Duke Football Team Preview: Safety

In one of our last installments of the Duke Football Team Preview, this post will focus on the safety position. The best is saved for almost last. It all starts with Jeremy Cash and DeVon Edwards. Jeremy Cash is the 6’2, 205 pound, senior, two-time All-American, who is the only defensive back in the country who recorded at least 100 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 5 sacks in 2014. Cash has received extensive preseason praise including preseason 2nd-team All-America. He is simply the best player on the team and maybe even the best player in the entire conference. The media seems to think so as he was named preseason ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

I really cannot say enough good things about Cash. He had 111 tackles last year with 10.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 7 pass breakups and 4 forced fumbles. He does everything and more for the defensive unit and I would expect him to be selected in the first 2-3 rounds of the 2016  NFL Draft. Cash did undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in February but there are no signs of him being slowed by that when the season rolls around.

DeVon Edwards is the other safety in the defensive backfield that is garnering high preseason praise. Edwards is a 5’9, 175 pound, junior who totaled 133 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 1 interception, 9 pass breakups and 5 forced fumbles. What Edwards does not have in stature he makes up for in playmaking ability and a knack for always being around the ball. His tape reminds me of University of Miami legend, Ed Reed, who so happens to be a Hall of Famer. 

Edwards and Cash makeup the best safety tandem in the ACC and possibly the nation but there are others at this position that contributed last year and will be looked to for production outside of the big two.

Deondre Singleton, a 5’11, 180 pound junior, started all 13 games in 2014 where he finished tied for fourth on the team with 70 tackles. He added 7 pass breakups and one fumble recovery. Singleton is the “other” other starter alongside Cash and Edwards that mans the defensive backfield in Duke’s 4-2-5 scheme. 

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Others that return with valuable game experience are Corbin McCarthy, a 5’10, 200 pound junior and Evrett Edwards, a 5’11, 190 pound sophomore. Both showed flashes of solid play and Edwards really showed signs as the season progressed.

Then there is Jake Kite, a 6’0, 185 pound sophomore and Phillip Carter, a 6’1, 195 pound sophomore, who return to provide depth if the unthinkable were to happen to any of the names listed above.

ACC Rank: 1st

This is simply Duke’s finest position group on the team. Nobody can throw on to the field two potential Defensive Player of the Year that are playing opposite each other at the safety position. Not too mention Deondre Singleton who can make another leap forward this year alongside the dynamic duo. Not only does this group rank number one in the ACC but it might be tops in the entire country.