Stephen Wiseman: Duke Announces Former Texas Transfer Maalik Murphy as QB1

Intro [Music] Was there any doubt that Maalik Murphy would be the starter Steven Weissman for the news observer North Carolina uh the Duke story with uh Malik Murphy being Nam the starter which is uh something I think everyone expected but you never know and so he gives us Insight on that and joins us on 365 Sports Stephen thank you very much for your time so was there any doubt that that that Malik Murphy would end up being the starter and what was the competition there at quarterback yeah I mean you know they had Grayson Loftus in in their battling with him who he started the last five games of last year after Riley Leonard got hurt um you know he won the bowl game over Troy he he aced himself pretty well actually and uh so uh he is a guy with experience with with actually you know more experience than Malik Murphy right who started those two games for Texas uh so that that made it you know not a flam dunk by any stretch but uh you know I think you know Murphy was the leader coming in and you know I've told other people they brought him in here for a reason right so it's kind of like Mrs where College athletics is now you have a big free agent acquisition in the off season uh you're probably going to play him so um I think that was the case but but he had to go out there and show it on the field he had to prove it to Manny Diaz and and all that after the spring and then after you know here in Fall camp that he you know he has a big arm he's gonna throw it to the right the right people and then that's what he did how has Manny How has Manny Diaz tried to keep Dukes momentum Diaz tried to keep the momentum that Duke built under Mike Elco because Duke is is a program and and you know this that um you know things get going well in football and then somebody takes their coach uh and Manny Diaz it feels to me like a good fit in that he's maybe not gotten his fair Shake as a head coach uh where he's been and this is an opportunity for him to try to do that but it's still difficult when you know you're a program that has two three good years and then somebody Yanks your coach away yeah it's it's it's hard to maintain even even when David Cliffe was here right he he had it going pretty pretty good there for a while and went to ACC Championship game and then it kind of fell off at the end so it's it can it can be a tough place to to maintain winning year after year uh with some of the some of the obstacles he had to overcome but but yeah I think the biggest thing Manny Diaz did was retain David fely as his strength coach that's the guy that El brought in to start his his tenure here his short tenure two years and it made such a big difference in the program with the work they did in the waight room and the confidence everybody had that Diaz you know was able to retain David they worked together at Miami when my Manny was down there so that helped and then that that that created this great continuity where even though you had a complete change of the coaching staff you didn't have a change in that one key position and so uh everybody bought in to the offseason they kept doing the same work they had done previously and so that made it that made it easier so that was a really good move by Manny and then of course you know getting Malik Murphy in last December was another signal that hey you know he's here to Manny's here to win just like Melco did and so they don't expect there to be a drop off what uh What are the big differences this year Stephen are the big differences you think that people will notice just stylistically with Duke this year compared to the last couple I think on offense you know with the new offensive coordinator uh Jonathan Brewer who came in from from SMU he's already said they're going to play faster they're going to have a little little faster Tempo and it's not that you know under Kevin Johns when Elka was here they were slow by the stretch but uh even the players have said uh some of their Turing players that they have they have to be in a little better shape they have to move a little faster because there's going to be a little less time in between plays so I think that might be the first thing people notice is is is the pace on offense and I think defense they're going to they're going to be aggressive they're going to dial things up like Elco did uh and uh and try to get after the quarterback like they did and everything so they're G have a strong secondary I know that they have other guys returning from last year there's other questions there on defense but they're going to have a strong secondary but I think I think that's that's what you're going to notice are Game in Chicago you going to be able to make that trip to go watch the game in Chicago Northwestern and that stadium that they have right there on the lake as they build another one that's going to be interesting isn't it we'll see yeah it's on a Friday night so um there do start till nine o'clock Eastern so that's going to be a late night late night game for people reading my story on the East Coast but yeah that'll that'll be a neat trip and uh we'll see we'll see what happens with that I I'm really curious to see how that's going to play out up there that's something we don't see in college athletics right temporary Stadium but uh it's supposed to be right on the lakefront so hopefully it's going to be hopefully it'll be warm I'm afraid it's going to be cold in Chicago on the lakefront than God in September though Schedule at least it's not October November certainly don't want to do it in in November that's for sure yeah uh do you think that they have the I mean looking at the schedule you know they they host Florida State um they they've got