How Duke’s not likely increase is fueled by an even unlikelier

Andrea Adelson, ESPN

• Senior WriterSep 28, 2023, 07:00 AM ET
• Close ACC press reporter. Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
• Graduate of the University of Florida.DURHAM, N.C.– Someplace, deep, deep down, Riley Leonard needs to understand he is a quite decent quarterback. His 13-4 record as a college starter says as much. ESPN NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. says as much, listing Leonard at No. 19 on his newest Big Board for 2024. However here’s the thing. Leonard does not want to hear all the praise. Back in high school in Fairhope, Alabama, he sat down with his moms and dads and told them he wanted aid to keep his edge and stay motivated.”I require someone to inform me I draw often, “he told them.Heather Leonard looked at her

child.”Hey,”she stated.” I got you.” Hence a custom started, one that continues now that Leonard and

No. 17 Duke are 4-0 and receiving the type of nationwide attention typically booked for their championship-winning basketball program. With No. 11 Notre Dame(4-1)pertaining to town Saturday(7:30 p.m. ET, ABC), ESPN’s” College GameDay”will be set in Durham for the first time for football.Heather Leonard will do what she constantly does before kickoff. She will tell Riley: “You suck.” If he needs another reminder, all Riley needs to do is take a look at the blue wristband he uses with the phrase emblazoned on it. A present from his mommy, naturally.A brave fan made similar wristbands and handed them out to anyone who would take one before a current house game. Offensive deal with Graham Barton still has his hidden in his jacket pocket.”I believe it fits us completely,”Leonard stated.” All of us in this entire program bring a big chip on our shoulder. We want to prove individuals incorrect. I believe it’s a fantastic message for our group.

“Now that Duke is winning, being reminded “You suck” serves the very same motivational function for the team as it does for Leonard. Riley Leonard wears a special reminder on his wrist. David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports As a workout back in the spring, second-year coach Mike Elko asked his players.”The number of you were luxury employees?” Empty stares.”How about 4 stars?”he asked.A couple of hands increased. Leonard was not among them.Elko then pointed out

their opponent in the season opener, Clemson, had a lineup filled with them. But why should that matter?Six months later, 4.4 million viewers

tuned in to view Duke beat Clemson 28-7, Leonard had his”You Suck”wristband included on nationwide tv and then went viral after asking his professor for a homework extension.The result might have stunned casual observers wondering how a group like Duke beat six-time College Football Playoff individual Clemson. Those inside the program? Not so much. They have actually watched the change from hopeless to enthusiastic over the past 21 months.They also understand their story begins well before Labor Day night.

After leading Duke to a 9-4 record throughout his first season, coach Mike Elko has heaven Devils 4-0 to start the 2023 season. Williams Paul/Icon Sportswire ELKO STROLLED INTO his first team meeting as Duke head coach in December 2021. He understood what an ACC team need to

look like, having actually spent time as defensive planner at Wake Forest earlier in his career. A minimum of physically, this did not look like a team that could compete.The record bears that out. Duke had a dazzling run of success– reasonably speaking– under previous coach David Cutcliffe, including its only look in the ACC national championship in 2013 and 6 bowl game appearances. But the program began to slip in 2019, going 5-7. Then the pandemic hit in 2020, and players say tight constraints that limited regular weight room activities took a toll.Based on discussions he has actually had with the players, Duke director of football sport efficiency David Feeley approximates they had about 80 overall exercises over a two-year period between 2020 and 2021. Duke won 5 total games those two seasons, and parted methods with Cutcliffe in November 2021.”I call it a fever dream,”veteran defensive take on DeWayne

Carter said.”In essence, it didn’t appear genuine.”As the losses began to install, confidence waned. Duke went 0-8 in ACC play in 2021.” You’re getting up every day, you know you’re not doing very well, and you get in a

unfavorable headspace, “Carter said.”Like, why are we even preparing? You think you’re going to lose, and it’s difficult to get out of that state of mind. There was no escape, because of the scenarios.” In between all the losses, those 2 seasons created a feeling that unified the returning players. Barton remembers a quick phone

call he had with Elko after he was worked with.”He most likely doesn’t even remember, however I informed Coach Elko,’I promote a great deal of men– we’re prepared to win,'” Barton recalled.”He was like,’Yeah, we’ll see who wants to win.’ “Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Elko employed Feeley, and the two immediately set out to remake the entire lineup through hard work inside the weight room.

