Duke's Manny Diaz + QB's Grayson Loftis + Maalik Murphy + OL Justin Picket + Safety Jaylen Stinson

I'm Roy Lee Lindsay with the North Carolina Port Council and I want everyone to remember bacon makes everything [Music] better hey coach David Glenn from the North Carolina Sports Network in the David Glenn show when you're first hired at Duke I imagine you have dozens of important decisions to make but it turns out that your guy from Miami David fely was also Mike elco's strength and conditioning guy uh give us an idea of how easy or quick a decision that turned out to be and then how important you believe that is and he is as the national strength coach of the year as a building block for what you're trying to do with the Blue Devils David that was absolutely one of the most important decisions and to be honest it was made before I was hired um I remember David calling me to ask me if I would be interested in the job when it opened and I said well that depends and he says it depends on what I said would you stay um and the fact that he uh chose to stay uh he did not stay because of Manny Diaz he stayed because of our locker room he stayed because of our players um and what could entice me me to want to be the head football coach to Duke more than that endorsement from fely Over the type of guys that we get to coach every day coach going to go right side third row sort of in the middle hey coach uh Jeremy granison ESPN Charlotte your last stop was with Penn State defensive coordinator I just wanted you to talk about your current defensive unit and maybe what you want their identity to be going into this season well the identity of this defense has traveled uh from Penn State through Miami Mississippi State you know throughout my entire career um we want to create a high volume of negative plays um it's important to us to lead the nation and tackle for losses um those are Drive Killers there's a reason behind that that puts people in third down long uh get no one turns the ball over more than they do on third down along um what everybody everybody knows the turnovers win how do you create turnovers so um It's always important that we're the top of of turnovers created I think we led the nation in Sachs last year so um it's a play it's a it's a scheme that the players love to play in because who doesn't love sacks t for losses interceptions for a defensive back I think we l the nation in pbus at Penn State last year inart or two years ago in quarterback hit so it's just it's a playmaking defense um um it's it's it's predicated on attacking front play you know playing some man coverage on the back end um but but more than anything it's 11 guys trusting each other to do their job playing with great effort great toughness and and great fundamentals coach left side your next two questions right in front of you Royal how the juice Network coach um how important was it for you to shed the sour taste after Mike O left the program and to pretty much establish your culture and pedigree with the players that stuck through the hustle and grind to be underneath you well look it's always difficult when there's uncertainty right um I think it was maybe a 13-day uh window where there was not a head coach at Duke and and that's a that's a um a lifetime in especially in the in the current cycle of college football so I give a lot of credit to the players um for for hanging tough um I give a lot of credit to the to the staff that was at Duke at the time still preparing the team for the bowl game um but it's something I I think it's that ideal of what Duke is in general our guys want to be a Duke uh they love being a Duke they love the student athlete experience at Duke they love what it means to be a a a student at Duke what what it will mean to graduate from duke and and I think the power of the place really helped in that transitional time stay on that first row coach just to his right your left in tortor wakeup call dt.com Coach we know your familiar face here in the conference and obviously your time that you spent at Miami for the Duke Blue Devils for you what was it that spoke to you more than anything else about this program we've seen it have success we've seen stint of success what made you believe that this was the right fit for you personally and that there can be sustained success at Duke yeah I think everything starts with alignment and so you know I mentioned you know knowing phy was here hearing some of the commentary from some of the coaches on the staff last couple years that I had worked with previously I had some inside baseball on what was going on and cont contributing to their success the last couple years um but that wouldn't be enough without the the dedicated um support starting from the president Vincent Price through our ad Nina King Duke wants to be excellent at football they want to sustain Excellence at football and I do believe look everyone's aware of the turbulence in college right now and I do believe that Duke is uniquely poised in a way that other schools aren't um because as I mentioned before generally speaking the parents who drop their young men off at our doorstep as freshmen it's very important to those families that those young men graduate from Duke University so we still have a chance to develop a roster now we got to take care of our guys we we got to be smart and make the student athlete experience worthwhile to stay but but if we do our end of the bargain our players want to be a Duke and what that allows us to do is that allows us to build a roster the way that it's been done for a long time that right now the forces of college are always trying to tear apart coach from the podium as a followup what does accomplished greatness mean to you well