Duke football started Week 3 of fall camp this week, and head coach Manny Diaz has yet to name a starting quarterback. He shed some light on the ongoing competition during his media availability Tuesday morning.
“I’m proud of the way they’re working,” Diaz said.
The third-year Duke head coach will need to decide between San Jose State transfer Walker Eget, a 2025 All-Mountain West honorable mention, and redshirt freshman Dan Mahan, who has never seen collegiate game action.
Diaz expressed confidence in both guys 11 practices into camp, noting that they’ve each proven themselves to players and staff alike.
“I think the team believes in both guys,” he said. “They both have enough evidence of what they’ve done in the first 11 practices to show that
they can quarterback the team.”
Diaz said the focus isn’t on the separation between the players, as is typical of a quarterback battle. Instead, his attention is on both players’ ability to execute within the system.
“You know we’re not even considering the separation aspect of it,” he said. “We’re looking at Walker and Dan and are they able to move the football and execute in our offense?”
Eget and Mahan each bring different skills to the table. Eget has a huge arm and has been known to rack up passing-yard statistics, while Mahan rushed for nearly 1,000 yards in his senior year of high school.
“They certainly both have slightly different skill sets,” Diaz said. “Now you have a chance this week to really highlight each of their strengths.”
The Blue Devils will hold a final scrimmage on Saturday, with starters likely to be announced in the following week. And as the clock ticks on the competition under center, Diaz is focused heavily on which player can more effectively eliminate negative plays.
“What it’s going to come down to as we go through the weekend, again, is who could eliminate the negative plays, the decisions that really have a chance to impact winning and losing? Every house, you have to build it with a foundation first; if that’s strong, then we can build stories on top of that. But if we have a rocky foundation, then eventually, we’ll have trouble," he said.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Duke quarterback battle remains unsettled as fall camp reaches Week 3
