Just over four months ago, the Duke football team could only play seven-on-seven for its spring game.
As the team transitioned from former coach Mike Elko, who left to coach Texas A&M, and new coach Manny Diaz, the Blue Devils didn’t have enough healthy offensive linemen on the roster for full 11-on-11 games the entire way through.
However, the line that will take the field against Elon on Friday bears little resemblance to that barren unit. During his first Monday press conference of the year, Diaz said the team got better because it got older.
“It’s the trenches, right?” Diaz said. “There’s a difference between being 22, 23 years old and being 18 and 19 years old…You’re just not putting a guy in the game that has never done it, has never prepared for a game, is surprised by the speed of it, and that’s just a luxury that past generations did not have.”
The Blue Devils added two starters through the transfer portal, left tackle Bruno Fina from UCLA and left guard Caleb Krings from, funnily enough, Elon. Between the two, they bring more than 40 starts along the offensive line into Durham.
Diaz even took pride in the experience of his backups, noting that four of his second five have solid collegiate resumes. All in all, the unit filled out as well as a Duke fan could hope back in April.