Duke’s offense heads into 2026 with real firepower still in place, even after losing a big chunk of the production that powered last year’s run to an ACC Championship. The Blue Devils led the ACC in points per game at 34.6 and finished with 63 total touchdowns in 2025, but the reset is obvious now. Darian Mensah is gone to Miami, and so are Duke’s top three receivers: Cooper Barkate, who transferred to Miami with Mensah, Que'Sean Brown, who transferred to Virginia Tech, and Sahmir Hagans, who exhausted eligibility.
There’s enough uncertainty around the passing game to keep expectations in check, but Duke still has a few obvious candidates to pile up touchdowns. Quarterbacks are not part of this exercise, so the focus lands on the skill players most likely to finish at the top of the scoring list.
Nate Sheppard looks like the safest bet to lead the way. The true sophomore took over Duke’s backfield last season after starting the year buried on the depth chart, and he ended up becoming the engine of the offense.
Sheppard finished second in the ACC with 1,132 rushing yards, tied for fifth with 11 rushing touchdowns, ranked fourth with 80.9 rushing yards per game, and was fifth in the league at 5.7 yards per carry. He also scored once as a receiver.
With the workload he’s set to handle, Sheppard should spend plenty of time in the end zone again.
Jeremiah Hasley is another strong candidate to score often. He wasn’t a major part of the offense in his first two seasons in Durham, but his 2025 breakout changed the picture fast.
Hasley caught 40 passes for 454 yards and six touchdowns, ranking fourth on the team in receptions and receiving yards while finishing second in touchdowns. He’s now four touchdown catches shy of Duke’s all-time tight end record and comes into the season as a Preseason All-ACC selection.
The other name to watch is Richardson, who appears lined up to become Duke’s top wideout. The 6-foot-2 receiver spent four seasons at Penn, where he posted 193 catches, 2,505 yards, and 27 touchdowns.
His 2025 season was especially productive: 80 receptions, 1,033 yards, and 12 touchdowns, which led the Ivy League in catches and scores and placed him second in yards. If Duke can build a dangerous passing attack around him, Richardson should get a heavy target load and plenty of chances to find the end zone.
In Other News...
Duke Secondary Battle Could Decide Manny Diazs Fastest Fix
Dukes pass defense was one of the sore spots in a season that still ended with an ACC championship and a Sun Bowl win, and the numbers showed just how much work Manny Diaz has ahead of him. The Blue Devils finished 135th in defensive EPA against the pass, a problem that helped fuel their early losses and put the secondary squarely in the spotlight heading into a new year.
Diaz has responded by opening the competition wide up, with returning starters and incoming transfers all in the mix for playing time. The final call on the defensive backfield will come during fall camp, and the answer may be one of the clearest early indicators of how quickly Duke can clean up the back end before the season opener against Tulane. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Fall Camp Opens With One Huge Question For ACC Title Defense
Fall camp opened Aug. 5 for Duke with the kind of roster reset that can make even a defending champion feel newly assembled. The Blue Devils are back to work preparing for a Sept. 5 opener against Tulane, but the bigger storyline is the same one hanging over the entire camp: replacing the core pieces from last season, including the starting quarterback and top wide receivers, while trying to keep the momentum of an ACC title defense alive.
San Jose State transfer Walker Eget enters camp as the leading candidate to run the offense, which gives Duke at least a starting point as the quarterback competition unfolds. Even so, this is not a job the Blue Devils appear eager to hand out on reputation alone, and the staff has made clear that the next several weeks will matter in sorting out the depth chart before the season begins. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Just Set Up One Of College Basketballs Toughest Tests
Duke has filled another notable spot on its non-conference calendar, adding Harvard to the mix for Dec. 4 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game is part of the Brotherhood Run series and brings Tommy Amaker, a former Blue Devil, back to campus as the Crimson add a familiar name to a schedule already packed with high-level tests.
The broader slate is shaping up as one of the more demanding ones in the country, with UConn, Illinois, Florida, Texas Tech and Gonzaga all on deck for 2026-27. Some of those games are tied to an Amazon broadcast package, and the new addition comes after a previously scheduled matchup with Michigan fell through amid media rights disputes, leaving Duke to reshuffle its lineup while still keeping the challenge level firmly intact. [Read more 🡒]