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Manny Diaz: Duke football 2025 squad 'fastest' and 'strongest' team in last four years
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- Manny Diaz: Duke football 2025 squad 'fastest' and 'strongest' team in last four years
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you're up against Duke football in a relay race or an arm wrestling competition, coach Manny Diaz is confident his team will come out on top.
Heading into his second year at the helm, Diaz has what he calls the "strongest" and "fastest" team at Duke within the last four years – much to the thanks of strength coach David Feeley. Diaz led the Blue Devils to a 9-4 mark during his first year with the program, along with a trip to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, making him one of three Duke coaches to guide the program to a bowl appearance in their first season.
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Now, Diaz and Co. look to build off an impressive first campaign in Durham. And he's looking for his team to be consistent while doing so.
"I think the question now will be: Will our football team be able to sustain their standard of work, which they've done an amazing job up to this point," Diaz said on Thursday, July 24, at ACC Media Kickoff. "Can you sustain that over a four-week training camp period? Then I think the biggest challenge in college football is can you be the same team for 48 consecutive quarters, right? You get assigned 12 games. You've got 48 quarters in those 12 games. In a league that's so tightly packed, that's so competitive, you think about all 48. It can be two or three quarters that dictates who's back here in December and who's not."
Duke's defense finished second nationally in tackles for loss per game (8.9), second in fumbles recovered (14), fourth in sacks per game (3.3) and seventh in turnovers gained (27) in 2024. It's a defense full of returners like Chandler Rivers at cornerback and Wesley Williams on the defensive line. It's one the duo said they think will be better than last year's.
"I think we got so much talent, we got a lot of returners," said Williams, who led the team in sacks last season. "... We have a lot of experience and a lot of hunger."
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Offensively, Diaz brought in Tulane transfer quarterback Darian Mensah , who is expected to fit well under offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer's scheme. Mensah completed 65.9% of his passes during his lone season starting for the Green Wave in 2024, throwing for 2,723 yards and 22 touchdowns with an additional 132 yards and touchdown with his legs.
"The fact they won nine games (last season)," Mensah said on Thursday. "If you put me in there I feel like we can do something special this season."
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Diaz also secured his first official recruiting class at Duke with the Blue Devils' 2025 cycle, consisting of 27 signees to rank second-best in school history.
Duke opens fall camp on Monday, July 28, and officially opens the season a month later on Thursday, Aug. 28, hosting Elon.
"The big message in our program this year is really, don't tell me a lot about your goals, about your expectations, tell me about your standards to reach those goals," Diaz said. "The one thing I will say about what our guys have done since we returned to school in January is they have worked with an intentionality, a business-like demeanor, where they feel like they can do more."
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke football 2025 squad 'fastest' and 'strongest' team in last four years
