Ball Durham
Fansided

Duke Football: Blue Devils could be able to withstand Gilbert injury

By Kevin Connelly

EVANSTON, IL- SEPTEMBER 08: Marquis Waters #10 of the Duke Blue Devils intercepts a pass against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half on September 8, 2018 at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)
EVANSTON, IL- SEPTEMBER 08: Marquis Waters #10 of the Duke Blue Devils intercepts a pass against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half on September 8, 2018 at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Duke Football defense took big hit last weekend losing All-ACC cornerback Mark Gilbert for the remainder of the season due to a hip injury.

Replacing a First Team Preseason All-ACC player is impossible, but the Blue Devils can try and make up for the absence of Mark Gilbert the best they can because of their depth.

Duke Football Head Coach David Cutcliffe has done an amazing job resurrecting the Blue Devils program, flipping the script that Duke University isn’t just a “basketball school”.

More from Ball Durham

One of the biggest things that helped the turnaround of the program was the depth that Cutcliffe has recruited to Duke and that depth will be put to the test on Saturday afternoon against the Baylor Bears.

Gilbert is out for the season with a hip injury, but the Blue Devils still have many good players in their secondary which will now be led by Michael Carter II and Marquis Waters.

Both players have an interception on the season, the only two interceptions that the Duke defense has created, while Carter II has four pass breakups and Waters has one.

As Gilbert was able to shut one one side of the field, which can be shown through his stats in the game and a half that he was on the field, no quarterback threw in his direction, the rest of the Duke secondary will have to focus their attention to the entire field, something they really haven’t needed to do this season.

Now, it’s not only the secondary that needs to step up in the absence of Gilbert, the front seven will need to continue to get pressure on the quarterback and linebackers Joe Giles-Harris and Ben Humphreys will need to be the leaders that they are and guide this Duke defense to the elite status that they have reached over the past two seasons.

While it’s going to be a challenge, the Duke Blue Devils certainly have the players on defense to try and make up for the big hole that is left by the injury to Mark Gilbert.

Home/Duke Football