A cursory glance at the roster tells you Duke is set at defensive end.
Vincent Anthony Jr. and Wesley Williams are each entering their fourth seasons in the program. They’ve made a combined 43 starts — 28 by Anthony — and logged more than 1,000 career snaps each. Last season, their first in the defensive scheme of coach Manny Diaz and coordinator Jonathan Patke, they combined for 12½ sacks and 23 tackles for loss.
But they’re not playing entire games.
There is a chasm between the experience levels of Anthony and Williams and the rest of Duke’s defensive ends. That’s because Michael Reese and Ryan Smith played about 850 combined snaps last season — their final years of eligibility.
For context and comparison, Anthony and Williams only combined for 1,139 snaps last season. It’s a good rule of thumb that however close a player starts to where the football is spotted, the more depth is needed past the starters. Using last year’s example, Duke needs at least four defensive ends who can make a significant impact.
The good news — not the only part — is Duke doesn’t lack options.
“Everybody in the room has stepped their game up to the level that me and Wes play at,” Anthony said earlier this week.
The senior went to list five defensive ends. In his order: Semaj Turner, Tyshon Reed, Kevin O’Connor, Kobe Smith and Bryce Davis.
O’Connor had the largest role of that group last season, playing 145 snaps in the first seven games before an injury ended his year. Versatility was his best asset, as he played both defensive end and nose tackle in pass-rush packages.
Turner, like O’Connor, is entering his third season in the program and has played in three career games. Reed and Smith are second-year players; Reed played in all 13 games last season and had five tackles, while Smith played in four to retain a redshirt.
Davis is the recruiting coup, a freshman who’s been at Duke since January. He committed to Clemson last July but was flipped by late August. His Rivals industry ranking was as the No. 81 player in the country.
“I really love it because anybody can step on the field and we won’t lose anything,” Anthony said. “Just because me and Wes start and get majority of the snaps or whatever, they still can come in … and do whatever they have to do to win the game.
“I can’t even tell you who’s going to be the two behind us. It’s really going to be the whole room.”
Making stars out of defensive ends
The other part of the good news is how defensive end friendly this system is.
Anthony is the best example. He entered as a 4-star recruit and played two seasons under Mike Elko. Those were somewhere between OK and disappointing seasons for the Durham native.
He had twice as many sacks (five) last season as he had in his first two seasons combined.
The scheme of Diaz and Patke puts a stronger priority on getting upfield quickly and creating havoc in the backfield. It sounds simple and there’s an element of, if it’s so simple then why doesn’t every defense play this way?
But to hear Williams describe it, it’s a matter of priority in defending the run.
“Elko’s scheme is more … run-focused,” Williams said. “We’re going to set this edge, we set this big edge. On the line of scrimmage, you can put your hands on the tackle, gap-and-a-half situation.
“Whereas with Coach Diaz, it’s one gap, vertical edge set, play the run on the way to the pass.”
It’s tough to argue with the results. And they also make for an easy sell when recruiting talented defensive ends — cough, Bryce Davis, cough.
Duke was second in the country last season in tackles for loss per game (8.92) and fourth in sacks (3.31).
Getting specific, Williams loves how this scheme plays against run-pass option plays.
“You know, the ACC is a huge RPO league. I mean, college football is RPO,” Williams said with a laugh. “The way our techniques work, they don’t defeat the RPO. But it makes playing the RPO as a defensive end one, more fun and two, more effective.”