With the start to the college football season about three months away the anticipation is starting to grow big time. On Monday morning Phil Steele’s preseason All-America and All-ACC teams were announced and there are eight Duke Blue Devils that are named.
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Safety Jeremy Cash and linebacker Kelby Brown were the only two Blue Devils to be named to the preseason All-America teams, while the other six were named to one of the All-ACC teams. Cash is listed as the strong safety on the All-American first team, while Brown is one of the linebackers on the second team.
Brown missed the entire 2014 season due to injury but will be back for his senior season and clearly has some high expectations. Brown was an All-ACC performer in 2013 and was one of the frontrunners in 2014 for the Bednarik award before getting injured.
Cash on the other hand has been named an All-American in back-to-back years and is the first Blue Devil to do that since 1989. Cash was a second team All-American both last season and in 2013.
Cash is joined on the first team All-ACC by center Matt Skura, who was also named to the Rimington watch list, and DeVon Edwards who makes the first team as a kick returner. Edwards also joins Brown on the second team All-ACC as a defensive back.
Rounding out the preseason honorees are offensive lineman Lucas Patrick, kicker Ross Martin, punter Will Monday, who were named third team All-ACC, and offensive lineman Casey Blaser, who is the lone Blue Devil on the fourth team All-ACC.
The three returning starters on Duke’s offensive line were all recognized by Steele on these preseason teams. Last season Duke’s offensive line was one of the best in the country, and even though they lost Laken Tomlinson and Takoby Cofield to the NFL, they should still be a solid unit as they have three returning starters that have shown they are more than capable of opening up holes and protecting the quarterback.
In total Duke returns six starters on both offense and defense from last years team that qualified for a bowl for the third straight season. Based on the amount of players Duke has on these preseason teams it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the Blue Devils have another successful year.
Duke will open their season on the road at Tulane on September 3. Until then keep coming back to Ball Durham for all of your Blue Devil’s news.