Duke Football Quarterback Maalik Murphy Ready To Shine | Duke Blue Devils Podcast

Intro 16 days away from the start of the Duke football 2024 season quarterback is always a big question mark for every team going into the season Duke adds transfer quarterback Malik Murphy he's going to be quite a player for the Blue Devils this season let's talk about [Music] it you are locked on Blue Devils your daily podcast on the Duke Blue Devils part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everybody and welcome into another episode of the lockon Blue Devils podcast my name is JJ Jackson it is so great that you're here with us on Wednesday August 14th 2024 we're locked down Blue Devils we talk about everything going on in the life of Duke Athletics talking a lot about Duke basketball and football today a football conversation as we are 16 days away from the start of the Season Duke of course opening up on Friday night August 30th as they will take on Elon really exciting game set to be played at Wallace Wade and football is right on the horizon gotta talk about quarterbacks this time of year and who better to join our conversation than AR good pow Connor O'Neal from Devils Illustrated Duke Rivals he's on the show with us today if you have not done so already please be sure to follow And subscribe to lockon Blue Devils for free wherever it is that you get your podcasts also leave us a fivar star rating and written review uh really do appreciate your support in the algorithms particularly over on Apple podcast love those written reviews that you leave for us on the program and then if you're watching the show on YouTube subscribe to our YouTube channel like this video share it with your friends follow us on X at lore blue lels and I'm there as well atore JJ orjon so without The pulse of the Duke Football program further Ado bringing him on into Today's Show again Connor O'Neal with us on today's program and man football season almost here yeah it's for me it's been here for two plus weeks with fall camps uh yeah um what are what are we 16 days away as we record this um it feels like it's right here so let's get it going it's let's do it man let's do it we'll have year one of the Manny Diaz era taking over the duuk football program a lot of Buzz uh since he got the job following Mike ELO's departure from Texas A&M you mentioned here we are a couple of weeks into fall Camp you've had some opportunities to go out to practice so far this fall I mean what's the buzz how would you describe kind of the pulse on the Duke football program right now it's it's interesting um one of the main takeaways and maybe this is kind of being a prisoner of what we saw in the spring but you you can't help but look down at the offensive line and think they're really urgent to make up for Miss time um they only had five or six of them in the spring it was really tough for them to go contact because you just it's it's really hard to practice football when you can only put an offensive line out there with the first team and you know a couple of those guys might not be starters uh come come fall so there like I said there's a lot of urgency with the offensive line um Manny the couple times that he's talked to us has mentioned how different it is to practice and Go full contact with a first team and a second team uh one of the things Duke was doing early in Fall Camp you can't really do it for the entirety of fall camp but because injuries start to mount up uh guys start to get a little more sore but one of the things they were do early uh is going two practice fields at the same time uh they were putting you know first team offense against second team defense on the outside grass field and then they were putting like second team offense against first team defense in the indoor um so that's really rare uh you can only do it as much as your numbers allow you to do it but that just kind of shows you how much they're trying to make up for lost time in the spring without a doubt I mean look this is a new coaching staff coming in taking over a program uh that that was on the rise for a couple of Seasons under Mike ELO but anytime there's a coaching change that takes place obviously guys exit others enter people graduate and the offensive of line of course as you said is a spot where a lot of turnover and a lot of new faces set to protect the quarterback that's also going to be possibly a new face that that's joining the the ranks with Malik Murphy transferring in from Texas uh went with Duke to ACC kickoff they're in Charlotte Duke's putting out there we've got this quarterback competition but everyone is is of the opinion you don't go out and get this guy from the Texas Longhorns for him to not be the guy what are we seeing from Malik Murphy so far in Fall Camp Conor it's a lot of the that that's kind of the one constant uh in the spring I was kind of Blown Away with how the ball comes out of his hand uh it's almost like a baseball player you have you have some baseball players that you say the ball sounds different off of their bat the ball looks different coming out of Malik Murphy's hand uh he just he has a cannon on that right arm and uh that's gonna open some things up especially when you're running a an air raid type of offense I mean that's the Jonathan Brewer is the offensive coordinator he learned it from Rett Lashley um at SMU so now ACC country here here we go but um it's it's really hard to see the job going to Grayson Loftus with how well of a fit Malik Murphy seems to be in the air raid like he he is a pocket passer you're going to look at him and if you're a Panthers fan or even if you're from the Carolinas you look at a qub back of Malik Murphy's size and you think well he should be a runner but he's not Cam Newton like he wants in the pocket and throw the ball and when you see his arm Talent it kind of makes sense why he would want to do that um so that's and and tying it back to the offensive line that's again why you really need to have a not just a five in front