to go to Miami and Inc state but outside of that is this pretty manageable for them to keep that momentum I think it is and you're right to to to hone in on that middle part of the of the season that's going to be the the tough stretch that's going to decide whether this can be a five six seven win team or or or more that the way they play there but but they sure get a chance to start off H in a strong fashion by you they open with Elon the FCS opponent at home and then you talk about that trip to Northwestern uh and then they have Yukon in Middle Tennessee so this isn't like last year when they had Notre Dame as a as a non-conference game and things like that they they've played Alabama here on the past and nonconference and they're not doing that this year so you've got a real opportunity to be to win your four first four games and then you have a home game with your rival North Carolina who you haven't beaten in in six years now so that's that's something but but and then you have Georgia Tech on the road then you get a buy right so you got six games half your season's done then you get a buy an open week and then you have that four tough games you talked about and then there's another buy after those four so um they're going to know after the first month here you know what what direction The Season's going they come out of those first six you know with four or five wins which is which is possible um then then you can really try to build on something special but if you stumble out of the gate and you're three and three you're looking it's going to be tough sleding to get to a bowl game because that middle stretch is pretty brutal ACC Stephen the acc's obviously been in the news quite a bit welcoming in three new schools in SMU Cal and Stanford here in the the next couple of weeks but also a lot of questions about the future beyond that uh how for the most part have Duke fans or or yourself in particular just sort of absorbed and reacted to all of the noise surrounding the conference over the past year yeah it's it's certainly something to be paying attention to I remember having conversations with Mike Elco after practice a couple days last fall about some of this stuff right uh we we talked about what's what's going to happen with the ACC and everything uh and it was uncertain then it's uncertain now but um you know nothing's going to happen with Clemson or Florida State I think for it's not going to happen this year and probably not gonna happen next year we're it's going to be some time as as this thing unfolds I don't think it's going to happen it's not a matter of months or weeks it's we're talking years here so because of the contracts and it's got to wind through the courts the courts don't do anything fast so there's no need to get in a hurry about that but so the ACC add teams to to prepare itself protect itself against departures uh frankly and so not everybody agrees with who they brought in I you know I don't think it's good to have the ACC in California but that's the world we live in now so I guess that's the way it's going to have to be but uh yeah it's it's uncertain for sure but you know they're going to press forward with what they have now they think they have a strong conference now and uh and we'll see what happens with the two that want to leave but uh it's going to be a while for this to unfold just be careful Steve Duke Football even when you write a reminiscing type story about the greatest moments in ACC football though don't don't forget Stanford cow and the famous finish is now a part of the ACC that's that's what's going to be hard for me to kind of wrap my arms around or let me ask you this uh Duke we know basketball and and of course we have right here in our backyard what Baylor does in basketball but when football's good it's it's on the radar what is it like there Duke football in the compar comparisons to the 100% interest of Duke basketball like Kansas is going through right now with a nice little Resurgence in football right and I the Duke played at Kansas a few years ago when Kansas was just there in the top 25 I was at that game and it was kind of a neat environment like okay they care about football here too now and that's good and that's the way you know is with Duke football I mean last year when when they opened the season on Monday night on Labor Day night and they beat Clemson 28 to7 and was a soldout stadium and they and they stormed the field that was you know uh a different feeling for Duke football and it was a really good feeling for the campus and so you started to get the feeling you know ELO really did a good job engaging the students here and and getting them in giving away jerseys to them to come to games and incentivizing that way and and uh moving the seats like kind of in the corner like right by the visiting side so they can kind of harass the visitors like like the Cameron crazies do and so that uh that's helped a lot I mean football's never going to be basketball here you know let's face it that's that's not that's too high of a hill to climb but you just want to have some of the enthusiasm and and so they're making changes of the stadium they've upgraded the stadium in the last 10 years and really tried they know football has to be relevant for the future of College athletics at Duke so they're doing their best with it and uh you know I think they're they're making progress there's a long way to go because they don't sell 40,000 seats for every game by any stretch but uh they're making progress thank you Stephen good stuff we appreciate your time thank you for the update the Murphy starting quarterback at Duke among other things with a new coach and Manny Diaz Elco back at Texas A&M Steven wisman from the Raleigh news and also Observer