After the clock hit zero on November 25th in Duke’s final game of the season against Pittsburgh, time flew by.
A few days after then-head coach Mike Elko’s postgame press conference reiterating the Blue Devils’ promising future, he boarded a midnight jet to College Station, Texas, to become the new head coach of Texas A&M.
With the team still to prepare for a Birmingham Bowl game against Troy, the dominoes began falling in all directions. Several members of the coaching staff pledged to join Elko and the Aggies, while several players announced their intention to enter the transfer portal, including star quarterback Riley Leonard and safety Brandon Johnson.
But instead of protests from fans and players alike, a movement emerged online that showed how much the team had come together despite a season of ups and downs. The hashtag #KeepDukiesatDuke2024 began circulating on X – and was even shared by players like linebacker Tre Freeman and cornerback Chandler Rivers – with the goal of bringing some of their teammates back for another season.
For some of the key targets of this initiative, such as running back Jordan Waters and defensive tackle Aeneas Peebles, those efforts were unsuccessful. However, not every player who entered the portal ended up in a new home. For three key contributors, every path led directly back to Durham, giving new head coach Manny Diaz three cornerstones to work with in addition to the strong returning cast.
On November 30, just five days after the final game of the regular season, starting safety Jaylen Stinson announced his intention to enter the transfer portal. His decision came on the heels of Peebles and Leonard, and suggested that the Blue Devils may be in for a roster shakeup. The Opelika, Alabama native racked up 88 tackles during the season and recovered a fumble in the season opener against Clemson that Duke fans will likely remember for years to come. After 31 career appearances, Stinson was looking for greener pastures.
“When you change cultures, there are a lot of doubts in the air. So I started by exploring everything to see what was out there and where I was in my head,” Stinson said.
About a week later, another major blow followed, this time in the running back room. In the space of a day, Duke lost its two best runners of the 2023-24 season when Jaquez Moore and Waters announced their intention to take their leave. Waters was more understandable, as the veteran had spent a lot of time at Duke and likely wanted a change of scenery for his senior year, which he would eventually find just around the corner at NC State. But Moore’s decision was a gut punch for fans who had hoped the Blue Devils would weather the storms of the offseason with few losses, as the junior seemed to not embrace a clear role as Duke’s RB1.
“There was just a lot of uncertainty about what was going to happen next. I think it was pretty crazy at the time to have three head coaches at the same school in four years,” Moore said.
The last key defensive player to enter the portal was edge Ryan Smith, whose announcement came the night before Duke’s bowl game against Troy. The senior was the third defensive lineman to enter the portal this offseason, joining RJ Oben and Peebles, effectively decimating the position group following the graduation of stalwart tackles DeWayne Carter and Ja’Mion Franklin.
While players were leaving, Duke was also adding reinforcements. Diaz’s hiring was first and foremost; he was brought in after leading a top-notch defense at Penn State for two years with the Nittany Lions. After his hiring on Dec. 8, time was of the essence for the Blue Devils’ new leader if he wanted to keep anything close to the same roster as the previous season.
While some teams prefer to bring in their own people and try to establish a new culture, Diaz did the exact opposite and tried to capitalize on what Elko had built in his two years with the program. That message was evident in the first days of his tenure as coach, as countless stories emerged of Diaz meeting with players and rookies around the clock to try and stop the proverbial bleeding caused by the transfer portal.
When asked about the top priority once he steps on campus, Diaz said, “First is our locker room and the guys who have already worked for Duke and believed in Duke. Whatever turmoil we went through earlier this month, we can make up for that, we can stabilize that and understand that if we keep this team together, we have a platform to build on.”
Those efforts paid off immediately for Diaz and his colleagues. Just three days after his hiring, Diaz was able to bring back his running back as Moore withdrew his name from the portal and established himself as the lead figure of this year’s offense.
“Then I really sat there and thought about it. Just the relationships I’ve built here with the guys on this team and the way we’ve embraced the young guys that came in with all the uncertainty, not knowing what was going on, made me feel like it was right in my heart to stay and try to finish what I started with the guys I came in with,” Moore said.
While every player’s situation is different, it was clear that the team’s bond had some impact on each player in the portal.
“(Stinson, Smith and I) talked about it every chance we could get together. It was like, let’s come back, let’s come back, we kind of threw it out there. All the guys that were already in the portal and came back talked in depth and the final decision was really, let’s come back and try to finish it right,” Moore said.
About a month later, Smith announced his return, giving the defensive line another versatile weapon. The graduate student was named Duke’s 2022 Special Teams Player of the Year, giving new special teams coordinator Gabe Infante an ace. Two weeks later, Stinson followed suit, revitalizing the Blue Devils’ defense without even looking outside the program.
“My decision to come back has to do with the guys in that locker room. It’s hard not playing with those guys in my senior year. That’s what ultimately drives me back, the guys, that’s what makes Duke so special,” Smith said.
“At the end of the day, it’s just the brotherhood we have here, the coaches we have here. I wanted to do it again, do it again,” Stinson said.
With a new coaching staff and the high roster turnover that has become synonymous with modern college football, it can be easy for teams to have a completely different identity year after year. However, the strength of the Durham locker room seems to have sidestepped that phenomenon for now, proving just how much the group bonded during the events of last offseason.
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