Breaking Down Elon (1 of 12)
Posted: August 2nd, 2010, 12:53 pm
I will be starting this thread with 2 purposes. To pass time before the season starts, and breaking down Duke's opponenets this year day by day. First I will break down the Elon Phoenix and will continue by breaking down each of Duke's other 11 opponents every 3rd day. That will make my last post, (the breakdown of UNC,) the night before Duke's opener against Elon. So here it is...
Week 1: Elon
All of us Duke fans must not overlook Elon like we might have Richmond last year. Elon is a very strong team, and I know we all can remember sitting in a dead silent Wallace-Wade last year watching our beloved Blue Devils being handled by a Division 2 opponent. If we want to change that outcome this year, Duke's new defense will have to slow down the best player in the Southern Conference Scott Riddle.
Scott Riddle is the Quarterback for the Elon Phoenix. This will be his senior season and he has started at QB all three years to date. He had a great year last year, even better than our own Thaddeus Lewis. Riddle threw for 3,345 yards and 23 touchdowns. This man also threw for 31 touchdowns his Freshman year. Riddle is a great QB, but in the two biggest games of the season last year against Wake Forest and App State he threw a total of 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions. He is the preseason Southern Conference offensive player of the year, and is a great QB. He will not hurt us or anybody for that matter with his feet. Riddle ran for a total of -1 yards and 3 touchdowns last year, yes it's possible. He is definitly not a scrambling QB. Luckily he has lost his go to guy in Terrell Hudgins. Hudgins was one of the best WR's in the country last year. Terrell caught a record setting 16 touchdowns last year and also had a total of 1633 recieving yards. That is 8 more touchdowns and 600 more yards than our Donovan Varner had last year. Hudgins has since graduated, and is currently in training camp with the Dallas Cowboys. Lance Camp will be the man that will try to replace Hudgins this year. Camp had 600 recieving yards last year, and could be a serious threat this year. Sean Jeffcoat will also catch many passes from Riddle this year. The offensive line has lost some talent, and it will be interesting to see how it handles the change. Thye do have one preseason all-conference offensive lineman, but they did lose some guys.
The Running game will be strong as well this year. Jamal Shuman will lead the charge this year at Running back. Shuman is another great example that great things come in small packages. Shuman stands at a strong 5'7 but has run one of the fastest 40 times ever. Shuman ran a 4.2 40 yard dash before his freshman year at Elon. He ran for 700 yards last year and 3 touchdowns in a pass heavy offense.
The Elon Phoenix defense will be very strong as well. The defense has 5 preseason all-conference players, and they are returning their leading defensive man. Junior LB Josh Jones was Elon’s best defensive player last year and will be looking to impress a lot of people this year as an upperclassman. The Phoenix also have one of the best defensive linemen in the conference. Senior Brandon Ward is a preseason 1st team all-conference selection and had 5.5 sacks in 2009. Defensive tackle Jordan Gibson and defensive back Terrell Wilson will fill out the defense for the Phoenix. Wilson is a very strong defensive back, but the defense will be losing a couple of their starting defensive backs so this should be where Duke takes advantage of Elon with the many WR’s that Duke has. Elon is good, but they are good for a Division 2 team.
The kicking game is also very strong for Elon this year. Sophomore Adam Shreiner is the kicker for this team and he is very good. Shreiner was 17-23 with a long of 43 last year as a freshman and will look to have a better year this year. He is famous for kicking a 58 yard field goal in high school on local TV. You can see the kick on YouTube. In a weird scenario Quarterback Scott Riddle is also the starting punter for this team. I have never seen that before, but he is a very good punter. He averaged about 40 yards per punt, and never had a punt blocked. This kid is also a baseball player at Elon. I think he is planning on running for president in 2012 as well. So as you can see, the kicking game is strong as well as the offense and defense.
This will be the 5th season for Elon’s head coach Pat Lembo. He came from Elon after being the head coach at Lehigh University. In 2009 Elon finished 9-3 and earned their first ever FCS Playoff birth.
This is a good Elon team from top to bottom. This is probably the best team they have ever had under Coach Pat Lembo. I think Duke will win this game, but I think it will be a struggle like last year’s opener. Elon is picked to finish ahead of Richmond this year in the SoCon, and right behind #1 Appalachian State.
I think Riddle will have a very good game against Duke, and I think it will take a little time for Duke to figure out Elon’s defense. It will also take a little bit of time for us fans to realize that Thad Lewis isn’t throwing the ball for our team. We have some lockdown defensive guys like Matt Daniels, Chris Rwabukamba, and A.B Kromah. Duke’s defense will slow down the high powered offense of Elon and it should be a close game headed into halftime. I expect Duke to come out strong in the second half and send a strong message. By the powerful running of Desmond Scott and Jay Hollingsworth Duke should be able to confuse the defense of Elon. Elon will play well, but not well enough to knock off Duke.
