The Duke football team announced its 2024 starters on Monday, complete with four defensive linemen. However, just because Wesley Williams, Aaron Hall, Kendy Charles, and Vincent Anthony Jr. won the four top lines doesn’t mean they’ll take every snap.
First-year head coach Manny Diaz has preached depth all offseason, saying his defense is built around subbing players in and out. During his first Monday press conference of the year, Diaz brought up that depth yet again, this time specifically at defensive tackle. While Hall and Charles have received most of the work, the Blue Devils coach said more than a half-dozen players could see the field over the first few games.
“The good news is that all the guys we have at that spot have all improved,” Diaz said. “They’ve all gotten better, and they all deserve the right to play…That’s kind of an M.O. of this defense anyway, you’ll see a lot of people up front playing, and I suspect you would see a lot of that throughout the month of September.”
Diaz rattled off names like senior Christian Rorie, redshirt freshmen Desmond Aladuge and David Anderson, and even true freshman Preston Watson as potential depth pieces. Watson was listed as Charles’ backup on the initial depth chart.
While the general bucket of names isn’t questioned, the hierarchy among the backups remains a little fuzzy to Diaz. He pointed out that, because Duke couldn’t field full offensive lines in the spring, the unit got a late start on full-throttle reps. Not that it gives him any more time to debate.
“We called the 12 opponents we played, it turns out none of them care,” Diaz joked. “They want us to play anyway, and so we’ll still bring those guys and line them up against Elon.”