Schroeder will get plenty of reps in the spring - BDN Photo
Durham, N.C. - One thing is certain for Duke Football in 2010 and that is the fact that they'll be breaking in a green quarterback no matter who wins the battle. Replacing Thaddeus Lewis is no easy task, but Cutcliffe will use the spring to see which of three quarterbacks listed on the roster will step up. With projected starter Sean Renfree sidelined, sophomore Sean Schroeder will get some good looks. The Blue Devil Nation caught up with Schroeder after a recent scrimmage game and here is what he had to say -
Courtesy: Arizona State University Matt Lubick will serve as Duke’s Passing Game Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator while coaching the Blue Devil wide receivers.
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University head coach David Cutcliffe announced on Tuesday the hiring of Matt Lubick to the Blue Devil football staff. Lubick, who spent the last three seasons on the staff at Arizona State, will serve as Duke’s Passing Game Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator while coaching the Blue Devil wide receivers.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with Matt joining the Duke Football family,” Cutcliffe said. “Number one, he is a good man from an outstanding football family. I’ve known his father a long time and Sonny Lubick’s sensational track record in this business speaks for itself. Matt has proven that he is one of the top young coaches and certainly one of the top recruiters in the country. His knowledge and work ethic will pay dividends for us offensively, especially with our passing schemes. We know him to be a tireless worker and feel he will be an outstanding addition to our program.”
With the Sun Devils, Lubick served as Assistant Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator while coaching the safeties. In his three seasons spearheading the Sun Devils’ recruiting efforts, Arizona State’s classes ranked 17th (2008), 36th (2009) and 27th (2010) by Scout.com and 21st (2008), 30th (2009) and 35th (2010) by Rivals.com. In 2007, Lubick helped the Sun Devils to a 10-3 overall record that included a share of the Pac-10 championship, a final national ranking of No. 16 and an appearance in the Holiday Bowl.
Lubick is credited with signing Vontaze Burfict, the highest-rated prospect in Arizona State football history, as well as former Ole Miss standout Dexter McClusker, an All-SEC pick in 2009 after becoming the first player in league history to amass over 1,000 rushing yards and over 500 receiving yards in the same season. Lubick was named one of the top-10 recruiters in the Pac-10 by Rivals.com in each of his three years with the Sun Devils.
“I am extremely excited about the opportunity I have been given to coach at Duke,” said Lubick. “Duke is a special place with great people. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it as a member of Coach Cutcliffe’s staff.”
In 1995, Lubick got his start in coaching as a student assistant coach and academic supervisor under his father at Colorado State University. He then coached one season (1996) at California State-Northridge and two campaigns (1997-98) at San Jose State. From 1999-00, Lubick was on the staff at Oregon State where he coached the defensive backs while helping coordinate the Beavers’ recruiting efforts. In 2000, Oregon State enjoyed its finest season on the gridiron by posting an 11-1 overall ledger and defeating Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
A 1995 graduate of Colorado State, Lubick returned to his alma mater for a four-year stint on the coaching staff from 2001-04. Coaching the Rams’ wide receivers, he helped Colorado State to the 2002 Mountain West Conference championship as well as three straight bowl games in 2001 (New Orleans), 2002 (Liberty) and 2003 (San Francisco). Lubick then served two years (2005-06) on the staff at Ole Miss, coaching the wide receivers.
A native of Bozeman, Mont., Lubick attended Western Montana College where he earned four varsity letters as a defensive back on the football team and earned all-conference and NAIA All-America honors as a senior. He earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sport science from Colorado State in 1995.
Lubick replaces Scottie Montgomery, who departed the Duke staff to take a coaching position with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We greatly appreciate Scottie’s contributions to Duke Football,” Cutcliffe said. “Scottie is as fine of a representative of Duke University and the Duke Football program as there is. We wish him the best of luck with this new opportunity.”
The Blue Devils open the 2010 season at home against Elon on September 4. Season tickets may be purchased online at GoDuke.com or by calling the Duke Athletic Ticket Office toll free at 1-877-375-3853. The Duke Athletic Ticket Office is located in Cameron Indoor Stadium and open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Johnny Williams now in the secondary for Duke - BDN Photo
Durham, N.C. - If you follow Duke Football, yo know by now that Johnny Williams will move to the Duke secondary after playing wideout his first two seasons. He's learning on the fly and we got his thoughts coming off the field after Saturday's scrimmage.
How is the spring going so far?
Pretty good, pretty good. I'm catching on real fast and will go up and meet with coach, so it's going well.
How did you respond to switch positions from wideout to defensive back?
I responded by putting 100% into it and make sure that when I go on the field, I know what I'm doing.
When did you and Cut first talk about changing positions?
Before the Christmas break, me and Coach Cut talked. I wasn't sure if I really, really wanted to but thought it might be a good move, so I made a decision to go over there, If it's good for the team, it's good for me.
Do you like it on defense?
Yeah [smiling] It's really intense.
You get to hit people ...
Yeah, it's fun to hit people.
What is the biggest adjustment?
Reading keys from one to two and conditioning.
Now that you are on the other side, who is the toughest receiver to cover?
Everyone of them is tough [smiling]I just try my best to listen to coach and keep what he said in my head.
Do you guys trash talk a bit?
Yeah, a lot, a lot. I trash talk a lot.
Anyone in particular today?
Probably Austin. He brought a little bit today, so I shot it back at him
Your goal the rest of the spring is?
To be the best I can and put everything I have got into this and help my team. Football is my love, you know.
Are the workouts different for you now?
No difference. I still catch balls and everything to keep my hands right. I probably get a little extra running in because on defense you have pursuit angles and stuff like that which need conditioning.
