Duke football opens spring camp

DURHAM – The Duke football team opens spring camp today with a keen understanding of its recent history and an internal challenge to learn from its losing ways.

“There’s no sin in losing, if you learn from it,” said Duke David coach Cutcliffe, who returns for his fifth season. His record in four seasons stands at 15-33 – five more wins for the Blue Devils than in the previous eight seasons. 

Still, the coach said during a news conference on Tuesday that there is no reason to hide from the team’s losses. In fact, he and his staff watched last season’s 3-9 campaign together during the off-season and began the arduous process of evaluating a season where a play or two separated wins and losses – and three losses were decided by five or less points.

“We’re hunting another level of play,” Cutcliffe said. “We all know that we’ve played close games. We’ve been in a lot of games since we’ve been here really. Last year, we really did play at another level. And that level is not good enough. We have to make plays that win games. And consistently make plays that win games.”

The Devils enter this spring with that mandate clearly circulated by the coaching staff. They start that journey with 17 returning starters, including rising redshirt senior quarterback Sean Renfree.

Also returning is senior wide receiver Conner Vernon, who is positioned to break several all-time ACC records. He owns 198 career receptions and is 34 away from tying the league record held by Clemson’s Aaron Kelly. He owns 2,675 career receiving yards and is 842 yards shy of catching Florida State’s Peter Warrick. 

Those were a few reasons for Vernon to return after he considered entering his name into the NFL draft. 

But the closes losses over the past two seasons – with Duke posting back-to-back 3-9 seasons – also factored in Vernon’s return. When he looked around, with the collection of young redshirt talent on the team’s roster, he realized that the team remains close to a winning season.

“It’s definitely not a three-win team,” Vernon said. “That just comes with finishing games. And it’s something you can’t practice. It just comes with it. We definitely have more talent than three wins. We shot ourselves in the foot last year and the year before that late in games.”

Five players will miss spring camp, among them redshirt senior Kenny Anunike who is recovering from a season-ending knee injury last season. Others will have limited contact during camp while recovering from injuries, including Vernon and rising junior linebacker Kelby Brown.