Walker Eget has faced Stanford before. Actually, the current Duke quarterback battled the Cardinal in 2024 and 2025 while playing for San Jose State, and he put up some gawdy numbers for the Spartans.
In two close losses, Eget threw for 858 yards and seven touchdowns, with one interception, while completing 69 of 107 pass attempts.
Now, he leads a 2-0 Duke team into a matchup with the Cardinal on Saturday. Stanford cornerback Brandon Nicholson is looking forward to getting another shot at Eget.
“I think it's good, obviously, having the film and experience of playing against him, and so we have that knowledge and that prior film of him,” the junior said. “So then I think the primary focus now is just to see how he's operating in his new system,
knowing his talents and his strengths or his weaknesses, and seeing how he's now using them over these past two weeks in that new system. So, using all that knowledge to our advantage in any way possible.”
Nicholson and the Cardinal will face a totally different offense, as Eget has shifted from an all-out aerial attack with the Spartans to a ground-it-out, domination-from-the-offensive-line attack at Duke. If Eget comes close to attempting 58 passes like he did last season against Stanford, something has gone extremely wrong for the Blue Devils.
At Duke, Eget is expected to control the game while making throws when needed. In his debut against Tulane, he struggled, but in last week’s victory over Illinois, the Santa Clarita, Calif., native found his rhythm, completing 15-of-21 passes for 206 yards and three scores.
Nicholson is awaiting the opportunity confidently.
“We played against their quarterback before, but obviously he's in a new system, so just being ready to really, especially coming off that Miami week, we've had a time to really hone in on mistakes, our basics, our fundamentals, and so really attacking this game with the idea to dominate, because that's what we need to get back to doing,” he said.
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This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Stanford defense anxiously awaiting another battle vs. Walker Eget
