Duke Football Players Earn Preseason ESPN Honors
By Chris Brown
ESPN recently released their preseason national and conference awards for the upcoming college football season, and 3 Duke football players earned recognition in their projections for this year. Redshirt senior safety Jeremy Cash earned ESPN All-America and All-ACC honors, redshirt senior Matt Skura was selected as the All-ACC center, and redshirt junior DeVon Edwards was honored as the ESPN All-ACC special teams returner.
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Jeremy Cash has been heavily-recognized for this season and is projected by most outlets to have a really big year. This will be his 6th preseason All-American list Cash is present on, in addition to being on watch lists for the Bednarik Award, Nagurski Trophy, Thorpe Award, and the Walter Camp National Player of the Year Award. Last year the 6-2 safety was the only defensive back in the NCAA with at least 100 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 5 sacks. Cash is already a two-time All-American and has the talent to possibly be a first round NFL draft pick after this season.
Matt Skura has also earned numerous preseason honors and has been nominated for the Lombardi Award, Outland Trophy, and the Rimington Trophy as one of the top offensive lineman in the NCAA. Duke will have a huge loss on the offensive line this year after the loss of first round draft pick Laken Tomlinson and NFL rookie free agent Takoby Cofield, but Skura is ready to lead this year after being a part of an offensive line that led the NCAA in fewest tackles for loss allowed and led the ACC with the fewest sacks allowed.
DeVon Edwards has received preseason recognition as a kick returner as well as a safety for the Duke Blue Devils. Edwards was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list for the most versatile player in the NCAA in addition to joining Cash on the Walter Camp Award watch list. He has already tied the school record for career kickoff returns for a touchdown with 3. Edwards and Cash were both ranked Top 5 safeties in Lindy’s Magazine’s season preview and are projected to be the top safety duo in the country this season.
The season is coming quickly for the Blue Devils, who will kickoff their 2015-16 season at Tulane next Thursday on September 3rd. We’ll be sure to keep you updated here on Ball Durham will all Duke Football news as the NCAA college football approaches.