Returning with Power

David Shumate, the play-by-play voice for Duke football, recently sat down with tight end Jeremiah Hasley for an interview for the most recent GoDuke the Magazine.

David Shumate: Thinking big picture, the last 18 to 24 months, what's that been like for you with everything that's been going on — from your injury and all the rehab last year and now getting back out there?
Jeremiah Hasley: It's definitely been hectic. It felt like the first three months of rehab were very slow. Then as the season ended and the offseason finally came, it was more about putting my head down and getting back into the swing of things. Obviously, running and getting back into the motion of running and then getting back into the playbook a little bit more. Spring was really important. I know I didn't participate in spring ball, but I was able to make connections with Darian (Mensah, transfer QB) and any newcomers and work with the people that were here.

Then, obviously, with the playbook, I feel like I really understood it the most out of anybody on the team, working through plays, working through a film study that was from last season. Then in the summer, right where I started to feel like back to 100 percent, it really got my confidence back up, especially on the field and that just ties back into everyone putting their faith in me knowing that I'll be back eventually at some point. Luckily, there was not a long process of my rehab, like, being extended. Being back on time was huge and I'm feeling great right now. Halfway through the season, it's been awesome.

DS: It's funny, Coach Brewer (offensive coordinator) talks about you, and says you know the playbook better than anybody on the team as well. I'm curious, some of that's because obviously you played both offense and defense in high school, but you started here on defense and then moved over to offense. Do you feel like you know like a million different schemes at this point between defense and offense?
JH: Yeah, I mean, defense, if you were to ask me to go on defense right now, it'd be a little bit of a blur, but I feel like Coach Brewer does a great job of simplifying everything for our offense and obviously that makes it very explosive because everyone knows what to do, and I would say that applies to our defense as well. You see freshmen like Elliott Schaper, Bradley Gompers going out there and performing really well, but everything's just simple. The coaches have simplified it for us.

But, like I said, being injured also was a benefit for me, going back, looking at things that I may have not focused on when I was playing, because I was more just focused on my body mostly. And whenever you're hurt, you know you're trying to rehab, but you're also working on your mental capacity and your ability through the rehab, but also just seeing things that you usually don't when you're playing.

DS: Has that helped you as a player, kind of the schematic side of it, as you said, in addition to the physicality you play with?
JH: Oh yeah. On the offensive side, we always try to look at plays through schemes. You're not trying to look at your individual position, what you do on this play, because Coach Brewer or anyone can plot you at any position, either out wide or in the core. So, you really need to know conceptually about the play. You can't really, individually, only know one specific article of a play. I feel like knowing the concepts of the playbook benefits me, and gives Coach Brewer and the rest of the coaches trust in me to play any position on the field. Well maybe not all of them — I don't think I have a good enough arm to play quarterback, especially with Darian Mensah at the helm (laughing).

DS: Waiting to see you throw one now.
JH: Yeah (laughing).

DS: I can't help but think because you played defense and obviously you don't shy away from contact when you play — there's one play in particular, it's actually from the Illinois game. It really stood out to me. They had a really good edge rusher Gabe Jacas and there's a play where you just dumped him early on.
JH: I know exactly what you're talking about.

DS: How much do you love just getting out there and hitting somebody even though you are playing offense?
JH: Yeah, we always pride ourselves in the tight end room about being the most physical group out there. Regardless of talent, skill. We always say if you put your effort into each and every play, things will work out for you.

Going up against a Big Ten defensive linemen or even in the ACC, you can really show your physicality if you just put effort into it. I try to be one of the grittier guys on the field because I feel like that's the talent I have. We talk about edge, and I feel like that's my edge on the field. It's always fun to put a shoulder into a guy and they fall on their back. But it's just, I would say, part of my game being the grittier guy.

DS: You may have heard this before, but every time we talk with Coach Brewer, he says you're the most important guy on the offensive side of the ball. What does that mean to you when you hear one of your coaches say something like that?
JH: I'm blessed that you said that. I wouldn't say I'm the most important. I feel like there are a lot of others, but the dynamic thing about a tight end is you have to be able to block, you have you have to be able to run a route and you have to be, I would say, the most conditioned player on the team because you might be running after a go-ball for 50 yards and then you have to come back and pass pro against a 6-4, 250-pound defensive lineman.

So, you have to have a lot of versatility, and I feel like, again, going back to the conceptual part of the playbook, you need to know everything. You need to know the calls from the offensive line, from the quarterback, and then also how we signal to each other out wide. It's all about communicating out there and you have to hear communication from each and every player that you work with and that's out wide and in the box.

DS: Hearing you talk, you're one of the older guys on the team and you're obviously helping out the young guys and I couldn't help but notice, when we were flying out to California, you were kind of making laps on the plane and talking to all the different guys. Do you like being one of the older guys and helping some of the younger guys along?
JH: Some of them have only been here for a few months and they're kind of still figuring things out and some of them have had to play with what we're dealing with currently from an injury standpoint. But I just try to give advice because I was in their shoes once. I was a freshman who was looking up at seniors, like, what can I do to be better?

You know, walking around on the plane, talking to freshmen, I just hope that they see me as a person that has benefited them through their process. I just try to give advice to each and every kid because I feel like they deserve it to hear from me who's been here for four years and been through a lot and hopefully it helps our team, our culture, and especially the future of the team for sure.

DS: You mentioned culture. I was actually going to ask you about that next because it's this vague term that a lot of people like to throw around, but what is it about this group, this core, that's been through a couple coaching changes that has dealt with a lot of transition? What is it about that locker room that you guys were able to kind of make your way through all of those challenges and win at a high level?
JH: Yeah, I've been fortunate to go to a bowl game each and every year and keep improving. But like we always talk about, for instance, my freshman year — we always talked about how we were never the fastest, we were never the strongest team, but we always had the strong message within the team that we can go out and out-tough anybody and I feel like that has grown each and every year.

Coach Diaz has done a great job of implementing that in his system as well, and I would say that we're now like the fastest and strongest we've ever been. But the message still is that we can go all 60 minutes being tough and out-tough anybody that comes into either Wallace Wade or when we're on the road.

DS: This year you guys have seen both ends of the spectrum in some respects, some disappointing losses followed by three wins in a row. I know there's still almost half of the season to go, but what was it about that NC State game in particular — for you individually, some of your best games have come against NC State, including that touchdown a couple of years ago. But what was it in your mind about that game, and maybe that week of practice leading up, that kind of flipped things for your guys?
JH: I think it was just to clear our mindset of what our goal is, ultimately. We need to get to the ACC Championship to ultimately be in the College Football Playoff and everything there was still in play, even after those two losses that we really wanted back. We just had to push that aside because we were still 0-0 in our eyes in the ACC. NC State, obviously, a rivalry game at home, we wanted to prove to everyone in the ACC that we're still one of the top teams out there.

Even going down 14-0, our mindset was clear and we had what we needed to go out there and out-tough the team again, for all four quarters. Because you could tell, especially in the three ACC wins, I feel like our edge and our toughness has definitely dominated throughout all four quarters, including the Cal game. In that one we went down early, but it was like there's just so much fight in this team and you can really see that each and every game so far in the ACC.

DS: What do you guys have to have here in the second half of the season?
JH: I would say it's any given Saturday, to be honest. You watch football even during the bye week and anybody can beat anybody.

We have to have the mindset that anybody can walk into Wallace Wade and if we're not executing, they can come in and beat the crap out of us. But if we're executing, we're on the right page and we just out-tough them, nobody can stop us.

Players Mentioned

Bradley Gompers

Jeremiah Hasley

Darian Mensah

Elliott Schaper

Duke information