Carter remembers

the very first day of winter season conditioning when the players might not get the warm-up quite right.Feeley stopped them and informed them to begin doing up-downs, where you go from a standing position, jump down into a slab, and after that leap back up to a standing position.”We got to 10 and I’m like, maybe we’ll get to 20, “Carter said. “Then we got to 30, and after that 40 and it just kept going. I believe that set the precedent for

how things were going to go.”Feeley understood Duke was a developmental program, but the team was even more behind due to the fact that of all the weight room time it missed out on. Still, he and Elko did

not waver in their strategy– to push the players to their limitations through Olympic-style weight training and a heavy dosage of competitors. “Confidence was at an all-time low. I do not know if I ‘d ever seen a program like that before,”Feeley said.”There are three words on my white boards in my office: hope, belief

and know. We weren’t even in the hope phase. However you saw a group of kids that were starving for a chance to be successful.”Quickly, protective linemen and offensive linemen were competing with each other to see the number of reps they might get, or how fast they could lift the bar. Then, players in other position groups got in on raising their max efforts. Within months, Carter said his power tidy leapt 50 pounds; offensive take on Jacob Monk said his increased 70 pounds.Feeley states when he showed up, there were seven players who could power clean 300 pounds or more. Since recently, 49 players had actually hit that benchmark.Forty-six players from the 2021 lineup still play for Duke. Elko has actually repeatedly told his group from the minute he showed up: “We’re living in the now. We’re going to win now. We’re not here to rebuild. “” I do not exactly know when they understood they might be an excellent group,”Feeley stated.”I believe it occurred somewhere around the 3rd or 4th game in 2015. But when that clicked for them, take the wins and losses out of it. That’s actually among the greatest presents you can provide an athlete is the understanding

that they can head out there, and they’ll have a real opportunity to be successful. “”Everyone in this whole program bring a big chip on our shoulder,”Riley Leonard said.” We want to show people incorrect.”David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports BACK IN APRIL, Elko beinged in his newly redesigned office– complete with his 2022 ACC Coach of the Year trophy sitting on a rack. Elko had just led Duke to a 9-4 turn-around season, and to describe how that took place, he visits his computer system and starts pulling up numbers.The year prior to he showed up, Duke had lost all eight ACC games by approximately 31.8 points per game. Turnover margin was minus-7. The defense permitted 206 lawns hurrying per game, among the worst in the country.Gains in the weight room would give Duke a foundation. Now would come the more tough part: learning how to win. Luckily for the Blue Devils, they had a defensive coordinator for a head

coach who could assist fix the defense.On offense, they had Leonard. They simply had no idea what he would become when the brand-new personnel arrived. Elko describes him as “a diamond that was hidden in this locker room.”Leonard won the starting

task last fall, however so couple of understood who he was, he was ranked No. 14 among ACC quarterbacks on one preseason list.He didn’t require his mom to inform him,”You suck.”It was right there on paper.Leonard relished seeing that, especially considering his journey to Duke. He planned to play basketball

after high school, but a late deal from Cutcliffe changed his mind. Leonard reached Duke as a three-star prospect in 2021, mostly under-recruited in part since the pandemic made it difficult for anybody to take check outs. Asked how a player with prototypical quarterback size at 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds

had so couple of Power 5 offers, Leonard shrugs and states with a sheepish

smile,” I simply wasn’t excellent. “However from the very start of last season, Leonard showed he was, in fact, excellent. He threw for 328 yards and completed 80% of his passes in the season opener against Temple, and displayed his athleticism as a runner, too, including 64 yards on the ground. He stabilized a position that had actually been lacking consistency considering that Daniel Jones’final season in 2018– not coincidentally the last time Duke had a winning record.Leonard ended up with 2,967 lawns passing, 20 goals and six interceptions, and led the group in rushing with

699 lawns and 13 rushing touchdowns.”Having a quarterback is truly essential,”Elko said.” Twenty-one really talented players without a quarterback doesn’t win a lot of games.”With Leonard guiding the offense, and enhancing each week, the defense tightened up– dealing with much better, playing with more physicality and requiring turnovers. Duke ended up being a top-25 rush defense, and ranked No. 2 in the country in turnover margin, at a massive plus-16. “A nine-win season, that was an outcome of just effort and commitment and passion for winning, “Barton said. “I think we might’ve stunned Coach Elko a bit with the buy-in there. “No one mored than happy with nine wins, though.”We haven’t done anything yet,”Leonard said.”