accomplished greatness is what we talk about at um uh Duke is to not um it's about Mastery you know and it's about a a pathway to Mastery uh we talk about you know trying to not confuse success with excellence and I feel like greatness comes in the same way to not confuse success with greatness um what I mean by success the success can be determined in the short term uh we're a small sample siiz sport the ACC the one thing I can promise you they we're going to play a lot of fourth quarter close games that's just what the sport is um and sometimes the success in the short term can mask what is excellence in the long term um and so whether it's you know what whatever term definition you want to use greatness Excellence um that's what we're dedicated to do to do at Duke right side coach first jayen Wilson CFB Nation first off coach how are you doing today I'm outstanding how about yourself I'm doing really great thanks for asking so obviously with this being your first off season as the head coach of Duke I want to ask what are the most important things that you learned about your team this off season what I learned um that you you would imagine to be true but until you're on the inside of Duke um as a coach you're always trying to U impress upon your team the the the virtues of hard work um of sacrifice of discipline you can't have a great team without that you're going to hear every coach come up on this Podium and say we got to do all three of those things um that's obviously true at Duke what you realize at Duke is you can't even get into Duke unless you were raised that way so there have been times in my career and I take great pride of this as a coach where I've been the first person in a young man's life to try to teach them discipline they were never raised with discipline and that's a big thing that we take very personally as a coach that we get to instill these values that that they they were not raised that certain way you can't get into Duke if you don't understand the value of hard work you can't get into Duke if you don't at some point you had to sacrifice something as as a young man when your friends in high school were doing this and you knew you had to finish your homework you knew you had to study you can't just lock into the grades it takes you can't Talent your way to get into Duke and so as a coach how great is it to be able to to inherit a team that has those things because now you can spend your time coaching football you have to spend all your time saying hey guys if you really work hard it'll pay off and they wonder whether that's true they know it's true coach right over his right shoulder the gentleman in the second row yes Jean Gall chadam Journal coach tell us a little bit about the locker room upgrade you just had and what that means to the team well what it means is you know I mentioned that that uh phrase student athlete experience right and if you want to be first class if if you want to um say you're have a big time program well you got to be big time in all things you do and there's nothing more important than the players home in our building which is the locker room um you know as I mentioned to the players um they get to be the beneficiaries of a lot of teams that have come through Duke that have not had that um the support we had from from our our donors um the the previous football staff that helped push getting it through um it's really important and now we get to recruit to that we get to to be in there every day it's it's a great blessing for our guys but we should be a little bit humbled at all the players that did not have that exact same thing before and take care of it with a with a a reverence of of how lucky we feel to have something as special as that coach from the podium your defenses have been a force behind the line of scrimmage ranking in the top 10 nationally in tackles for a loss each year is the tfl the unsung hero of defensive stats it it is it is in our in our U building um and again it's we don't just do it for vanity um you know there there's a lot of analytics if you couldn't create a negative play on a drive the points per Drive goes way down it's hard to overcome by Common Sense a negative play creates a long yarded situation if you can create a negative play on first down you're you're behind the chains on second down and the game is all about either avoiding third Downs or what the down distance is on third down football is not complicated people are complicated ball is not complicated so the more we can leverage people into third downal situations then the more the arrow turns you know to me it's like um it's like Blackjack you're trying to turn the the odds more into your favor when you're sitting at the table and that's why I think the tfl is kind of something that enables us to do that coach your last question will come in the first row just to your left coach when you look back at mentorship for you is is like you said discipline teaching these guys discipline and in a lot of cases being the first person to do that who taught you that responsibility that discipline some of those mentors that you reach back from into your toolbox for that wisdom when you need it well I I think first you're taught how you're raised you know I mean I mean my my parents um are the the first lesson you're ever going to receive is from them you know so um the first credit goes to them uh in this profession in particular uh you know I I'm I'm I'm so fortunate to break in at Florida State in the late 90s you know and and to sit there when football staffs were so small back then I was like one of 15 in the staff room and and you got Bobby Bowen at the end the table you got Mickey Andrews and Chuck Amato to your right you have Mark