Duke’s defensive line improvement starts in the interior

When Georgia Tech punted for the third time, Duke defensive tackle Carlos Wray said, that’s when he knew that the defensive line was delivering a dominant performance.

“I knew that if we upped the intensity a little more that we would win this ballgame,” Wray said.

In reality, Wray was a little later than most observers to that realization. By the time the Yellow Jackets were making that third punt last Saturday, it was early in the third quarter, and Georgia Tech had come away without points on five of its seven possessions (field goal, turnover on downs, punt, turnover on downs, punt, touchdown, punt).

Historically, the Yellow Jackets offense doesn’t leave the field empty-handed – last year the team led the nation with a third-down efficiency rate of 57.9 percent. Saturday, the Jackets were 26.3 percent (5-for-19, and that doesn’t factor in the 1-for-5 fourth down conversion rate, either).

According to research by ESPN.com’s David Hale, Duke’s defense ranks fifth nationally in points allowed per drive (0.68). And, despite being just one of nine “Power 5” teams to have already played two ranked opponents (Georgia Tech and Northwestern), almost half of the drives by Duke’s opponents have ended without a first down.

The success against Georgia Tech and Northwestern – the defense was responsible for just 13 points in that 19-10 loss – has started up front. Wray, a senior, was the only returning starter in the front six of Duke’s 4-2-5 defense, but head coach David Cutcliffe figured his team would be better up front.

“We felt like we had good young players, in terms of talent level,” Cutcliffe said. “And we have a lot of people who are great products of what we’ve put together with the program. It comes on display.”

The defensive tackles who make up the interior of the line are a perfect snapshot of the state of the program in general. In previous seasons, the Blue Devils would have had a two-man rotation at each tackle position. This year, it’s three, and the increased depth has undoubtedly been a major factor in the improved performance.

Recruiting is still improving on a year-to-year basis. Each incoming class raises the level of athleticism in the program. The Blue Devils have a true freshman (Brandon Boyce) who is already playing meaningful snaps (81 in total).

Redshirt freshmen Edgar Cerenord and Quaven Ferguson, after taking a year to acclimate to the college game, as most linemen do, are in the defensive tackle rotation as well (72 and 65 snaps, respectively).

Redshirt sophomore Mike Ramsay (61 snaps) is also in the mix. And then the starters, Wray and redshirt junior A.J. Wolf, have developed over the course of their careers and are now playing their best football (157 and 139 snaps, respectively).

Cutcliffe cites the structure of Duke’s program for the continual improvement of Wray and Wolf. For the past two years, spring practice has begun two days after signing day in February – about a month earlier than nearly every other team in the country starts.

“Early spring practice is significant for us,” Cutcliffe said. “We come out of in-season training, and when we come back, we come back to school, and we start lifting, and we almost immediately start practice. But we don’t quit lifting during spring practice.

“What our cycle ends up being, with us getting done with spring practice first week of March, then we’re back in the weight room, and we have a longer cycle. You do that with a young man for three years, four years, you get a better product.”

A change in coaching staff brought a ratcheted up level of intensity, too. Rick Petri left, and Cutcliffe opted to split up the defensive line coaching responsibilities, with graduate assistant Clayton McGrath focusing just on defensive tackles, and Jim Collins focusing primarily on the ends and linebackers.

As Wray listed all the reasons he preferred McGrath and his more specialized focus – “different things about getting off the ball and getting more explosive, using our hands better, seeing things a little more, being faster, being quicker, just a lot of different things to incorporate into our games” – it was clear that the change in personnel has been a plus.

Above all, Duke’s focus for its defense has been on improving speed, and the Blue Devils feel like they’ve accomplished that goal.

“It’s a conscious effort on our part to try and put speed on the field,” Cutcliffe said. “With speed comes quickness. Quickness also lets you become explosive right at the point of attack.”

And the attack, for Duke, has started right up front.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Duke’s defensive line improvement starts in the interior."