of him that can protect you need to have six seven to eight playable offensive lineman that you feel good about putting in there that can protect a quarterback who is not going to be able to create as much with his legs he's not going to be able to kind of you know turn turn nothing out of something um or right turn turn something out of you get what I'm saying there make something out of nothing yeah yeah make something out of nothing um so yeah it's I think it's going to be Malik Murphy um I've only been to two practice IES but the the last one I was at was a few days ago and you know you you have these areas that you think Malik Murphy holds the edge over Grayson Loftus and you have one of the areas that okay well they're kind of starting on equal footing when it comes to ball security and I watch Grayson Loftus throw two interceptions and it's like that's that's one of the areas that you if you're Grayson Loftus in that competition you can't do those things like you can't give Malik Murphy who's already got the better arm another leg up in in something that as important as ball security so I think it'll be Malik Murphy and I think it'll be really important for Duke to have a sturdy offensive line in front of him and he's a player that's going to be able to unlock a lot of different things I think within this offense uh a receiving core that he spoke very highly of at ACC kickoff although I don't know that I've met many quarterbacks who publicly don't speak highly of the guys that they're throwing football too but Malik Murphy certainly in that conversation and category as well all right we'll take our first Timeout on the show today and then we got to talk a little bit more about this Duke football team again 16 days away from kickoff and Connor O'Neal is here with us on today's show lockdown blue was brought to you by Game Time game time that's right it's the best place to go when you're looking for tickets to any sporting event concert theater show what ever you're looking 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g for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed we roll forward with Conor Connor ONeal O'Neal from Devils Illustrated Duke Rivals tell us a little bit about your work how can people support you throughout the course of this football season Connor yeah duke. rivals.com is where Devil's Illustrated is um we'll have coverage up all year um it's it's going to get tight when it's basketball season I don't I don't want to say that I'm gonna punt on all football coverage when November rolls around but you know how things go and you know the Duke fan base um love but it's it's gonna be rolling with football coverage for a good while here and uh we'll we'll get some stuff up here in the next couple weeks of season preview type things optimistic and pessimistic season previews will get up there and we'll uh we'll roll right along there's a really good board that you could be a part of in a community there are Devil's Illustrated duke. ral.com he's Conor O'Neal and he's here with us on the program all right Malik Murphy is this new quarterback that comes in by way of Texas and I teased it a moment ago he's really high on the receivers that he's going to be throwing the football to um I'm high on them as well I think there's a lot of experience in that room Connor when you look at uh Jordan Moore coming back Samir haggens Eli panl all these guys that we really expect to make an impact for this Duke football team that's got to help Malik Murphy when you're trying to kind of set expectations for a quarterback play I'm really high on Jordan Moore I think Jordan Moore has a chance to be a breakout star of of not just the ACC but college football this year uh I was talking I think it's on the Pod the big J Little J show with Jordan where I said he could a top 10 guy for the Bullit off uh come the end of the season amazing the rest of Duke's receiver core and I'll throw tight end core in here too it's kind of in a pro it to me stage like smear Heins look great in the second half of the 2022 season and last year I thought was a little disappointing um some of that had to do with how well Duke rushed the ball last year like they didn't need to be throwing the ball as much because they could just Hammer you into into the ground with some Riley Leonard Keepers Grayson less is a little mobile at the end of the year and they had three really good running backs last year um Eli pankl is coming off a catastrophic injury right we need to see if he's back up to speed and to to that point he has been in practice right like it's not like he's been out there and looks a step slower to me um he looks like he's back it's just getting game speed back when he the last he played was in 2022 um Javon Harvey is a guy coming from Liberty that I think is going to be pretty good but again he's coming from a G5 so you need to see it on the power conference level um I'm really high on Caron Boyd he's G to be kind of a scatback like you'll see him line up in the back field sometimes you'll think he's a running back then he'll line up in the slot and be a receiver um but again he's another guy like him and Shawn Brown uh a slot receiver from right here in in my backyard in Kernersville uh they haven't done it yet like they haven't done it in games yet so I think you've got one really solid proven guy that is going to be your go-to receiver otherwise I think there's some things that are going to pan out but there's also some other guys that just it might not pan out for them they it it might happen next year or it might happen somewhere else next year and that's certainly something that time will tell as we go throughout the course of the season but again I think it's going to tell a whole lot of of Malik Murphy himself and you want to be able to help your quarterback out by making plays out there and we'll see if the guys are able to do that talking about last season and the running game right because that does have an impact on what you're able