Rick as the offensive coordinator to your left I mean holy C me what a room of people to to to learn from and so to be with Coach Bowen for 3 years to go to NC State with Coach am for 6 years so really the first nine years of my career was raised in the Florida state way then to go to Middle Tennessee with Rick Stockdale who really again is a coach bow and disciple so over the first decade of my career three jobs really all taught from the Bobby Bowen way the guy won more games I think anybody ever so um it was a it was like getting a PhD in what it takes to be great at football Michael barard managing director Investments with the founders group at steifel works with a select group of high net worth individuals and institutions to develop and Implement investment plans tailored to their specific objectives and risk tolerances if you are interested in highly personalized well- researched guidance and outstanding personal service you can contact Michael at 984 36420 2 that's 984 36422 stold Nicholas and Company Incorporated member sic and nysse our three student athletes will be Grayson Loftus Malik Murphy along with Jaylen Stinson and we will divide our last 15 minutes up among these three student athletes again if you would please reintroduce yourselves to the Duke student athletes if you've already asked the question and five starts last year and you were forced to grow up kind of fast to become the go-to guy what have you learned about you since last season uh yeah I think the main thing I've learned through that process was I didn't know how to be a college quarterback when I started playing um I think what I mean by saying that is I just said didn't have a lot of knowledge in how to do it um being in a room with guys like Henry and Riley who had starts who had snaps um in Big Time games I learned the value of asking questions um being able to to to talk to Veterans and guys who have done it before and really figure out how to do my process um and then going into this year building that Foundation um to be able to grow off of my processes and and the questions I can ask to to better myself as a player to your left first row Dan tororo wakeup call dt.com Grayson not only are you competing on the field with Murphy but you're competing here today the opportunity to speak to the media and go into the season did you did anything go into any type of fun between what you're wearing what he's wearing some of the interviews some of the things that you guys are doing have you tried to have a playful banter back and forth as you both work to be signal callers for Duke uh I mean you know I think it all just comes natural um I think from the first moment when we introduced ourselves um in our meeting room it was just all about us having a good chemistry and we hit it off right right there um you know just being the ability to just be able to joke around and crack jokes with a guy and you know really push yourself to be the best player and push another guy to be the best player in kind of an informal way you know being to have fun while you do it um you don't realize you're getting better um you're just out having fun with a with a buddy um at practice Grayson from the podium you'll turn 20 on the day that you hosted offending Champs um when you think about sport in great opportunities kind of a cool moment that you're experiencing turning 20 on the football field yeah you know it's something that that's happened over the time of me playing football have it an October birthday you always get you always potentially you'll get a a game on your birthday um so yeah it be it'll be a fun it'll be a lot of fun playing um on my birthday questions for Grayson from the room Grayson standing at the podium uh you can spread the field really well would you rather throw short medium or long I'd say medium um because one it gives me a chance to have some yards through the like air ball to air or passer to air um but it gives the receivers a chance to have some yards after the catch as well other questions for Grayson Grayson we're going to go right side about the third row right in the middle hey Grayson uh Jeremy Granderson espb and Charlotte you mentioned the value of asking questions how was it like to kind of have to grow up real fast going into your second year and you know having a big responsibility you know I think it was a whirlwind um through those first through those last five weeks of the Season you know you feel like you learn a lot um you get a lot of snaps you get a lot of invaluable experience and then you get the chance to to come back you get a new staff you get guys who have different perspective on football um who have all learned different ways come up through different Avenues you add a guy like Malik to the quarterback room um who's been who's had a lot of success just to a different avenue um and you get to ask him questions so you know I think it's just the value of picking up little tidbits of information and knowledge um from everyone and really using your resources available to you to to learn as much about you know the position you play in football as possible Grayson your last question right in front of you right side first row hey Grayson desan minor College footall B Nation you just said it was a warwin but in order to stay tto during a war win you got to be anchored how did you stay anchored during that time when all of these things are happening and you're still so young still trying to figure it out I credit a lot to my family um my mom and dad are have always been my two biggest fans and always my two biggest critics and they're willing to shoot me straight no matter what um so you know to have people like that to be able to just be a sounding board and talk