Jaylen Stinson nearly played his final game in a Duke uniform already.
Last November, with the Blue Devils locker room reeling after former head coach Mike Elko left to take the Texas A&M job, the safety announced that he would enter the transfer portal. Six weeks later, however, he withdrew his name and decided he would return to Durham for one last season.
During Duke’s press conference at the ACC Football Kickoff on Wednesday, Stinson explained how new coach Manny Diaz lured him back into the program.
“When Manny got to come to the front and just talk us and tell us his plan and what he had planned for this team, it just built confidence,” Stinson said. “We knew he wanted to do the right thing with us and we could trust him as a coach, and I knew he would take this program in the right direction.”
Stinson also said Diaz called him up personally on his very first day in Durham, something that meant a lot to the veteran defensive back.
Stinson finished with 88 total tackles last season, the second-most on the team, and he intercepted one pass and broke up six others.