Duke’s Week 1 meeting with Tulane brings a lot more than just a season opener to Durham. It puts Walker Eget back under the spotlight after injury, tests a Duke defense trying to prove it can get back to 2024 standards, and offers an early look at how much trust the Blue Devils have in a receiver group that remains largely unproven.
Eget is back after dealing with serious leg injuries during his career, and Duke has been told he’s as healthy as he’s been in some time. Still, that kind of history doesn’t disappear overnight.
How Manny Diaz handles Eget’s mobility will be worth watching, especially if the game gets tight. Eget hasn’t built a reputation as a big-time runner, but he will take off when he has to.
For Duke, the hope is simple: keep him upright and let him operate at full strength.
The bigger mystery on offense may be at receiver. Duke’s depth chart lists starters, but the entire room is largely untested at this level.
Penn transfer Jared Richardson and Charlotte transfer Javen Nicholas are expected to play major roles, and both will have to show they can produce against ACC competition. Jonah Burton is also listed as a starter, but the grad transfer from Idaho State arrives with just 373 career receiving yards, making him something of a wildcard.
There are more names in the mix, and Week 1 should start to show who Eget leans on.
On the other side of the ball, Duke’s defense has a chance to make an early statement, even if one game won’t answer every question. The Blue Devils’ 2024 unit was arguably the best in the ACC, and last season’s group still managed to win a conference title despite taking a step back.
This year, the front seven and linebackers look solid. The concern sits in the secondary, where Duke is carrying a lot of unproven talent.
Diaz added a number of transfers along with some returning players who still have something to prove, and Saturday should give that group its first real chance to build confidence before tougher tests against deeper passing attacks.
Tulane has its own quarterback situation to sort through. The Green Wave entered the offseason with a four-man battle for the QB1 job, and Zeon Chriss-Gremillion emerged as the starter.
He’s a fifth-year player with a mixed track record from his time at Louisiana and Houston. If Duke makes life difficult early, backup Kadin Semonza could get a shot to run the offense.
Then there’s the setting itself. Wallace Wade Stadium hasn’t been drawing huge crowds lately, but an ACC title can change the mood around a program in a hurry. Saturday’s matchup offers Duke a relatively high-profile stage, and it’ll be worth seeing whether the fans turn out in bigger numbers.
Duke and Tulane meet in Durham on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, with the game streaming on ACC Network.
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Knueppels choices leaned into the kind of elite guard play and rugged winning that has long defined the Blue Devils, and the list immediately invited comparisons across generations. It is the sort of answer that can split a fan base for days, especially when a players picks naturally leave out some obvious favorites and force a second look at where Dukes best teams, and best individual talents, really fit into the programs history. [Read more 🡒]
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Dukes Hot Start Faces A Reality Check This Weekend
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The challenge comes with a familiar centerpiece in graduate student Alaina McVeigh, who is in her final collegiate season and remains one of the key figures in Dukes attack. History offers some context for what lies ahead, but the bigger question is how the Blue Devils respond when the schedule turns sharply upward against elite opposition, especially with conference and nonconference bragging rights on the line. [Read more 🡒]