through and you you can talk about the crazy moments the cool moments the bad moments you know just whatever it may be having people like that um to truly love you to be able to just talk about talk to about those kinds of things is was was what was able to help me anchor myself to those to those moments Grayson thank you you can trade places with Malik the original salt Works has become a legendary breakfast brunch and lunch place in Wilmington for both locals and out of town visitors over the last 50 plus years our good friend Bob hubard owns the place but he's also the one cooking your food and often roaming the dining room to greet you with a smile and to make sure your visit is a great one Bob has been running the show at this unique Roadside Diner for more than 20 years now and he and his friendly hardworking staff aim to treat you like one of their own triy Bob's homemade omelets or special recipe grits for breakfast or his legendary cheeseburgers for lunch the original salt Works your breakfast and lunch choice on on Oleander Drive in Wilmington Le Tony syracusa from last word on Sports this week we've seen a lot of quarterbacks here that came through the transfer portal how hard of a decision was it to get to the portal and at what point through that process did you decide on Duke starting off um it was definitely tough for me just because of the position I was in with my previous team um we were heading trying to win a National Championship you know what I'm saying so uh it was definitely tough separating myself from the team during that time and um kind of just doing what was best for me and I was getting into the portal trying to find a new home and um luckily I found Duke University and Coach Manny being a head coach here um you know I couldn't ask for a better place I've had a great time here the past seven months I can't wait to see what we do this season we're to go left side first row Dan Tor Tor wakeup called dt.com Malik going off of what I asked Grayson what's that relationship been like for you to work together and challenge each other just what you've taken like you said seven months what has that relationship been like as far as who you are today on the field it's been great honestly I couldn't ask for Grayson to be uh any better of a person and as a a kind of like a a partner to work with um you know him being here him having the experience and the knowledge of Duke as a program and knowing the people that's been here that's come through here that are here currently um he's able to help me get a better feel for everywhere everywhere and everyone that's around me um and that's Henry as well you know I asked all of those guys questions I'm a big uh kind of like want to know new stuff type of person so I don't mind asking questions anything that comes into my mind mind I let them know it so um I'm definitely grateful for them Malik from the podium I want to take you back to high school in your senior Year you guys finished 10 and one on the year that one single loss came by one single point what was it about that season that game that you turned into an advantage for you to learn as a football player through college um if I'm correct that yeah that loss was against Bishop ofat on my senior night um probably one of the toughest losses of My Life um just because you know a Ms like our longtime rivalry um I knew how much my head coach didn't like them and uh you know it was it was definitely personal for us and going into that game of course we um hoping for the best you know that kind of had a lot to do with playoff endings so um it was tough losing that game but I definitely learned a lot going into the playoffs and I feel like so did uh the team and and um we kind of took it to the chin and we ran with it end up winning a championship that year left side right in front of you Royal how the juice knowwhere uh Malik can you just talk on I know you mentioned after the blue and white game you wanted to get more reps with your wide receiving core specifically Jordan Moore who was close to 1,000 yards receiving a year ago can you just talk on just the five power and just how underrated your receiving core is this year with the addition of Eli panko who missed all the last season I want them to stay underrated uh I feel like that's that's in our favor um them flying under the radar us as a offense kind of flying under the radar um people are not really aware of what our OC could do just because he hasn't been in this position before um I'm excited super excited for the guys that we have I feel like we're going to do great things big things and it's going to be explosive Malik right side third row hey Malik um coach Diaz talked about having a playmaking defense trying to put offenses in thir and long how have you been kind of going up against that defense what's that been like and how excited are you to uh keep you know practicing and getting that iron sharpens iron Grayson and I actually joked with him earlier today like we hate going against him just because we feel like uh he's picking on us because he's in every single one of our quarterback meetings um it's like he has a hit out on us on uh practice days um it's great though honestly being able to go against Great defensive players like Trey Freeman and Chandler Rivers um you kind of you learn how to work and you learn how to be more efficient on offensive standpoint when you have a defensive head coach um I couldn't ask for a better situation honestly on practice days knowing that U they're going to get the best out of me because at the end of the day um they're doing what's best for the team one of my favorite restaurants in Raleigh for many years now has been the oak scratch kitchen and bourbon bar