Just another Monday morning for the Blue Devil Nation. The men whipped the Hokies, the women whipped the Terps to win the ACC regular season, Duke signs a football prospect, two prospects visit during the basketball game a spring football update and of course, the young lady profiling in the pic above is our cheerleader of the week.
A lot of people will call Duke's 67-55 win over Virginia Tech ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Shooting just 29% Duke had their second worst game from the field this season and still won. Of course, they beat UConn as well shooting 28%. So, you can't hit your shots and win. That's a beautiful thing for a Duke fan. The Duke defense held Virginia Tech to 55 points. That's a beautiful thing to Mike Krzyzewski.
Duke won the battle of the boards - again. History shows this is a rarity which means this is the best rebounding team Krzyzewski has coached at Duke. In fact, this team is 20-2 when they win the battle of the boards this season
Have you heard that Brian Zoubek had 16 boards last evening? Yeah, I figured you had. Amazing effort, huh? You'll hear from the "Zoubinator" shortly for we caught up with him to get some post game comments last evening.
At 11-2 in conference, Duke is in complete control of their destiny in a bid to claim the ACC regular season title. Duke goes on the road to Virginia and then Maryland before closing the season out at home against North Carolina. A split on the road and a win over UNC would almost assuredly lock it up for Duke. Maybe they'll win them all, but then again, Duke cannot overlook anyone down the stretch. Maryland is right there with Duke in the standings, while Virginia needs a win to boost their NCAA hopes and UNC just needs wins and are playing for their tournament life, even if it is the NIT.
There goes that Conner Vernon again! After making a splash as a true freshman, the wide receiver caught the only touchdown pass during this weekends closed scrimmage. A lot of kids fall prey to the sophomore jinx, but if his performance this past Saturday was any indication, he can avoid that.
So, I am watching the scrimmage and something seems a bit weird and then it comes to me, via seeing Thaddeus Lewis on the sidelines. Duke is breaking in two new quarterbacks and both are green as grass at this time. FWIW, Lewis told me he'd be heading to the NFL Combine and we wish him luck. We wish Duke's two new quarterbacks well too.
Speaking of Sean Schroeder and Brandon Connette, both had their moments. Schroeder ran the scout team last year while Connette was still in high school. Connette seems to be the better runner to go with good size but Schroeder was comfortable and threw the ball well. We'll have an interview with Schroeder up shortly.
There were sixty prospects on campus on Junior Day for Duke Football and Duke got a good one to verbal in Jalen "Scoot" Simmons, a running back with 4.5 speed out of Charlotte. He picked the Blue Devils over UNC, NCSU, Clemson and a couple of SEC schools.
Props to the women's basketball team for almost clinching the ACC title with a win over Maryland. The Terp's disrespected the women, walking through them as they got into position for the nation anthem and so Duke gave them a Christmas present. No, not a real present. They unleashed Karima Christmas
Finally, the prospects attending last nights Duke-Virginia Tech basketball game were Marshall Plumlee and Michael Haynes. For more on that, might I suggest you join Blue Devil Nation Premium for full site access? That's where we talk about the other sport known as recruiting.
DURHAM, N.C. – Quarterbacks Brandon Connette and Sean Schroeder combined to complete 19-of-32 passes for 179 yards and one touchdown to highlight Duke’s 50-snap scrimmage on Saturday afternoon at Wallace Wade Stadium.
“Good work,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said following the session. “I really want to get an evaluation of where we are. You know you are a ways away, but how far away are we? I wanted to see who the natural playmakers are and give them an opportunity to step up. It wasn’t all that complicated, (the defense) did some pressures and stunts, particularly on third downs. There were plenty of things to build on. The biggest thing we need to do is continue to play faster; play with speed. “
Schroeder hit on 10-of-13 throws for 127 yards including a 65-yard scoring strike to Conner Vernon. Connette was nine-of-19 through the air for 52 yards.
“I want to see Schroeder play a little faster; he is not playing as fast as he can play,” Cutcliffe noted. “He has to understand the speed of the game and know there is another level to that. Connette is just trying to find himself. He is just learning the terminology, just trying to remember the verbage right now and play natural. He is doing some nice things at times.”
“It was a solid day,” said Schroeder. “We obviously can improve on a lot of things; this is only our fourth practice out here. It was a good step in the right direction. With Coach (Kurt) Roper, we are trying to get the schemes down right now and we are cleaning some stuff up.”
Tight end Jack Farrell and wideout Tyree Watkins each had a game-best three catches for 14 and 22 yards, respectfully. Jay Hollingsworth paced the ground game with 19 yards on six attempts.
Defensively, linebacker Abraham Kromah picked up a game-high six tackles while defensive end Kenny Anunike posted four tackles, three tackles for loss and one quarterback sack. Linebacker Austin Gamble contributed four stops, one sack and one quarterback pressure.
“Our linebackers showed up a little more than they have been,” Cutcliffe said. “It was good to see (Kromah) and good to see Tyree Glover, Austin Gamble and some of the young guys showing up in that regard. Our secondary is continuing to grow. I thought Johnny Williams had a nice day.”
Duke returns to the practice field on Monday. The annual Spring Game is set for Saturday, March 27 in Wallace Wade Stadium.
The Blue Devils open the 2010 season at home against Elon on September 4. Season tickets may be purchased online at GoDuke.com or by calling the Duke Athletic Ticket Office toll free at 1-877-375-3853. The Duke Athletic Ticket Office is located in Cameron Indoor Stadium and open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Durham, N.C. - One of the things Coach Cutcliffe and the staff will concentrate on in the off season is running the football better. As always, that begins with the offensive line and BDN talked with Brian Moore about what might be done -
You must be logged in to post a comment.