Triangle Sports Roundup: Notes from Duke’s gridiron scrimmage

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Duke Athletics, GoDuke.com

DURHAM, N.C. –The Duke Blue Devils held an 85-snap scrimmage at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday.

Youth and experience highlighted the offense, both on the ground and in the air.

Freshman running back Marvin Hubbard III rushed 23 times for 119 yards, freshman Brittain Brown carried nine times for 61 yards, while senior Shaun Wilson picked up 55 ground yards on six attempts, including a 35-yard gain.

Quarterback Daniel Jones completed five-of-12 throws for 49 yards while rushing for one touchdown.

Backup quarterback Quentin Harris was six-of-11 for 48 yards.

Redshirt junior Johnathan Lloyd led all receivers with three catches for 17 yards while redshirt freshman Scott Bracey (32 yards) and rookie Noah Gray (11 yards) had two receptions each.

“We harped on throwin’ the ball deep,” Bracey said afterwards.

“That timing – it’s needed – especially when there’s a defender there. All the routes that we do here on the weekends or out here during practice, it’s crucial to makin’ it work on Saturdays.”

On the other side of the ball, ends Twazanga Mugala and Tre Hornbuckle each posted two tackles for loss including one sack apiece while cornerback Josh Blackwell (interception), safety Jordan Hayes (interception), and safety Alonzo Saxton II (fumble recovery) each registered turnovers.

“What we’re trying to do, is very difficult at this stage,” head coach David Cutcliffe said.

“We’re two weeks into practice, but not really because we’ve been in school. So, we put in a game-style circumstance into play here. What they’ll find out is how difficult it is to play a game from one play meaning something about another play, down-and-distance, etcetera; so I wasn’t disappointed with this fact. I thought we had some contact. It was good. I thought we had a lot of people on both sides of the ball that can run. There’s some athleticism…From now until next Friday night, you will see a different football team.”