Duke 24
Elon 16
Week 1: Elon
All of us Duke fans must not overlook Elon like we might have Richmond last year. Elon is a very strong team, and I know we all can remember sitting in a dead silent Wallace-Wade last year watching our beloved Blue Devils being handled by a Division 2 opponent. If we want to change that outcome this year, Duke's new defense will have to slow down the best player in the Southern Conference Scott Riddle.
Scott Riddle is the Quarterback for the Elon Phoenix. This will be his senior season and he has started at QB all three years to date. He had a great year last year, even better than our own Thaddeus Lewis. Riddle threw for 3,345 yards and 23 touchdowns. This man also threw for 31 touchdowns his Freshman year. Riddle is a great QB, but in the two biggest games of the season last year against Wake Forest and App State he threw a total of 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions. He is the preseason Southern Conference offensive player of the year, and is a great QB. He will not hurt us or anybody for that matter with his feet. Riddle ran for a total of -1 yards and 3 touchdowns last year, yes it's possible. He is definitly not a scrambling QB. Luckily he has lost his go to guy in Terrell Hudgins. Hudgins was one of the best WR's in the country last year. Terrell caught a record setting 16 touchdowns last year and also had a total of 1633 recieving yards. That is 8 more touchdowns and 600 more yards than our Donovan Varner had last year. Hudgins has since graduated, and is currently in training camp with the Dallas Cowboys. Lance Camp will be the man that will try to replace Hudgins this year. Camp had 600 recieving yards last year, and could be a serious threat this year. Sean Jeffcoat will also catch many passes from Riddle this year. The offensive line has lost some talent, and it will be interesting to see how it handles the change. Thye do have one preseason all-conference offensive lineman, but they did lose some guys.
The Running game will be strong as well this year. Jamal Shuman will lead the charge this year at Running back. Shuman is another great example that great things come in small packages. Shuman stands at a strong 5'7 but has run one of the fastest 40 times ever. Shuman ran a 4.2 40 yard dash before his freshman year at Elon. He ran for 700 yards last year and 3 touchdowns in a pass heavy offense.
The Elon Phoenix defense will be very strong as well. The defense has 5 preseason all-conference players, and they are returning their leading defensive man. Junior LB Josh Jones was Elon’s best defensive player last year and will be looking to impress a lot of people this year as an upperclassman. The Phoenix also have one of the best defensive linemen in the conference. Senior Brandon Ward is a preseason 1st team all-conference selection and had 5.5 sacks in 2009. Defensive tackle Jordan Gibson and defensive back Terrell Wilson will fill out the defense for the Phoenix. Wilson is a very strong defensive back, but the defense will be losing a couple of their starting defensive backs so this should be where Duke takes advantage of Elon with the many WR’s that Duke has. Elon is good, but they are good for a Division 2 team.
The kicking game is also very strong for Elon this year. Sophomore Adam Shreiner is the kicker for this team and he is very good. Shreiner was 17-23 with a long of 43 last year as a freshman and will look to have a better year this year. He is famous for kicking a 58 yard field goal in high school on local TV. You can see the kick on YouTube. In a weird scenario Quarterback Scott Riddle is also the starting punter for this team. I have never seen that before, but he is a very good punter. He averaged about 40 yards per punt, and never had a punt blocked. This kid is also a baseball player at Elon. I think he is planning on running for president in 2012 as well. So as you can see, the kicking game is strong as well as the offense and defense.
This will be the 5th season for Elon’s head coach Pat Lembo. He came from Elon after being the head coach at Lehigh University. In 2009 Elon finished 9-3 and earned their first ever FCS Playoff birth.
This is a good Elon team from top to bottom. This is probably the best team they have ever had under Coach Pat Lembo. I think Duke will win this game, but I think it will be a struggle like last year’s opener. Elon is picked to finish ahead of Richmond this year in the SoCon, and right behind #1 Appalachian State.
I think Riddle will have a very good game against Duke, and I think it will take a little time for Duke to figure out Elon’s defense. It will also take a little bit of time for us fans to realize that Thad Lewis isn’t throwing the ball for our team. We have some lockdown defensive guys like Matt Daniels, Chris Rwabukamba, and A.B Kromah. Duke’s defense will slow down the high powered offense of Elon and it should be a close game headed into halftime. I expect Duke to come out strong in the second half and send a strong message. By the powerful running of Desmond Scott and Jay Hollingsworth Duke should be able to confuse the defense of Elon. Elon will play well, but not well enough to knock off Duke.
Duke 24
Elon 16
I do not find the thread "unnecessary" 
