crazietalk.net

According to The Devils Den:

March 4, 6, 8, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29

April 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13*

*- Spring Game

Much Better!!! (Although I won't be able to go to Spring Game...arrgggh!)

There is some information starting to filter out on spring practice. According to free football forum at The Devil's Den:

1. Brandon Braxton will return to wide receiver as we have more depth at safety than wide receiver. IMO, this is a good move as Braxton provides experience to line-up opposite Jamison Crowder. Most folks focus in on the passes Braxton dropped, but he caught 40 passes for over 350 yards on a team that featured Conner Vernon and Donovan Varner.

2. Shaq Powell will return to RB.

3. Nick Sink will remain at TE.

4. Number 1 priority for spring and summer is improving on defense (no shit Sherlock!).

There was a radio interview with Coach Cutcliffe this morning where these items and much more info was discussed. I'm looking for a link.

Dominic McDonald underwent knee surgery and will miss spring practice. The injury bug bites us early:

Continuing a trend from last season, LB Dominic McDonald, an early enrollee, underwent surgery Monday to repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee. He will miss Spring practice.

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/dukenow/e ... rylink=cpy

Any clue as to what he was doing to get injured?

CameronBornAndBred wrote:Any clue as to what he was doing to get injured?

Playing a sport at Duke.

Today's the day. Spring practice begins!

Devil in the Blue Dress wrote:Today's the day. Spring practice begins!

Woohooo!!!!! Looking forward to hearing some meaningful reports throughout the practice sessions.

WeRDuke!!!!!


LoveIt!!!

Practice resumes today!

Bob Green wrote:Practice resumes today!

Hopefully, no injury reports from day 1.

In exciting but totally irrelevant to Spring Practice news, I renewed my season tickets today.

Bob Green wrote:In exciting but totally irrelevant to Spring Practice news, I renewed my season tickets today.

Amazing. We just got ours today. You are speedy.

Scrimmage report:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml? ... EM_ID=4200

The Duke running game churned out 201 yards, led 48-yard efforts from Duncan and senior Juwan Thompson, and a 45-yard performance from sophomore Shaquille Powell. Duncan averaged 6.0 yards per rush on eight carries with scores from four and eight yards out, while Thompson averaged 5.3 yards per rush on nine carries. Powell’s six-carry performance included a 29-yard rush that was Duke’s longest of the day.

Scrimmage reports are so frustrating: we rushed for 201 yards, woohoo!!! The running game is awesome...sounds like our defense still sucks.

It's a lose, lose situation.

The Devils Den has an interview up with Thomas Sirk:

http://duke.scout.com/2/1278667.html

and a post in their spring practice thread states the short passing game is looking great. Information has been hard to come by. I'm not sure how many practices have been open to the public, etc...

Bob Green wrote:The Devils Den has an interview up with Thomas Sirk:

http://duke.scout.com/2/1278667.html

and a post in their spring practice thread states the short passing game is looking great. Information has been hard to come by. I'm not sure how many practices have been open to the public, etc...

Nice read. I like what he has to say about Boone looking good, and the size/speed of our receivers.

I heard a nice interview with Coach Cut on 99.9 The Fan (in Durham), on Tuesday. He was discussing the Team, and also the future of Sean and Conner!!!
And Desmond, also!


Gonna Miss those young men!!!!

Bob Green wrote:Scrimmage report:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml? ... EM_ID=4200

The Duke running game churned out 201 yards, led 48-yard efforts from Duncan and senior Juwan Thompson, and a 45-yard performance from sophomore Shaquille Powell. Duncan averaged 6.0 yards per rush on eight carries with scores from four and eight yards out, while Thompson averaged 5.3 yards per rush on nine carries. Powell’s six-carry performance included a 29-yard rush that was Duke’s longest of the day.

Scrimmage reports are so frustrating: we rushed for 201 yards, woohoo!!! The running game is awesome...sounds like our defense still sucks.

It's a lose, lose situation.

Whoa! It's a Spring Scrimmage. Before we declare doom to our season in March/April , let's acknowledge a few things....

1. The Spring is an unusual time when you don't have seniors and you don't have all your freshman. We also moved on DL back to TE. Why is all this relevant.
a. We are the deepest at O-line with real talent. We can almost go 2 deep with 3 star talent...and the top recruits over the last 4 years were RBs. Plus, our QB is not a newbie. Take a look at the bowl game, our running game was pounding Cincy. These are very good things to improve our passing game and our chances of winning. I definitely don't see that as a losing proposition.
b. I seem to recall Kenny Annunike and a few others weren't going to be suiting up for some spring activities. If you take our best Defensive linemen out and match them up against our most talented group in the o-line, I think I'd be more concerned if we DIDN'T put up some big rushing numbers.

2. We did get a few turnovers on defense. Coach goes very vanilla and looks for play makers in the Spring, getting 2 INTs shows our DBs are doing well in that regard. Those 2 INTs came off Sirk, so it looks like the QB issue is definitively going to be Boone. I've watched the hype tape from the first days of Spring ball and they've got a few picks there too. Our freshman got one of those...bottom line, we may have something to be excited about there.

When you play yourself, every good play is associated with an issue. Nature of the game in the Spring. Nothing there to get to worried about. The more important questions are: Was the play sloppy? Were the guys missing assignments or did someone make a great play? Did we tackle well? Did our line maintain their blocks and get into the second level? Is the read option install leading to bad exchanges? Were the picks on Sirk related to accuracy, tip ball, bad decision, bad route...what's behind that as he'll see some playing time this year and every game is critical for us and I'd be hesitant to put him in a tight game if he's got a penchant for throwing picks.

I'm really hoping to see the Spring Game, but I don't think I can get it.

The Football Fan wrote: When you play yourself, every good play is associated with an issue.

Yup, that sums up the whole thing for me. Especially since we aren't there to see what is being reported in person. At least watching it, we can decide if the D actually was weak, or maybe the offense just came up with some really impressive and creative plays. I'm hoping we'll be able to tune into espn3 to see at least part of it.

The Football Fan wrote: Whoa! It's a Spring Scrimmage. Before we declare doom to our season in March/April , let's acknowledge a few things....

I was joking around. Optimism is my strong suite.