Deon Jackson: Duke Running Game Getting Into a Groove

Ground game began to click last week

Duke’s running game showed signs of clicking last week, against Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils hope their tandem of Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant continue to make progress as the season goes on.

“I feel very confident, for the most part,” Jackson said. “We just have to lock in and focus a little bit more. I feel like as we ease more and more into the season, me and Mataeo are going to be able to get in a much better groove than we have before. As you can see from this past game, when we get going, it’s hard to stop us. It opens up a lot of things, being able to run the ball. It definitely opens up the passing game more and allows teams to play things much more honest. Once we get the run game going, I see us moving the ball downfield a lot more. So definitely us being able to get into a groove together is going to be a challenge for teams. As long as we keep that up, we’ll be in a good spot this year.”

Duke’s offense also needs to improve in the red zone, which has been a priority.

“It’s definitely huge,” Jackson said. “Something we talked about, especially after the first few games. I noticed we’d drive downfield, get to the red zone, stall out and settle for three. We’re putting a big emphasis on getting points and touchdowns once we get that far. It’s something we’ve been focusing on. I’m glad we improved on it last week.”