to do as an offense in terms of throwing the football if I can run effectively why risk putting the ball in the air when an interception can happen and all these other variables that are out there what does that running game look like for Duke Jordan Waters exits via the transfer portal what are you expecting out of this bunch and then again we Circle back to the top it's an offensive line that you're hoping can hold up for Murphy when he's throwing the football but also open up holes for the Back Field yeah and that's that's the thing with the offensive line is you you just kind of wind up saying well that's the that's the first thing we have to to figure out and then we can know whether we can pass protect whether we can run block better than pass protect and maybe we have to change the approach of the offense um running the ball I think JZ Moore is is primed for a really good season I don't know if I'd go into it expecting a thousand yards it's it's actually it's just getting harder and harder to run for a thousand yards in college football these days uh there's usually only a handful of guys in the ACC that do it but I would I would expect seven to 800 yards out of JZ Moore I think he's really explosive um he cracked me up the other day he was talking about how he needed to get in uh better shape to run Jonathan Brewer's uptempo and and lightning fast offense and I was like it it seemed to me like you were in decent shape last year JZ when you were getting uh about a 5050 split there with Jordan waters for the bulk of the Season he's just kind of like in the spring he had to get in get into even better shape um I thought I I think the future is pton Jones at running back I thought that last year watching him go through freshman fall Camp he just never really got the opportunity because of how healthy Duke stayed at running back um I think there's you obviously with Jordan Waters transferring with Jaylen Coleman uh graduating there's now room for pton Jones to get Number Two Carries um and then they've got two bowling ball transfers in there I think both star Thomas and Al Wooten are listed at 6 foot 225 I'm a big fan of having bowling ball running backs that you can give the ball to on the goal line and feel like they're going to run somebody over like they can if they get one-on-one with safety at the goal line they're going to win that battle uh 80 to 90% of the time so I I I like where their running backs are um scheme-wise we we need to see what it looks like and also other thing to remember with the air raid is uh sometimes a run in the air raid is a quick screen to the slot like sometimes and they'll they'll go down as passes in the Playbook but or in the in the stat sheet but those are running plays those are get the ball out to space immediately and make something happen get three to five yards and it's a positive play like second and seven is a lot better than second and 10 um I think that's something to kind of expect in the air raid until we until we know what the offensive line Looks like yeah this you're looking to accomplish the same things so pretty similar in what you're kind of able to do in this offense and excited to see Jonathan Brewer take over as offensive coordinator we've mentioned his name a couple of times throughout the course of the off season and uh what a big quarterback he's got in Malik Murphy just size we were talking about it after that spring game in particular and seeing him throughout the course of fall Camp I mean expectations I think are climbing for what Malik Murphy can do this season let's talk a little bit about those expectations after we take our last time out here on today's episode of lock down Blue Devils all right lockdown Blue Devils we are really appreciate you making us your first listen or first watch each and every day again shout out to to all of our every dayers let me know in the comments down below if you're an everyday for this program for your second listen today you got to go enjoy the lock on college football podcast our show within the network that talks about all of college football across the board Spencer MC glofin gets you ready for an exciting season on the grid iron with discussion on the upcoming season and the everchanging landscape of College athletics including conference reignment the transfer portal nil this new college football expanded playoff and more locked on college football available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts it's a part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day again he's here with us on today's show Duke vs Illinois it's Wednesday August 14th 2024 he's Conor O'Neal from Devils Illustrated duke. rivals.com I'm looking at the website now a new story up there's basketball schedule news that's become official today Connor what do you got yeah that's a that's a little one um had to have my memory refreshed of how the reports came out and and when exactly in the springsummer it was but Brad Underwood kind of lifted the lid on that one back at the NBA Combine that Duke and Illinois are going to play in February and it's going to be late February we got the date February 22nd at Madison Square Garden I think it's fantastic I think anything to help the ACC Fight The Narrative that has developed late in seasons over the last couple years uh is going to be a positive for the ACC I I I say that thinking that the mo least likely scenario is Duke goes and gets blown out by Illinois in that game um I think any of the other three scenarios you know close loss close win or blowout win by Duke we're we're talking about how just just how kind of skewed we get in our in our thought process with how we talk about college basketball when teams go into conference play and they go into that like bubble of conference play and the Big 12 always gets talked up because they just keep beating each other where the ACC gets beat down because you have teams like you know you're your typical teams that have typically been on the bottom of the ACC