Duke Blue Devils' 2024 Prospect Outlook

The Duke Football program has had its ups and downs over the last ten seasons, but the last two seasons have been successful for the Blue Devils. They finished with a 9-4 record in 2022, and an 8-5 record last year. The Blue Devils finished 7th in the ACC with big wins over Clemson and NC State.

With the success in these two seasons, Duke had a few drafted players in April of this year. OL Graham Barton went in the first round with pick number 26 to the Buccaneers, DT DeWayne Carter went in the third round with pick number 95 to the Bills, and OL Jacob Monk went in the fifth round with pick number 195 to the Packers.

A significant departure occurred off field with Head Coach Mike Elko taking the same job at Texas A&M. Duke has hired Manny Diaz as Elko's replacement. The defensive minded Diaz was Defensive Coordinator for Penn State last season and will take his first head coaching gig since his stint with Miami (FL) which ended in 2020.

With players leaving the program for the NFL and the transfer portal, some personnel changes were needed for the Blue Devils. Among the notable departures in the portal were QB Riley Leonard, RB Jordan Waters, DL Aeneas Peebles and EDGE RJ Oben. A few offensive replacements have been added with the arrivals of QB Maalik Murphy from Texas and RB Star Thomas from New Mexico State.

The RB room has become deeper this offseason and should hold up well with a dispersed workload. Jaquez Moore is one of the familiar faces returning on offense, coming off of a season where he rushed for 674 yards and six touchdowns while sharing the backfield with Jordan Waters who had left for NC State.

Duke also has their top four receivers returning to the team this year including Jordan Moore who will be a senior and is coming off of an 835 yard, eight touchdown performance in 2023. This should give Murphy a chance to succeed right away. The big issue for Offensive Coordinator Jonathan Brewer is the lack of depth on the offensive line. With their two O-line stars leaving for the draft and a couple others in the portal, the entire line needed to be replaced. Duke has recruited potential replacements from the portal, led by Jack Purcell from Penn, but the line is still thin.

Defensively, Duke returns an appreciable amount of talent and production from last season. In the secondary, Cornerbacks Chandler Rivers and Joshua Pickett return to the Blue Devils along with safeties Terry Moore and Jaylen Stinson. Linebackers Nick Morris and Tre Freeman are back along with edge rusher Wesley Williams. Duke has had a couple defensive playmakers join them via the portal, but with so much returning talent, these transfers may not see as much action.

The Blue Devils have a few players on preseason award watch lists. Below are those players and the awards they will be up for.

• LB Tre Freeman - Bednarik Award
• WR Jordan Moore - Biletnikoff Award, Maxwell Award
• RB Jaquez Moore - Doak Walker Award
• K Todd Pelino - Lou Groza Award

Duke also has a few possible candidates for the 2025 NFL Draft. If the offense plays to its full potential, Duke could see senior receiver Jordan Moore, senior running back Jaquez Moore, and possibly even redshirt freshman QB Maalik Murphy get drafted. 

They could also have several defensive players drafted. Junior corner Chandler Rivers and Redshirt Junior linebacker Tre Freeman are the most likely draftees on that side.