Duke’s run to the ACC title did not buy the Blue Devils much love from the league’s preseason media.
The defending champions were slotted 10th in the 2026 ACC preseason poll, collecting 1,452 points from 188 voters and drawing no first-place votes. Duke finished 288 points behind Pitt in ninth and only 13 points ahead of Florida State, which came in 11th.
Miami was the runaway No. 1 with 3,159 points and 165 first-place votes, while SMU, Louisville, Clemson and Georgia Tech rounded out the top five. Virginia, NC State and Virginia Tech were also placed ahead of Duke.
That’s a sharp drop from a year ago, when the Blue Devils were picked sixth before storming through the league. Duke went 6-2 in ACC play, reached Charlotte via a multiteam tiebreaker and beat Virginia 27-20 in overtime to claim the program’s first outright conference championship since 1962. The season ended with a 42-39 win over Arizona State in the Sun Bowl, leaving Duke at 9-5.
Manny Diaz wasn’t exactly shocked by the skepticism.
“It’s all guesses, man,” Diaz said at ACC Kickoff. “Nobody would have thought we’d have won a year ago, or the guys that we had - those that were our great players - that nobody thought about or talked about at this event a year ago. So who’s to say who the next guy is?”
Diaz also made clear that the Blue Devils are still sorting out what this year’s roster will actually look like once camp starts.
“I have no idea,” Diaz said when asked whether he had seen enough to know what his team would become. “I think most coaches here have no idea.
What I know is that our guys culturally are doing the right things. I know we’re up for the fight.
But I’ll be honest, we didn’t know this time last year. No one knew.
Training camp is really where your team truly comes together.”
This offseason has brought real turnover. Quarterback Darian Mensah and leading receiver Cooper Barkate are now at Miami, and Duke also has to replace NFL departures including defensive ends Wesley Williams and Vincent Anthony Jr.
The quarterback battle is open, with former San Jose State quarterback Walker Eget competing against returning quarterback Dan Mahan. Around them, Duke does bring back sophomore running back Nate Sheppard, tight end Jeremiah Hasley and offensive linemen Matt Craycraft and Jordan Larsen. On defense, linebacker Luke Mergott and safety DaShawn Stone are among the key returnees.
Even with the low placement in the poll, Duke has picked up some individual preseason recognition. Punter Kade Reynoldson landed on Phil Steele’s Second-Team Preseason All-America squad, Mergott was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, and Craycraft, Larsen, Eget, Hasley, Mergott, Nick Morris Jr., Nick Del Grande, Jared Richardson and Javen Nicholas were included in the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000.
Diaz said the point of the offseason has been about building a new version of the team, not trying to relive last year.
“What this offseason has been about is creating evidence,” Diaz said. “The exact same thing - the process.
Not about trying to recreate the outcome of what happened a year ago. It’s about rediscovering the process.”
He pointed to the program’s development numbers as proof that the work is taking hold. Duke’s team averages in the bench press, squat and power clean are up from last year, and 11 players have hit 22 miles per hour after only five reached that mark in the previous offseason.
“Our guys are seeing real, tangible proof that if they just follow the program, if they follow our process and they follow the system, they get better,” Diaz said. “Ultimately, that’s what all this is about - getting our team as good as it can be to be ready to prepare to perform when we start the season.”
For Hasley, the outside noise hasn’t changed the goal.
“Our standards are always the same,” Hasley said. “Our first goal is always to come back to Charlotte and compete in the ACC championship, and with that it rolls into the College Football Playoff.”
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Kansas will bring plenty of intrigue into that meeting, especially with highly rated freshman Tyran Stokes arriving as the kind of player who can change the tone of a game before the season even starts. With the Jayhawks also dealing with significant roster turnover, the exhibition offers an early measuring stick for both programs, and a reminder that these preseason dates can feel a lot more serious than the label suggests. [Read more 🡒]