New coach, new quarterback and new season for Duke.
The Blue Devils feature many fresh cast members and embark on a quest for a third consecutive winning season by facing visiting Elon on Friday night at Durham, N.C.
Manny Diaz is the first-year coach for Duke, arriving to replace Mike Elko after serving as Penn State’s defensive coordinator. He’s a former head coach at Miami from 2019-21.
“We want to create a high volume of negative plays,” Diaz said. “It’s important to us to lead the nation in tackle-for-losses.”
Duke will have Maalik Murphy, a former Texas starter, as its first-string quarterback.
“It’s kind of relief to me,” Murphy said. “A lot of work put in. I kind of give all thanks to the quarterback room. Those guys pushed me to the best of my ability.”
Murphy joined the program in January after two seasons at Texas, where he started in two of the seven games he played. The Longhorns defeated BYU and Kansas State in the two games Murphy started, but the QB-rich depth chart happens to include Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning.
Murphy beat out a group that included quarterbacks Grayson Loftis and Henry Belin IV, with the latter two each recording wins with Duke as starters. Loftis started the final five games of the 2023 season, with the Blue Devils winning three of those — including the Birmingham Bowl against Troy.
“We felt like there was no losers in the competition,” Diaz said. “We feel really good about our quarterback room, but we felt it was time (to name a starter).”
Elon, coming off a 6-5 season, was picked to finish sixth in the 16-team Coastal Athletic Association, which generally ranks high in the Football Championship Subdivision.
“We know who we’ve got,” Elon coach Tony Trisciani said of the team’s personnel. “The majority of the players have been recruited and developed by us. We know what we’ve got in this building.”
Elon has a quarterback with power-conference ties as well. Matthew Downing is with his fourth school and seventh collegiate season after stops at Georgia, Texas Christian and Louisiana Tech. He was with the Phoenix last year, starting in most of the team’s games and throwing for 19 touchdowns with four interceptions.
Elon’s defense has been a strong area for most recent seasons. Junior safety Caleb Curtain is the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in the CAA.
“We need to do the same things a lot more consistently,” Curtain said. “A lot more little details we need to pay attention to.”
Elon lost each of its last three season-opening games.
The Phoenix last met Duke 10 years ago, with the Blue Devils winning 52-13 in the season opener.
–Field Level Media
