Duke LB room shrinks even more as Bradley Gompers ejected for targeting

Just before kicking off against the Cal Golden Bears, the Duke Blue Devils released their final availability report ahead of the ACC matchup.

Missing from the depth chart were three star linebackers, slimming down an LB room that was already relatively lacking to begin with. Then, the unthinkable happened less than nine minutes into the game.

Bradley Gompers, a freshman who started the year as a third-string linebacker, was ejected due to targeting, narrowing the depth at the position even more.

Gompers joined the bench, filled with fellow linebackers Nick Morris Jr. (senior and original LB1), Memorable Factor (another senior), and Kendall Johnson (sophomore). All of a sudden, the Blue Devils and head coach Manny Diaz were scrambling to figure out who in the world could fill out their depth chart at the position.

With four linebackers missing from the lineup, the Blue Devils had just eight true LBs remaining, three of which were true freshmen and one being a redshirt freshman.

The linebacker room wasn't the only one struggling to stay healthy as Duke progressed through its Week 6 matchup. The offensive line was missing four players, including senior Micah Sahakian, freshman Jamin Brown, freshman Evan Scott, and freshman Nathan Kutufaris.

As the clock for the first quarter flew toward zero, the Blue Devils struggled to find their footing on either side of the ball, going down 14-0 before true freshman running back Nate Sheppard was finally able to find the end zone.

Just a week ago, Duke flew up to Syracuse and blew past the Orange, stunning a team that was looking primed to take over the ACC. Then, the 3-2 Blue Devils were struggling to get passed a 4-1 Cal team that wasn't even a part of the conference two years ago.