It's no secret that Duke plans to run the football this year. Regardless of whether it's Walker Eget or Dan Mahan who ultimately wins the starting QB job, the identity of the offense will be built around a power run game.
The star of the show will be sophomore Nate Sheppard, the ACC's second-leading rusher last season who is one of the most dynamic running backs in the entire country. He's somehow still flying under the radar heading into this season, despite a terrific freshman campaign and finishing last season on a high note with a 170-yard performance in Duke's Sun Bowl win over Arizona State.
While Sheppard will be the bellcow for Manny Diaz's team, the Blue Devils have some talented players down the depth chart behind him who will also make an impact. Transfers CJ Campbell Jr. (Rutgers) and Wilhelm Daal II (Yale) are experienced backups capable of spelling Sheppard and giving Jonathan Brewer's offense quality snaps.
There's also excitement surrounding freshman CJ Givers, who has had a nice camp and is positioning himself for some early work.
Duke's ground game steals the show during the second scrimmage of fall camp
Sunday's scrimmage was closed just like the first one, but Duke released some stats through its athletics page, and it's clear that the offensive line and the ground game had strong days.
As expected, Sheppard led the way. The rising sophomore runner picked up 54 yards on seven attempts. Freshman Jayvian Tanelus was actually the second-leading rusher with 38 yards on eight carries. Campbell added 35 yards on seven attempts, with all three backs averaging around five yards or more per rush attempt.
The running game continues to round into form as the season quickly approaches. It's going to be the identity of the offense in 2026, which is why Diaz has harped so much on the outcome of the quarterback competition hinging on which guy proves they can take care of the football.
Having a guy who can be a playmaker at QB is a nice luxury, but Duke needs a guy who can be more of a caretaker this season. They won't have the explosiveness on offense this year to survive back-breaking turnovers. Ball control will be the name of the game for the Blue Devils.
The emergence of a few other quality backs will be pivotal for Duke this season so as not to burn out Sheppard too early in the season. He's going to have to shoulder a significant workload, but having trustworthy backs behind him will be critical to keeping him healthy throughout the season.
It looks like Duke has several running backs ready for meaningful carries with less than two weeks to go until the season opener against Tulane.
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