Duke coach David Cutcliffe and Blue Devils players DeVon Edwards and Thomas Sirk talk with reporters at the 2016 ACC Kickoff.
THE MODERATOR: Coach Cutcliffe will make an opening comment, then we’ll take questions for the student-athletes.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: I’m going to start this by just commenting on my two good friends back here. Very proud of Thomas Sirk and DeVon Edwards, who both have had incredible careers on the field at Duke, and exemplify what we’re trying to accomplish off the field. They’re both incredibly gifted students. They’re great leaders. I’m proud to be their teammate. I feel that the rest of our team feels the same way. We’re thrilled to be down here together with them.
The 2016 team, we’ve got a lot of great elements. More speed than we’ve had since we’ve been at Duke. We’ve got a lot of experience in the right areas. We do break in two new specialists after four years of really great duty by Will Monday and Ross Martin. We’ll have a new punter, a new place kicker. That’s a significant question mark. I want to see both lines of scrimmage mature quickly. I think that’s going to dictate a lot about our football team.
The other part that always dictates a lot about your football team is their work in the summer, because they’re truly on their own. So when we start August 8th, some of those questions will be answered. But I’m very proud of what our young people are putting into it.
We have high expectations, which is a good thing when it comes to Duke football. I know they have set their sights high.
I’ll turn it over to Thomas and let you hear from him.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions for Thomas Sirk.
Q. Tell us about your Achilles rehab, then particularly what your doctors and therapists are doing in working with you to try to keep you from having a compensation injury.
THOMAS SIRK: I started the rehab process immediately after having surgery. Continued to progress every week, every day really. Right now I’m just listening and focusing on what my trainers say.
I have a great support group around me with the doctors and with my trainers. No better place I’d rather be than Duke University when something like this happens.
As I continue to do more exercises, running, dropping back, shuffling, I just continue to listen to what they tell me to do. We’ll see where I’m at when the fall camp starts.
Q. Thomas, the adversity of the injury, speak on how you’ve been overcoming that and moving forward. Also what you’ve seen from the other quarterbacks in the room with you.
THOMAS SIRK: Having tore my right one in 2013, I kind of knew what to expect from the injury. I knew what the process is going to be composed of. Immediately I accepted there’s nothing you can do about the injury. I had to move forward.
I listened to my trainers and what they told me. They told me we could overcome this one as I did my right one. I’ve taken that mindset and had a positive attitude from the very beginning.
That’s one thing you can control, is control your attitude. That’s what I’ve did. Every week I’ve gotten better and seen improvement.
As far as the other quarterbacks, I’ve seen a group of guys willing to work. I commend all those guys, Parker, Daniel Jones, Quentin Harris. They’re my brothers. We’ve worked together to make our team better. We watch film together. We do everything together to see how we can make our offense the best it can possibly be.
Q. Thomas, you were named co-MVP of the Pinstripe Bowl. Not that you’re not a confident guy, but what did it do to your psyche going into the off-season?
THOMAS SIRK: I think for myself, it overall motivated our team, reaching that steppingstone in the first bowl win since 1961. It’s been excitement. We love having that trophy. We love having the rings from the bowl game.
We thank the Pinstripe Bowl people for having us that week. It’s an experience that my teammates and myself will remember forever. Moving into the season, winning that first bowl game, that’s just one of our goals as we continue to move forward. We want to win another bowl game, win the ACC championship and ultimately play in the College Football Playoffs.
Q. You were a top-five scoring offense in the ACC. Coach Cutcliffe said he thought this team could be more balanced offensively. Can this team be a top-five team scoring-wise this year?
THOMAS SIRK: I believe we can. I believe we’re going to take another step forward, like coach said.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: It starts up front with our offensive line. They’ve been more willing than any guys in our locker room to take the extra step, do what they need to do to be the best they can. We have a lot of play-makers, explosive guys on our offense. We are not limited. Once you get the ball in their hand, they’re going to be able to make big-time plays for us.
