nACC football history.
\nSo that’s our focus. We like our team. We
\nlike their work ethic. We just have to go see what
\nwe can do on the field at this point. Our guys are
\nworking hard in the off-season, which is a great
\nthing to see.
\nI’ll take your questions.<\/p>\n

Q. I know that it’s kind of off the
\nfootball field, but the Penn relays this weekend,
\nyou have a few guys, and I know you like your
\nfast guys to get faster, so DeVon Edwards,
\nRyan Smith, just what you can say how
\nimportant it is to have some of these guys do
\ntrack and field before they go to football?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: It started early in my
\ncareer at the University of Tennessee when Stan
\nHuntsman was our track coach. We had a lot of
\npeople — Willie Gault, Sam Graddy probably being
\nthe most well-known that were extremely
\nsuccessful in both sports, and they go hand in
\nhand, and I like our speed.
\nWe have more guys that
\ncan run, but also they love it, and one of the things I do is I make
\nsure they’re doing every other thing right before we
\nlet them do it, and DeVon and Ryan continue to
\nearn that opportunity. And DeVon Edwards is
\nprobably our fastest player on our squad, and I say
\nprobably because it would be a good race.
\nBut I’m happy for them, and I think it’s
\ngreat for Duke track and field. Those guys — last
\nyear we had a full group run 400 meters, and they
\nalmost set the school record the first time out. So
\nI’m happy for them. It should be fun.<\/p>\n

Q. And then as far as the spring, just
\nwhat you were able to take away, maybe some
\nof the leaders that you saw step up for you
\ncoming out of spring, some of those guys that
\nreally have meant something to you as far as
\nleadership.
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: I think on the
\ndefensive side, it was very evident, starting with
\nJeremy Cash, the entire secondary. DeVon
\nEdwards, who we already talked about, Deondre
\nSingleton, Bryon Fields, Breon Borders. We
\nreturned our entire secondary, and those guys
\nhave great energy and tempo.
\nWe’ll just flip quickly over to the offensive
\nside, Matt Skura, our fine center. Lucas Patrick,
\nthe returning guard, that are both seniors that just
\nreally do a tremendous job. Shaquille Powell is as
\ngood a leader as I’ve been around, our starting
\ntailback. And Max McCaffery out at wide receiver.
\nSo I thought our habits, our work habits all
\nspring were outstanding, really based — and Carlos
\nWray, I should mention in our defensive front.
\nThose guys really did set a tempo along with the
\nreturning of Kelby Brown and Braxton Deaver, who
\nare back, thank goodness, for sixth years. So you
\nreally like this team’s temperament and work
\nhabits.<\/p>\n

Q. I wanted to ask you about the
\ndefensive front. Since you’ve had a couple of
\nmonths now since spring practice ended, what
\nhave you seen from your film review of spring
\nball and the way that group got their work
\ndone?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, I was really
\npleased with our starters, really good spring. A.J.
\nWolf solidified himself starting alongside Carlos
\nWray, and he has just become more and more
\npowerful and has done a nice job of improving
\nhimself. And he’s played a lot of football, but he’s
\nready and showed that.
\nKyler Brown had a great spring. He’s
\ncomfortable at defensive end. Britton Grier is
\ncoming into his own. Both of those guys played a
\nlot of football, but they
\nplayed like seniors.
\nAnd then I was pleased what we have with
\nour young people inside, Mike Ramsey, Quaven
\nFerguson, Edgar Cerenord, Keilin Rayner. And
\nthen on the outside, we moved Allen Jackson
\noutside, and I thought he had a really good spring.
\nDeion Williams finished strong. Marquies Price,
\nwho is a midyear guy, got a ways to go, but he
\ncould be as talented as anybody we’ve ever had.
\nSo just a lot of positives about our
\ndefensive front, and the more we study it, the more
\nwe like what we’re seeing. And then I think,
\nobviously, we do believe we have some guys
\ncoming in here this summer to join us that could
\nimpact us. So I think that’s another great part of
\nwhat we’re looking at from a depth standpoint.<\/p>\n

