DURHAM - Over the course of training camp, Duke's football team had 29 practice opportunities.
There were 14 of those days where the Blue Devils never had the same line-up among the first and second team, with injures pushing players to the sidelines and a bout with the H1N1 virus impacting at least 30 team members.
Still, with less than a week to his team's season-opener against Richmond on Saturday, coach David Cutcliffe was upbeat on Tuesday about the team's preparation.
He said the Devils on Tuesday morning had the best practice since the start of camp and he was happy to report that they enter this week with few injuries to players outside of senior defensive tackle Kinny Rucker and freshman Anythony Young-Wiseman. He listed both as questionable for this season.
He also named team captains for the Richmond game: seniors Re'quan Boyette, Thaddeus Lewis, Vincent Rey and Vince Oghobaase.
Listen to Cutliffe's Tuesday afternoon news conference.
Edward joined the News & Observer staff in 2004. He is a graduate of American University and Johns Hopkins University. He covers Wake Forest football and women's college basketball for the N&O. Edward is a native of Washington, D.C. He can be reached at 829-4781 or 