Q. Coming off a second Achilles injury, does that change how you approach the position in terms of how you want to play and maybe stay in the pocket a little bit more this season?
THOMAS SIRK: I don’t think it’s going to change who I am. I am the quarterback that I am. I pride myself on being a hard-nosed football player. If it need be me running the football, I’ll do so. If that’s part of the game plan that week, I’m not going to change what I do as far as getting outside of the pocket and scrambling. I’ll continue to make plays down the field and running.
That’s an advantage for a dual-threat quarterback, to be able to step up in the pocket and get some extra first downs with your legs when the coverages are breaking down and there’s nothing up and down the field.
Q. Two game-winning drives last year. Obviously a lot of excitement for Duke during those two games. Tell us about the preparation that goes into a game week that allowed you the ability to engineer such game-winning drives.
THOMAS SIRK: It starts on Sunday. You start watching film on the team for that upcoming week. Coach Cut has taught me, the quarterbacks before me, Sean Renfree and Anthony Boone, that you have to put yourself in every situation possible. You have to prepare yourself for overtime games. You have to prepare yourself for third-and-longs.
That’s the way we watch film. We watch film first downs, second downs, third downs. We break it down from third-and-long to third-and-four to -six and third-and-two to -three. You try to put yourself in every situation. When Saturday comes, you have to go out there and play. You’ve rehearsed everything. You have to go out there, be comfortable with what you’re doing.
THE MODERATOR: Thomas, thank you. We’ll take questions now for DeVon Edwards.
Q. You’re one kickoff short of the NCAA record. Can you talk about your emphasis in both of the roles you play. Do they complement or conflict?
DeVON EDWARDS: I would say that being a kick returner, sometimes it does conflict with being a cornerback. You run a hundred yards, you have to go back and play defense. In big games when you get winded, you have to hurry up and catch your breath. I’ve done a great job of sort of overcoming that aspect of doing both of those roles.
I don’t really think they affect one another other than in the aspect of the game of getting an interception or something. You work on your return skills while doing that also.
Those are two completely different roles that I’m trying to get better at each and every day. The record for the NCAA, it’s been right around the corner, but that’s not really what I’m worried about. I’m worried about me. If I make the record, I would just focus on how far I can break it. It’s not just something that I steadily worry about. It if it happens, it happens.
Q. What lasting words of wisdom did Jeremy Cash leave with you in leading the secondary?
DeVON EDWARDS: Cash, he was a big role in our defense. He sort of told me to stay focused, don’t try to do everything yourself. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing and have fun out there. You’re going to feel like you need to do more, you need to do this and this. Not really the best route to take.
By him giving me that wisdom, just keep having fun, do what I’ve been doing these past three years, is the best advice I’ve took from him.
Q. The Big 12 commissioner said a couple days ago that kickoffs were the most dangerous play in all of college football. There’s been a lot of talk about the NCAA getting rid of them. I’m sure I know where you stand on this. Your thoughts of getting rid of kickoffs?
DeVON EDWARDS: Oh, I wouldn’t like that very much. I feel like that’s a game-changer play. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of injuries that come with that, though. You have people coming full speed.
I would think the returner is the person that would take the most punishment at the end of the day, and I don’t really have a problem with it. I like kick returning and I don’t think it should go away.
Q. We heard Thomas talk about engineering game-winning drives. What can the defense do this year to ensure that it doesn’t take a game-winning drive to get a victory?
DeVON EDWARDS: As a defense, we need to come out and compete every play. We know one play can change the game. There’s no need to take a play off. Being in the back, one mistake can cost a touchdown. Going in with that mindset has everyone trusting each other, knowing we’re going to have each other’s back each and every play. Just going out there competing each and every play, not knowing what play is going to change the game.
Q. I know where this team ranked defensively in the ACC. How good can this defense be again? Is maybe red zone defense an area that’s been a point of emphasis?