Our goal is to win the ACC champion and after that a championship game. As of right now, we haven’t done any of that. So all these wins are good, but twenty years from now, are you going to be remembered? Are you going to be the group that went from 3-9 2 years later to win the ACC championship? That’s for us to choose.”LEONARD STANDS OUTSIDE the football facility, just in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium where heaven Devils play basketball. He admire the location, even now as a Duke trainee, as if he can

not think his good fortune, standing in this area, in this minute. Possibly that is the basketball player inside him. Maybe that is simply who Leonard is, sometimes awestruck and disbelieving that all of this is happening to him.As trainees and colleagues stroll past, they all say, “Hey Riley!”No one shouts,”You suck!”” It’s funny, the kids on school have actually asked me more about my research project and whether I have actually turned that in than about the Clemson game,” Leonard says with a laugh, validating that yes, he did turn in his research and all is well in class.Sorry @rileyleonard13_, We attempted! However, you are STILL A LEGEND! Now go research study! pic.twitter.com/CpEdTmhQjX!.?.!— ACC Digital Network(@theACCDN) September 5, 2023 Together with Leonard, Duke returned 16 starters this season. Almost all of them were on the 2021 lineup. Redshirt senior Carter– called”The Mayor”due to the fact that he is common around campus and is the very first three-time captain in program history– chose to return because he was simply not prepared to leave. Barton had offers to go

elsewhere but went back to Duke because “there’s no much better situation for me as an individual and as a football player. “He, too, tasks high up on Kiper’s board, though at a different position: No. 2 among centers.Their veteran experience

has actually been huge. On the defensive front alone, the

four beginners have actually integrated to take 4,897 snaps. On the offensive line, Duke entered the year ranked second nationally in games played and games started, behind only Florida

State. At receiver, Duke returned 98.7%of its receptions from a year ago.Elko has actually tactically used the portal to fill holes on the lineup. He went out and signed 3 protective backs who have actually made an instant effect: Jeremiah Lewis(Northwestern), Al Blades Jr. (Miami) and Myles Jones(Texas A&M). 2 starters on the offensive line are transfers, too: center Scott Elliott (Harvard) and right tackle Jake Hornibrook(Stanford ). However the reality is Elko has actually led this turnaround– and the very best 17-game start to a head training stint in school history– with players he currently had on the lineup.

“We feel like we constructed this from the ground up, “Carter stated.”So that type of battle, chip on our shoulder came from our work and particularly whatever we went through. Someone had to feel our discomfort, in a sense, which was through winning ballgame. Playing hard, striking hard, ending up blocks, controling blocks, making tackles, finishing takes on.

Whatever we attempted to do and still do today is just demonstrate how tough we play and just how much we like the game.”Carter says maybe the biggest compliment of all is the method opponents now react to Duke.”There was a specific disrespect we got when teams would play us. Now it’s ended up being, ‘Oh, you guys are tough.'”Elko has repeatedly made it clear he did not take the Duke job to be average. He took it due to the fact that he believed he might win, and leaving to a 4-0 start this year is just the beginning.His straightforward nature and belief in his players have actually gotten early results.

But there are still huge tests staying on the schedule, beginning with Notre Dame– a team that has not lost a regular-season ACC game since 2017. After an open date, Duke’s next five challengers are a combined 18-2. Get your preferred live sports, stories and originals with ESPN +, Disney+ and Hulu. Upgrade to a Disney Bundle plan and begin streaming something for everybody today! To keep his players concentrated on making enhancements, Leonard stated after every game, Elko spotlights where Duke must improve. “You have about 18 to 24 hr of event and

then you get brought down to earth again and you recognize how far we have to go prior to we actually accomplish something, “Leonard said.”It’s his own version of ‘You suck,’and he does a respectable task at it. “Elko provides his own interpretation of how”You suck”has actually become a defining, motivational expression– not only for his quarterback, but for his entire team. It even uses to him, after waiting years for his first chance to end up being a head coach. “We’re something a little different,”Elko stated.

“We perhaps weren’t the highest-rated kids. We most likely weren’t the highest-rated head coach. However we came together, and we developed an extremely strong chemistry. We worked extremely tough. We became very tough

, and that’s created a winning formula where we feel really confident whenever we go out there.” That’s something

that’s difficult for the masses to detect. The masses want star power. They want notoriety. They desire those things because those stories are a lot easier to gravitate to. This is actually a throwback. This is a group that just works really, actually tough and has earned their right to

be in the spotlight.”