It wasn’t long ago when it felt like the biggest complaint Duke football fans had about the offense stemmed from the pocket.
Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag], a former Texas Longhorn in his first year as a starter, opened the ACC schedule with 484 yards and three touchdowns in three games. He completed fewer than 51% of his passes and averaged fewer than 5.5 yards per attempt over that run, a stretch he concluded with 70 yards on 24 attempts against the Florida State Seminoles.
Over the past three games, however, the offense has looked like a new unit, and Murphy’s play has been a critical reason why. The first-year Blue Devil racked up 865 yards against SMU, Miami, and NC State, including his first career 300-yard game against the Hurricanes. He’s thrown eight touchdowns in the last 12 quarters to bring his season total to 22, just two shy of a longstanding single-season school record.
His completion percentage jumped up to 61.7%, and he’s averaged 7.2 yards per attempt over this recent run of form.
“He’s been more comfortable in what we’ve been doing,” offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said on Monday. “I think for him, he’s feeling confident in the speed of the game. Things are starting to slow down for him.”
Brewer, who also joined the Duke program this offseason, thinks fans should keep Murphy’s inexperience before this season. He only started two games at his old school, and the former four-star prospect is just 20 years old.
“We just have to keep remembering that this is his first year being the guy and really playing,” Brewer said. “Things are starting to slow down and he’s starting to see things more clearly in that world.”