over the last three to four years so I think it's great um it's a it's a huge matchup I'm not sure where Illinois stands in all the way too early top 25s and all that um I do know they they lost their top four scorers from last year but I was able to slide into that to that story about the game um Duke fans will know that they have kylin Boswell uh the point guard from Arizona who had a good game at Cameron last year and they'll be familiar with Carri Booth he was a rangy forward for Notre Dame last year and uh Trey white who was one of Louisville's best players the past couple years go check it out duke. Maalik Murphy ral.com an opportunity for us to promote some of the other good Conor's in touch with everything it's it's football fall camp but we talk basketball all the time as we're saying so go find all that over at the website uh people like wait a minute you teased me about expectations for the quarterback and you're talking basketball now so I'll kind of get us back on track here Malik Murphy uh I I do believe the expectations for what he's going to be able to do for this team in particular Are Climbing are you in that same boat Conor I I think so um I don't want to beat the horse into the ground here but it is like a lot of quarterback play has to do with whether he's protected um like that's the one position that's the most important position in sports but it's also the position that I feel like is so dependent on every other position around him um you can't have good quarterback play if you have bad play at yeah you know multiple positions around him so I I like where Malik Murphy is um I think there's a nonzero chance that he blows up and looks like a quarterback with such raw tools who's able to put things together that we talk about him like Anthony Richardson was talked about a couple years ago and he wound up being what the third or fourth overall pick in the in the draft um I'm not saying that that's likely I'm not saying that's even like a 20% chance of happening I just think it's an Avenue that this season could take um and and that's pretty High Injuries Praise excited to see what he's going to be able to do because again I think Malik Murphy um can definitely lead Duke to a successful season a first year Under head coach Manny Diaz but like anything with the quarterback position it is so dependent on what other guys are doing around you and the other thing Connor it's dependent on actually playing in a game right like we're really not going to know anything just by evaluating these fall C like you gotta be under the because we're talking injuries the last thing you want to do is put your quarterback in any position whatsoever to be hurt within practice here we are looking at college football as a whole and unfortunately we're already seeing injury IES take place Texas one of the top contenders in the country up there with Georgia in the SEC has already lost two running backs to season ending injuries so with that being said so many of these questions we truly won't get a feel for them and putting expectations out there on somebody like Malik Murphy until you have another team lined up opposite you yeah and the other part of that is I mean you know to disparage my a moer here just a little bit Elon is an FCS team so that first game is is on paper and in all likelihood gonna be Duke's easiest game of the year um now I I watched Elon last year go down early at Wake Forest I think it was 24 nothing in halftime and elon's first five drives they had minus nine yards all of a sudden it was a 2714 game late in the third quarter so elon's not the they might not be the FC has pushover that you would be playing on uh the name of the video game that I everybody wants to talk about uh college football 25 yeah right but that is going to be on paper and theoretically it's the easiest game of the schedule so if Malik Murphy goes out and goes you know 15 for 18 for 360 yards and four touchdowns don't freak out if he goes to Northwestern the next week and struggles uh that's that's a big step up going from FCS at home to Big 10 on the road in a makeshift Stadium by the lake but I digress um we're gonna it it's look it's going to be reading a book and there's there's 12 chapters to Duke's book and we're gonna find out more about them and more about Manny Diaz's first season more about Malik Murphy as as we go and it's going to be it's going to be kind of a learning process injury suck Outro stay healthy cuz I'm I'm I'm back in the college football 25 mind space that you're talking about because yes it is an FCS team to open up the season but unlike the video game where I a proponent of just turning injuries off right knew that's where you going I KN that's turn off I don't need this we don't have that in uh in real life unfortunately Conor so uh best wishes healthwise to everybody across college football going against the new season man because it just changes everything yeah I mean you look I I never want to see injuries but it's just a reality it's a what's uh I think it might be a Charles Barkley thing where he says that basketball is a contact sport football is a collision sport football is just is so unavoidable basketball you get get penalized for hitting people most of the time football it's encouraged yeah it happens yeah that's so true Conor it's great to see you man uh I know football season is closer I know that that means we've got many visits together ahead of us throughout the course of the season one more time where can we follow you where can we find the work Devil's Illustrated is at duke. ral.com it's really short and sweet and uh hope you'll swing on by awesome Connor we'll do this again soon okay thank you all right that's Connor O'Neal he's on X Conor O'Neal Di and that does it for our show here today yeah I wish we really could turn injuries off in college football in real life that would be amazing uh that's going to do it for our show as always go duke I'll talk to you tomorrow my name is JJ Jackson thank you and good day