DeVON EDWARDS: That just comes with competing and playing. We’ve had some injuries last year, Brian Fields being hurt, had to have some young guys step up and play a big role in our defense. We tried a couple of guys there. Even myself. Even when I went in that spot, I had a target on my back also.
Going through that process sort of helped our defense. We were young. We have a lot of guys in our secondary back. We have a lot of our linebackers that got some reps and learned from some guys like Dwayne Norman. Up front, we had some guys get some experience, as well.
Just being more aware of the type of players that we have, learning the way each other played, that has a big emphasis on us doing better as a defense as a whole and in the red zone particularly.
THE MODERATOR: DeVon and Thomas, thank you. We’ll bring Coach Cutcliffe back to the podium for questions.
Q. About Thomas Sirk, in terms of evaluating the kind of year he had last year, his passing efficiency numbers were mediocre, but third best total offense in Duke history, fifth in the ACC in scoring. Can you evaluate his year, and where can he take it this year?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: I think one of the things, passing efficiency is an interesting statistic. It doesn’t always reflect what I think a quarterback does well.
Do I think we could have thrown for a little higher percentage? That part of it, yes. But I talked with Scottie Montgomery a year ago about the kind of player Thomas was. We were going to try to take some shots more downfield. I think we could have hit more of them. That’s the only negative aspect I can see at this point when I review.
Thomas takes care of the ball pretty darn well. He’s a threat. He’s a true dual threat. He was one of a four quarterbacks that ran for over 800 yards and threw for over 2600 yards a year ago in the FBS. So balance is his forté.
The other number that you can’t measure, as I look back, is his leadership, his work ethic, his genuineness, his ability to care about his team much more than he does himself. No statistic that reflects who he is. I think that’s probably something that gets lost in athletics. We’ve done a great job with technology and crunching numbers. It’s always what somebody is.
I think you have to be careful as a coach to remember you better understand who people are. That’s a whole different aspect of their game.
Q. DeVon Edwards, he is the leading returning tackler of all the players in the league. Obviously he leads in kickoff return touchdowns. He’s among the tops in career interceptions among active players. Tell us what about his unique skill set enables him to do all these things? What’s it like having him as a weapon?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: He is complete. He is physical. If you look how he’s built, remember Bob Sanders that played so well in the National Football League at about DeVon’s size, he has a powerful lower body. That allows him to be an incredibly gifted one-on-one tackler. He is also a great blitzer. We will use him in that regard.
He has got an incredible skill set catching the ball. I was watching our Northwestern game two days ago from a year ago, early drives, he intercepts a pass. It may be the most remarkable run I’ve ever seen. That gets lost. At the moment I’m thinking, We got to get him the football on offense, so don’t be surprised (laughter).
He has got great feet, great quickness. He’s a great sprinter. He’s much faster than people realize. He’s explosive. He has every gift.
All of those things combined, I mean, he is truly a phenomenal kickoff return man. I’ve had Willie Gault, some great ones. Nothing comes close to what DeVon Edwards is as a kickoff return man.
Again, you go back to that young man, one of the things I fell in love with, he’s a 4 .0 student in high school. His high school coach told me he’s so popular, he gets stopped between classes. It’s so important for him to be in his seat for the next class when the bell rung, he would start a stopwatch as soon as the bell would ring, he would breakaway from whomever, because he was going to be in his seat to respect the teacher for the next class. Wouldn’t you sign that guy? We were proud to sign him and bring him into our program.
Q. I know in the past there’s been heavy reliance on Thomas Sirk’s legs, for him to be the workhorse on offense. Are you confident with him playing that same role this year?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: I heard what he answered about how he plays football. It’s one of the things that I’ve talked with him about. I’ve talked to our physical therapist, our doctors, our trainers.
