Duke Football: Can the Blue Devils rebound in 2022?
The offense
The Blue Devils have had the responsibility of completely reinventing their offense after the departure of their offensive staff and five skill positions.
Of the five returning starters on offense last season, only one of them is outside of the offensive line. Coach Elko relies on the development of long-time offensive coordinator Kevin Jones to recreate the highly productive he has been creating since his days at Western Michigan, Texas Tech, and Memphis. There is potential with young players having to fill in as starters. There should not, however, be huge expectations in their first couple of games as starters.
Duke will restart completely at the quarterback position as they lose their starter in Gunnar Holmberg. They finished last season ranked 64th in the nation in passing yards per game (237.9), so there was some process. Last year, sophomore Riley Leonard completed 37-of-62 of his passes for 381 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a quarterback rating of 113.4. He also rushed for 17 yards and two touchdowns on 47 rushing attempts. Moore was more utilized in RPO schemes in 2021 and could be considered in a similar system in 2022.
Besides their offensive coaches, the toughest loss from last season is their 1,000-yard rusher in running back Mataeo Durant.
The Blue Devils do have options as they could turn to Waters as their full-time starting running back in 2022. Waters is their most experienced player returning in the backfield for the Blue Devils. Last season, he rushed for 197 yards and a touchdown on 39 carries. They could turn to Jaylen Coleman as their starting bruising tailback in 2022 despite only rushing for 14 yards in 11 carries last season.
There is potential with Duke’s pass-catchers despite only returning one starter. Senior Jalon Calhoun has been one of the most reliable playmakers for the past three seasons.
In his three seasons at Duke, Calhoun caught 141 receptions for 1,487 yards and nine touchdowns. He will lead the Blue Devils’ passing offense to the same productivity or more despite the massive changes to the personnel. Senior wide receivers Eli Pancol and Darrell Harding Jr. will step up as full-time starters for Duke in 2022. Last season, the two receivers accumulated 29 receptions for 374 yards and one touchdown. Duke is also looking to sophomore Cole Finney for the starting tight end in 2022.
The best news for the Blue Devils’ offense this upcoming season is that they return four of their five starters from last year.
This was an offensive line that gave up 27 sacks this past season, the fifth-fewest sacks allowed in the ACC. Junior left tackle Graham Barton is a 2022 preseason Athlon Sports third-team All-ACC.
Two of their more experienced starters in senior guard Maurice McIntyre and Jacob Monk also return in 2022. John Gelotte returns as a two-year starter at the right tackle position, while redshirt sophomore Addison Penn is set to start at center despite not having seen a lot of playing time.