Q. One followup. You mentioned Kelby
\nand Braxton. I know they didn’t work out in
\nspring ball, but how are they coming along with
\ntheir injuries? Do you expect any drawbacks
\nfor them come the start of practice?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: No. They’ll be full
\nspeed. They’re close to that now. There’s no
\nbenefit in rushing them out there. Their rehab is
\ngoing outstanding. Both of them feel good. Their
\npresence, their leadership presence was felt all
\nspring.
\nThey did a great job of being out on the
\nfield, basically coaching, encouraging, challenging.
\nIt’s like having, instead of
\n9 assistant coaches this
\nspring, it was like having 11, seriously. So I
\nthought they impacted our spring practice in a big
\nway.<\/p>\n

Q. Just curious the last couple years
\nwith your guys’ recent success, how much
\neasier, how much more receptive, have you
\nseemed to notice a difference on the road in
\nrecruiting and going out on the road? How
\nmuch difference is it for you guys?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: I can go back to
\npinpoint all the way back to playing Texas A&M in
\na great slot, national television slot on New Year’s
\nEve, where so many people saw us. I think that
\nwas a turning point in recruiting because people
\nview you differently, and they do view us
\ndifferently, thank goodness. So it’s helped without
\nquestion.
\nWe’ve always had great name recognition.
\nI think people know that and believe that we do
\nthings the right way, but kids want to win. When
\nyou win, it certainly impacts everything about your
\nprogram. Also, the other part of it is, when you
\nwin, you have a lot of continuity within your staff,
\nand I’m very pleased with our coaching staff. I
\nthink we have as fine a coaching staff as there is in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n

Q. Obviously, Thomas Sirk got a head
\nstart because he’s got game experience, but
\nhave you seen anybody step forward in the
\nquarterback race this spring? Where does that
\nsituation stand?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: Right now Thomas
\nSirk is our number one. Parker Boehme is our
\nnumber two, and Parker had a great spring. I’ve
\njust gained more and more confidence in both of
\nthem. I trust both of them in every aspect of who
\nthey are, which is fun as the coach. They’re
\ntalented. They throw it well.
\nThey will be the pair, and then you throw
\nNico Pierre is number three. As a threesome,
\nthey’re the best running quarterbacks we’ve ever
\nhad, but these guys can throw it. I thought
\nThomas Sirk had a great spring throwing the
\nfootball. He’s a big guy, 6’5″, 220. He’s got touch.
\nHe’s got great arm strength, and then he can
\ncreate as well as Parker.
\nSo it’s just going to be an interesting
\ncontinuing battle, but it’s obviously one of the
\nthings we like to do is play multiple quarterbacks.
\nYou just mentioned it. I believe these guys are
\ngoing to allow us to do that.<\/p>\n

Q. Just out of curiosity, how much
\nbump, or do you get one at all for what the
\nbasketball team did last month?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: It’s awesome. Love
\nit. People think Duke, they think winning. It’s just
\nan all around positive impact for our university, and
\nDuke basketball has been for a long time.
\nWe won the championship back in 2010
\nand we felt it. You’re in the public eye, and we
\nhave already felt it again. So we are thrilled for
\nthem, proud of them, but we certainly benefit from
\nit.<\/p>\n

Q. Good afternoon. Obviously, you
\nlost a very talented receiver, as you said, you
\nlost a couple of receivers and a couple of
\noffensive linemen. How do those positions
\nlook to you coming out of the spring?
\nDAVID CUTCLIFFE: We had veterans,
\nCody Robinson and Tanner Stone, competing for
\nthat right guard spot. Our left tackle spot, we have
\na sophomore, Gabe Brandner, that ended up
\nnumber one.
\nI thought he had a great spring. I feel
\ngood. I feel better about our depth. We have
\nsome good young talent, and some of them have
\nnow played some. So really not backed up in
\nmany places where people haven’t played in the
\noffensive line, which I think is important.
\nI thought our receivers had an exceptional
\nspring. I thought Jeff Faris, our receiver coach, set
\na great tempo. You lose Jamison. You lose Isaac
\nBlakeney, who were two of our starters. We got
\nMax McCaffery and Johnell, who we considered
\nstarters, Johnell Barnes. And our young people
\nreally got better. Ryan Smith really got better.
\nWe got a receiving corps, and I think that our depth
\nis better, and we will be able to play more people.
\nAgain, I thought from practice habits and overall
\ndrill performance, which is a lot of what spring
\npractice is, our receivers led the way for our team.
\nSo I was pleased with their work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: As Mike mentioned, February 28th we had our spring game. We started immediately after national Signing Day in recruiting. So we were pleased….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-duke-blue-devils","category-featured-stories","wpcat-82-id","wpcat-79-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8390,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8148\/revisions\/8390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}