Stumble It!
Charles Westfall covered the Duke Football Camp on Saturday. Here are his thoughts -
Familiarity can be a comforting thing. That thought struck me as I lumbered down the steps of Wallace Wade for the second edition of Duke's Junior Day. Because as I approached the field, you could hear chants of "do not round your cuts, son", "nice catch, #35", and "finish, finish, finish....I don't care if you're going to win that drill, you will complete it". These were the types of things that I heard the Saturday before.
Duke's Junior Day is considered an evaluation type of camp, but there were subtle teaching points going on. If you walked over to the practice field, then you could spot Mike MacIntyre telling his offensive line proteges to "always have your hands open and making a small target. Your hands have to be your camera. Remember what the guy said in the movie The Patriot: Aim small, miss small". Receivers were instructed to keep their cuts sharp and not cross their hands when catching a ball. Simple, but important stuff.
Though the names of the 270 attendees weren't provided, the effort by the players and coaches to do the right thing was always visible. Coaches and players from Hillside, Southern Durham, Myers Park (Charlotte), R J Reynolds (Winston-Salem), and players who ventured outside the state from places like Pittsburgh eagerly lined the field.
Not surprisingly, there was an abundance of talent making a mark. A tall receiver from the Midwest surprised campers and coaches alike with his separation. A local product, Kendrick Williams, prevented a receiver from getting off the line by utilizing good leverage. In fact, I spoke with one local coach who said that 10 skill players showed up to the camp. He calmly told me that "we've got several guys at this camp who can run and hit, and are quick as lightning". After witnessing these kids, I looked up and half jokingly said, "Coach, do you have any players that don't run a 4.4". He said, with a big grin, "Yeah, they're just not here today".
Drills ranged from defensive lineman hitting obstacles and taking precise cuts to cornerbacks alternating between press and zone coverage on wide receivers. Offensive linemen diligently used "step slide" techniques instead of "hopping" from one foot to the next. Defensive linemen speared tackling dummies with purpose. At the end of the day, sprints between the linebackers, tight ends, quarterbacks, linemen, cornerbacks/wideouts really punctuated the day. The kids were straining to finish in the top 3 of each race for nothing other than pride.
Some things to note:
Danny Parker, Colin Jones, Thad Lewis, Alfred Williams, and Kinney Rucker were on hand to assist the "campers". All looked to be in fine shape. Colin even took some time to speak to this reporter's nephew who was attending the camp, and offered a lot of encouragement and some good advice. Coach Cutcliffe made a special point to recognize these individuals.
Hillside product Corey Gattis verballed an offer to Duke after the event, and this is particularly significant. The last very talented recruit to matriculate to Duke (and someone can feel free to correct me) was Emmitt Tilley. Tilley starred at Duke, and later became a standout linebacker for the Miami Dolphins.
