⚡ CFB Dashboard

Jonah Burton had a good explanation for arriving a little late to Tuesday's media availability...he had stayed after practice to catch more passes. "Just catching balls after practice every day, getting that connection down and just building the trust in between everyone," he said. Burton was explaining the passing game's improvement. Meanwhile, Nick Morris Jr., asked about William & Mary, had offered a pretty direct explanation for why Duke cannot afford to interrupt that kind of work. "We need to even ramp up the intensity this week," Morris said. His point went beyond the customary warning about overlooking an opponent, especially one that Duke is between a five and six touchdown favorite against. On Saturday Morris sees an opportunity to keep putting in work against an opponent that the outside world may deem rather unimportant. There is no interest, in his words, in having a "chill-out week." And that's the more interesting assignment for Duke entering Saturday. As we outline in our to be published opponent preview, William & Mary's weaknesses line up poorly with the Blue Devils' strengths. And, not to spoil the major point, but this should be a fourth win. Comfortably. Still, there is a difference between getting through the week undefeated and getting something useful out of it, and Morris believes the responsibility for making that distinction starts inside the locker room. "The intensity was very high in practice today, and as a leader, the onus is upon me and the other captains, Matt and Jerry, to make sure we're not taking a step back this week," he said. There is some substance behind that expectation. Morris described the offseason as the hardest-working of his time at Duke, with competition forcing players to raise their intensity. The departures and the feeling that last season's championship had not earned the program much recognition added to it. Now comes the test of whether Duke can maintain that edge without needing the opponent to supply it. Interestingly, Morris is perfectly happy with one thing a comfortable win can reduce, namely the workload on game day. "I love that we took care of business against Stanford and allowed the younger guys to get in," he said, pointing to Asher Wasserman's late hit as something he enjoyed watching. His enthusiasm was not limited to seeing a teammate receive an opportunity. Morris believes the rotation helps the players who are already established, allowing them to give Duke better snaps rather than simply more of them. And, as he explained, the benefit is not confined to substituting one player for another. Morris then highlighted the ability to move Kevin O'Connor inside while keeping Bryce Davis and Tyshon Reed on the field, creating a passing down combination that brings several of Duke's most disruptive players together. "It's a blessing that we're able to have a package where those three are on the field at the same time," Morris said. That is a useful development coming off a four sack performance against Stanford. The Blue Devils also held the Cardinal to two conversions on 11 third downs. Against a William & Mary offense that has allowed 16 sacks through four games, Duke should have opportunities to make those combinations matter again. On the other side, Burton's description of the offense carried a similar theme as he pointed out that contributing does not always mean receiving more individual opportunities. Illustrating that point, Burton caught four passes for 76 yards and a touchdown at Illinois. Against Stanford, he finished with one reception for 10 yards while Jared Richardson and Jaivon Solomon combined for 95. Those numbers reinforce the point Diaz made Monday about different players affecting different games. And then Burton's answer later in the week added something the receiving totals cannot show. "I feel like our receiver room really feeds off the run game," he said. "Just going in, busting our butts for Nate, getting our blocks, even if we're like 30 yards away from the play, making sure that we're giving our all for our brothers on the O-line, running backs, because we know they're going to give their all for us." That's the right approach for this year's offense. Duke does not need its receivers to pretend they have no interest in catching passes, but the team does need their effort to remain dependable on the plays when someone else gets the ball. A big part of the buy-in of this group has been the realization that a receiver can have a quiet statistical afternoon and still do work that helps sustain the team's best advantage. Moving to the next game against a Tribe defense allowing 281.3 rushing yards per game, those assignments should be part of Saturday's evaluation. The expectation is that Duke will find room to run (or they'll just run over and through Willam AND Mary) and the receivers' responsibility is to help make that happen, then be ready when the coverage creates a passing opportunity. Burton sees the relationships within the offense helping that process along. He recalled noticing it almost immediately after arriving at Duke with people introducing themselves throughout the building, then players spending time in the treatment area and locker room talking rather than disappearing into their phones. "It was everyone connecting, just talking, almost just old school," he said. It's a little detail, but a very very important one for a "developmental" program as Coach Diaz refers to his operation in Durham. It keeps everyone on message and engaged and pushing to the common goal. Not to mention it has kept this group pretty even keeled when adversity has shown up. Burton described the opener against Tulane as a game in which several newcomers were shaking off rust and getting back to full speed football. He sees the passing game becoming more comfortable through the repetitions since, including the extra catches after practice that delayed his arrival Tuesday. That fits what we have seen without requiring us to declare the development complete. Illinois provided important production from Burton. Stanford brought consequential catches from Richardson and Solomon. In short the Blue Devils are piecing it all together and continually building and William & Mary should provide opportunities to continue that work, but in a live ball situation, meaning that the favorable matchup does not excuse a careless throw, an unfinished block or a receiver being somewhere other than where Eget expects him. Nor should a comfortable score make those things less important in the film review, something the coaches have promised. From his point of view, Morris is not dismissing the opponent either. He pointed to William & Mary's comeback at Villanova as evidence of a team that plays hard and believes it can win. He expects that belief to travel to Durham, but from our point of view...we still expect Duke to execute and leverage its multiple advantages over and over to come away with the result. Primarily because, as Morris and Burton affirmed again and again, Duke isn't taking this week off.