Standard Bearers
Jim Sumner, GoDuke the Magazine
Duke has won 35 football games over the last four seasons, including victories in the Military Bowl, Birmingham Bowl, Sun Bowl and last season’s ACC championship game, which gave the Blue Devils their first outright conference title since 1962. Only Clemson (37) and Louisville (36) have more total wins among ACC teams in that span.
Yet, the oddsmakers project Duke to win just under six games this season, the threshold for bowl eligibility. National magazines and websites have coalesced around that six-win total as the likely outcome for Duke football.
No wonder coach Manny Diaz and his Blue Devil players will admit they carry a chip on their collective shoulders.
Duke did lose some key pieces from last season, including its starting quarterback, top four wide receivers, entire starting defensive line and three starting offensive linemen.
But that’s what happens to good football teams. They lose good players. Defensive end Wesley Williams, offensive lineman Brian Parker II and cornerback Chandler Rivers were NFL draft picks, while several others signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents.
It’s the good football programs that replace their losses with younger players moving up, with new players who are just as talented, maybe more talented.
Which brings us to Duke’s offensive line.
The Blue Devils lost starters Parker II, Justin Pickett and Bruno Fina, all of whom landed on NFL rosters for training camp. Duke returns two starters, center Matt Craycraft and guard Jordan Larsen. Diaz brought in a pair of tackles from the transfer portal in Braden Miller from California and Nick Del Grande, who did not allow a single sack at Coastal Carolina last season.
Craycraft, Larsen, Miller and Del Grande are either grad students or fifth-year seniors. Diaz commented on Duke’s experience on the offensive line at the ACC Media Days and has always emphasized that Duke needs to be a developmental program.
We take pride in how we develop at Duke.Duke head coach Manny Diaz
All three of Duke’s 2025 draftees spent their entire college careers at Duke, and all but four players in this year’s offensive line room have done the same. One of those young returnees who is a candidate to start is Bradley Smith, a redshirt sophomore with 402 snaps under his belt so far. In fact, he got his first start at the Sun Bowl last season after Parker II opted out and Duke had to reshuffle.
Smith comes from a football family. His father Clay played linebacker at Army, while his paternal grandfather Jim was an offensive guard at Georgia. In other words, the he has some knowledge of what makes a good offensive lineman.
“I think it’s definitely an ability to process what’s going on very quickly, being able to see how a defense is attacking you and how to counteract when they make a move,” Smith said. “One of the most important parts is being nasty. Nastiness is a part of our game, as a unit, that we are trying to really establish this year. Keep being nasty (on the field) and making other people quit.”
Smith says this season’s unit may be better than last year’s.
We had a lot of individual talent last year but I think this unit gels together and moves well together and that’s obviously going to take time.Duke offensive lineman Bradley Smith
“But so far, we look like we’re all moving as one, which is really the goal for a good offensive line, to all be taking the same steps, thinking the same thing, executing as one unit,” Smith said. "As long as we execute all together and take care of what we need to take care of, we’ll be just as good, if not better than last year.”
Smith isn’t the only young lineman making a case for seeing the field. Redshirt sophomore Gemyel Allen “has done a good job” from Smith’s perspective. “He’s really developed, especially physically. He’s made huge steps forward.” Allen could see action at tackle or guard.
Some veteran backups should be in the mix as well. Tackle Micah Sahakian is healthy and will bid for a starting role after missing all of last season, while redshirt junior tackle Caleb Dorris has made significant strides. Sean Stover is a true freshman, one of the prizes of the incoming freshman class. He might be the primary backup to Craycraft at center.
Craycraft and Stover are both from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Craycraft is mentoring Stover.
“I’m really excited he’s here,” Craycraft says. “I think he’s a great player. This summer we did a little project together where we broke down the first six teams we’re playing, looking at their pressures, their third-down philosophies and their defensive structures. I got to give him some of my wisdom. I think he’s going to be an unbelievable player here.”
Stover couldn’t have a better mentor. Craycraft’s father, Bob, was an offensive lineman at Vanderbilt and captain of their 1991 team. Matt is a three-time Academic All-ACC selection.
Craycraft also has 2,057 snaps at Duke under his belt, far more than any other player on this season’s Duke roster. Most of those snaps were at the crucial center position.
“Being a center, there’s a lot of weight on you to lead the O-line and make sure everyone is on the same page,” Craycraft says. “Fortunately, I feel like I’ve had a couple of years doing that. As those guys (Parker II, Pickett and Fina) have left it’s been kind of cool to step into that leadership role and that’s something I think about and take pride in and do well.”
Craycraft says he’s a natural leader but is still evolving in what he calls “a servant leader” role.
“It’s something I’ve been taught for a long time and have worked on my whole life. Growing up, I was more of a lead-by-example guy, which was great, but I’ve also learned that in order to be a true leader, you have to have the tough conversations if they need to be had, and encourage guys when you see they’re down.”
One of the narratives going into fall camp is that Duke might rely more on the run. The quarterback position is unsettled and Duke returns Nate Sheppard, one of the best running backs in the country, with transfer and freshmen additions adding quality depth.
“It’s going to be on us to be able to run the ball and open up holes for those guys,” says Craycraft. “That starts with playing physical."
We want to be a group that’s feared, a group that no one wants to play against. Being able to run the ball is huge. It wears down the defense and opens up the passing game, making it easier on our quarterbacks.Duke center Matt Craycraft
“I absolutely love it,” agrees Smith.
I’m a little bit old school, coming from an offensive line family, a football family. When you establish the run, you establish your position to win the game. I think we saw that last year, in the second half of the season, we started running the ball more and it opens up the offense so much more. If we do our job up front and are able to run the ball, we’re going to take a lot of pressure off the quarterback.Duke offensive lineman Bradley Smith
Duke is convinced that it can win at the margins.
“The culture is so strong that we bring in new transfers, they become us. We have a very distinct us at Duke. What this offseason has been about is creating evidence,” Diaz says.
“David Feeley is elite in the weight room because his standard never wavers. He understands what it takes. Our players have the confidence in how we’ve gotten there. The constant has been how we work and how we prepare.”
Feeley is Duke’s highly-regarded strength-and-conditioning guru, technically director of football performance. Smith says working with Feeley isn’t designed to be easy.
“Coach Feeley does a phenomenal job. It’s something that’s preached in the program, our culture, what he brings to that, how we’re the toughest team, the toughest guys in the country and obviously we owe a lot of that to our strength program. While you’re in it, it sucks. But when you come out, you feel like you can take on anybody. If we’re in a dogfight, we’re going to finish, because that’s what we always do.”
Duke’s linemen didn’t take the summer off.
“From day one after the spring game till now, I think we’ve improved a lot,” Smith says. “Individually everyone made progress. We all got stronger, we all got faster. You can see the evidence in the books. We had a great summer and we’re looking forward to attacking the fall.”
We hear a lot about “culture,” about the “standard.” Craycraft explains how that applies to the offensive line room.
We’re going to be the hardest-working position group on the field in any game. We want to do everything we possibly can to protect our quarterbacks and block for our running backs. That means going all out and giving everything we’ve got.Duke center Matt Craycraft
Craycraft says his team is aware of those outside predictions of mediocrity.
“I think Duke football this year has been disrespected. We’re taking note of it. But at the end of the day, the only opinions we care about are those within the building. We’ve been working really hard and we’re excited to play hard for each other and compete for another ACC championship and play in the College Football Playoff.”