it's located on Lake Boone Trail which is a perfect location for a great meal in beverage if you're on your way to nearby Carter Finley Stadium or perhaps PNC Arena for a concert wolfpacker Hurricanes game or other event the menu is incredibly tasty and creative the atmosphere is a lot of fun the bourbon options are as highend and varied as you'll find anywhere the staff is super classy and First Rate and I've just always loved the people the food and the overall vibe there when I took Carolina hurric 's owner Tom Dundon to lunch yes meaning the billionaire who owns the hockey team I took him to the Oak seriously it's that good learn more or make a reservation by visiting their website the oy.com that's the oy.com you had the transfer portal in December but you came back you said hey this is my home why is it your home um yeah I did test the waters with transfer portter um you know cuz during time we all we had doubt um we we really didn't know where this would go but um when Manny got to come to the to the front and just talk to us and you know um tell us his plan and what he had planned for this team it just built confidence in us as as a whole as far as like the locker room and um we knew he wanted to do the right thing with us we could trust him as a coach and um I knew that he would take this program in the right direction Jaylen we'll go first row right in front of you to the left thus where where your next two questions will come from Dan Tor I'll wakeup dt.com Jaylen like you talked about testing the waters and didn't really know what was going to happen in the coaching change what was it about Manny Diaz that spoke to you and said my fifth year at Duke it's better to spend it home where I am than to go elsewhere what did Manny Diaz say um just he's a standup guy you know we all had doubt and you know the first that he made it here he caught us up personally and um that meant a lot for me because you know at that time being my last year I'm not sure where I'm going be um you know he uh cleared a few things over me and I knew he had the best interest in me but not only that I feel like it wasn't just man uh it was a locker room as well you know and just the culture and um everything we built in that locker room um it speaks for itself I feel like there there's not another locker room like ours um it's truly a Brotherhood um at Duke football so we'll stay right there Royal the juice Network um can you just talk on I know you all lost D Wayne Carter and BJ Johnson obviously went to Oregon through the transfer portal how important was it for you all to retain veterans and Senior leadership on this new team I believe you all brought in 24,000 snaps through the transer portal which coach Diaz alluded to a few moments ago how important was the for you all to get more experience on the roster um it was very important I know coach talked a lot about the um experience you know it's always great playing with um other experienced players who played big games that you know you can call on and they'll make a play cuz you know they've done it before um but you know we had to call on some younger guys um they had to grow up um Step Up into a leadership role and um I feel like we we done well with that you know coming from Spring ball Summer Ball we found out who can count on who name we can call and um it's been great back to your left second row right in the middle maranam with the players L how are you today I'm doing good so I noticed your 83 tackles shy of becoming the 21st player in program history to have 300 career tackles how hungry does that make you it makes me very hungry but uh it should be less than that um just looking at my fanm from last year uh I left a lot on the table and um that's one thing I talked to Manny about you know he was honest you know to just you know he watched film on me he knew that I left a lot on the table I was honest with myself to know I left a lot on the table um and he's he's going to help me you know perfect my game and just do the little things to you know make that happen so Jay from the podium much like your teammate you're going to turn 23 when you're at home against Yukon in a couple of months do you think of yourself as being the old man on the team uh yeah for sure yeah I starting to feel old but um you know with growing up you know and and getting older you have to take that leadership position you know um when I first got here uh you know I kind of went with the flow but you know I'm starting to feel old and uh you know the guys are looking up to me so um that's been a big phase of my college career you know just T taking that next stage growing up being a professional U and leading by example how would you describe yourself as a leader uh just doing the little things you know like getting in watching film uh taking care of the young guys um leading the defense you know if you see something you got to call it out you know and that's just how we are in our uh locker room you know so Jaylen your last question will come left side fourth row cam lemons 24/7 Sports piggybacking off of that you talking about being now the kind of the old man in the room what's kind of the message that you wish you could have told yourself back when you had first started out this journey and what do you what's kind of the message you're telling you know the fresh men or guys that are younger coming into the program right now uh I wish I could have told myself lock in you know um it'll be over before you know it um I feel like it was yesterday I was just a freshman so you know just locking in doing the little things you know it it'll catch up to you you know if you don't take advantage of it now it'll end up catching up with you [Music] 1 [Music] n [Music]