Duke football coach David Cutcliffe talks with reporters. Duke (5-1, 2-0 ACC) plays at Virginia Tech (3-4, 1-2 ACC) on Saturday.
OPENING STATEMENT: Good afternoon. I’m going to start by letting you know that Terrence Alls is back, eligible and will be making the trip this weekend. I’m proud he has done the things that we have asked of him to put himself in position to return to play. I know he’s excited about that. I think our team is really excited about the challenge. Blacksburg is a special place because they [Virginia Tech] have made it one. Virginia Tech football, when I look back at what’s been accomplished, I have great respect for Coach Beamer, great respect for their staff, their players — the players that are playing there now and the ones that played previously — their fans and their fan base. I’m not just saying that. I have great respect for that program. It’s always a measuring stick for us to play against Virginia Tech. I think our team is excited about the challenge based on practice Sunday and practice today. It was good to see the energy and excitement. I think the open date was good for not just the physical body but for the emotions. We gave the players Thursday, Friday and Saturday off and went back to work Sunday evening. So they came back with a good bit of energy. Now we’ve got to maintain quality of preparation in all three phases. It’s exciting to be now in ACC football. You’re thinking about nothing else but playing teams that you’re familiar with and you understand the challenge. I think that’s good for our team.”
Q. On whether or not it’s good for players to go home during break
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Sure, I think it’s great. I wanted them to have time off. They didn’t have class on Friday. They were able to go because they didn’t have to be back until Sunday afternoon. I think that break is great for them. Coaches probably wish they had the same, but there was recruiting to be done, so a lot of travel was involved for the coaches. But certainly players that live close enough, that nice little break to get home cooking and just to see family is good for them.
Q. On if there is an increase in the players’ level of energy after the open date
COACH CUTCLIFFE: That’s part of an open date. That’s one of the great things about being fortunate. We never know when they [open dates] are going to come, but that it came halfway through this year we feel blessed by that opportunity.
Q. On Kyler Brown’s injury and the health of the rest of the team
COACH CUTCLIFFE: He didn’t practice today. He’s making really good progress. I’m hesitant to say anything until we get a little deeper into the week, but if wanting to and working at it has anything to do with it, he’s really done a nice job. We’ll know more obviously by Thursday what it’s going to look like. Everybody else right now, we’re in good shape. I don’t see any major issues. We’ve got people still with ankles that we’re evaluating, but we had everybody out there, not necessarily always at full speed. T.J. [Rahming] is back practicing so there’s a lot of positives there. To sit and say definitively where they are, we’ll have to wait until Thursday. I need to have conversations with the trainer after we’ve gone full speed today and full pads and see what the residuals were later this evening.”
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