With Duke turning over so much of its roster after last season’s ACC Championship run, the Blue Devils are leaning on their veterans to steady the room this August. And right now, one of the clearest tone-setters is tight end Jeremiah Hasley.
Hasley is heading into his final college season with a strong case as one of the ACC’s top tight ends. In 2025, he put together 40 catches for 454 yards and six touchdowns, finishing fourth on the team in receptions and receiving yards while ranking second in touchdown grabs.
That production matters even more now because Duke’s receiver group is still unsettled. Hasley looks like the safest bet in the passing game, and he’s also within striking distance of a major mark: he needs four more touchdowns to break Duke’s all-time tight end touchdown record.
He backed up that status in the Blue Devils’ second fall camp scrimmage, where the offense had a solid day and Hasley led the team with six receptions for 55 yards. That kind of workload points to a player who should be involved often once the season starts.
The rest of the pass-catching picture is much less certain. Penn transfer Jared Richardson is widely expected to be Duke’s top receiver after piling up nearly 200 catches and more than 2,500 yards with the Quakers, but he still has to prove himself at the ACC level. Behind him are Charlotte transfer Javen Nicholas and a group of younger returners trying to climb the depth chart, including Jaivon Solomon, Jayden Moore, and Jamien Little.
For Duke, Hasley stands out as the most dependable target in a room still sorting itself out. He should be a central piece of the offense in 2026, and the record book could be waiting by the end of it.
In Other News...
Duke Defense Has One Problem It Cannot Repeat This Season
Dukes defense had enough bright spots to keep the season from feeling like a complete collapse, but third downs were a glaring weak point all year. Opponents converted 45.4% of their chances in 2025, a number that placed the Blue Devils near the bottom of the FBS and made too many drives feel like slow-motion breakdowns instead of routine stops. Even with some encouraging turnover production, the overall profile never quite matched the kind of defense Duke needed to climb in the ACC.
The problems were especially evident in games where the breakdowns kept compounding, including the Virginia matchup when the Cavaliers turned 12 of 19 third downs into fresh life. Those kinds of possessions are the ones that swing field position, drain a defense and turn a decent outing into a frustrating one, and Duke finished 14th in the conference with too many of them. If the Blue Devils want a cleaner season ahead, third-down defense is the first place the fix has to show up. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes Biggest Camp Question Still Has No Clear Answer
Dukes 2026 training camp has already offered a pretty clear glimpse of what this team wants to be. The running back room looks deeper than it has in a while, with Nate Sheppard leading the way and Jayvian Tanelus and CJ Campbell both turning heads, while the defense has flashed the kind of disruptive play that shows up in sacks and tackles for loss and can shape an entire seasons identity.
Even with those pieces settling into place, the biggest question in camp is still unresolved. Walker Eget and Dan Mahan are battling for the starting quarterback job, and there does not appear to be any announcement coming soon, which leaves Duke in the familiar place of waiting on the one position that tends to define everything else around it. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Could Still Find A Higher-Upside Answer At Quarterback
Thomas Castellanos has quickly become one of the more intriguing names in the quarterback market after a temporary restraining order against the NCAA opened the door to a fifth year of college football eligibility. With that change, he is now in contact with Texas Tech about a possible transfer, and the Red Raiders are taking a careful look at the situation after recent issues tied to their previous quarterback, Brendan Sorsby.
Duke is also being mentioned as another possible landing spot, which keeps the Blue Devils in the conversation if they decide they want a different kind of upside at the position. There has been no official indication of interest from Duke yet, but the mere fact that Castellanos could still be available gives the program another name to monitor as the quarterback picture continues to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]