Thomas is going to play and be true to the way he plays. The goal is to get him 100% ready to do that. As we evaluate August, we’re not trying to see if he’s ready to play in his first game August 8th, that’s not the goal. The goal is to see if we can get him to the point for September 3rd to play like Thomas Sirk plays to be successful.
It’s our job as a medical staff, and they’ll do a great job of it, to guide him, to bring him along. I’m going to trust the process as a coach and we’ll see what happens.
Q. How important is it for you guys to have a good running game from your runningbacks, to make sure that maybe Thomas isn’t your leading rusher again this year?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: I mentioned earlier about our balance in a couple of interviews. I really believe our backs are as good as I’ve ever had as a group. They like to call themselves ‘the stable.’ I’m excited about what they’re doing in the off-season. What Joe Ajeigbe, Shaun Wilson, Jela Duncan, all those guys look like. We’ve got a nice supporting cast for those guys. We’ve got some incoming players that I think are terrific.
We can be a little more versatile. The thing I’m most excited about that I hope happens, this has a chance to be the biggest, most physical offensive line we’ve had. We don’t have Laken Tomlinson. He was a unique skill set and player. But we have depth there. I’m anxious to see how that group matures. That will go a long way into us developing a little bit more of a power game, where it’s not all zone read, where you’re not being as much finesse. Those types of things not only make you better on offense, that’s how you make your defense immediately better as well.
Again, we’ll see what happens come August.
Q. About special teams, two big holes, the evaluation during the spring, September right around the corner…
COACH CUTCLIFFE: We’ve had a system dating all the way back years where we have developed our special teams in a similar manner. It’s extremely important to me, outside of my involvement with quarterbacks through the years, this is the thing I’ve been involved in the most.
So even with our specialists, we have a practice routine. I’m out there. I don’t want a swing of a punter or a kicker just made to be made. It’s going to be made with purpose and focus. We will try to redshirt, and we did Austin Parker, who is a great athlete. He studied Will Monday for a year. What a great teacher. Austin has great talent. He has great distance, great hang time.
A.J. Reed is coming in like Ross did. We’re expecting A.J. to be our starter in the place kicking and kickoff game as a true freshman. I had him in camp a couple of days way back. He just blew me away. I love his mentality. I love his conditioning level. I think all specialists are better when they show you they’re willing to condition and be a football player. I’m excited about both of them.
The best part of all of that equation, you don’t ever want to wake up as a football coach without a deep snapper. We got the best one in the business with Thomas Hennessy, a fifth-year senior, and he has a couple good under studies. Hopefully right now I’m sleeping good about this. Again, we’ll see what August brings.
Q. Since you’re mentioning the incoming players, could you be specific about plans for Scott Bracey, if he will play, if he will redshirt, and how you might use him.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Scott Bracey is 17 still. Those of you that don’t know who Scott Bracey is, he played at Benedictine High School in Richmond. Great wide receiver prospect. I’m not going to throw too much pressure on him at this moment. We certainly believe he can impact the 2016 team.
He would be disappointed if I said anything differently. He is preparing to play. When he walks by me in the complex and he says something in terminology that makes sense football-wise to me, I’m like, Wow. He’s done this on his own.
He’s a young man with a plan. Great family. He is so big and strong, which is unique to the position, and explosive.
He will compete. We’ll see what happens.
Q. You face North Carolina, a big Thursday night game in November. Obviously a long way from right now. What are you expecting to see from their team?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, North Carolina is a very gifted, experienced team on both sides of the ball. The biggest factor in that, of course that’s later in the year, we’re both pretty mature teams by then, but I’ve coached a lot of short weeks in the Southeastern Conference in preparing a team. The more mature your team is, the better you are in short weeks.
So we have to mature in certain areas to be able to put ourselves in position to compete with a very gifted, mature football team. That’s just a part of the game. We have another short week with Louisville. We play them on a Friday night. They’re open the week before. It’s just part of a process.
We have a way we do that. We have a belief system in how to do that. Hopefully it puts us in a position to compete with them.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Thank you.
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