Duke linebackers 'questionable' for this weekend
Duke’s off week might have come at a good time for the linebacker position.
The Blue Devils could have both of Tre Freeman and Kendall Johnson back for their game against Georgia Tech on Saturday. Both of them are listed as questionable on the first availability report of the week, released Thursday night.
Freeman suffered a shoulder injury on the second play of Duke’s last game, a 45-21 win at California on Oct. 4. Johnson has missed Duke’s last two games. And the Blue Devils have been without Nick Morris Jr. since the first half of their win against N.C. State; he was lost for the season with a leg injury.
In that game at Cal, Duke had to adjust on the fly with only Luke Mergott and Elliott Schaper available. Both of them are Mike linebackers in Duke’s system, so with both on the field, Mergott slid over to the Will position.
“Kudos to Luke,” defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Jonathan Patke said this week. “Had a lot of questions on the sideline but we got them answered.”
At linebacker, Duke will already benefit from the return of Bradley Gompers. His targeting penalty at Cal was in the first half.
Among other injury notes for Duke, the Blue Devils’ most significant new addition is reserve tight end Tony Boggs. He’s a converted offensive lineman who’s valuable in short-yardage packages.
Safety Terry Moore remains out, with coach Manny Diaz saying earlier this week that he’s “hitting different benchmarks in terms of his return-to-play protocol.”
On the Georgia Tech side of things
Coach Brent Key said earlier Thursday that cornerback Ahmari Harvey will miss this weekend’s game and is out indefinitely. That’s a blow to GT’s secondary; Harvey has started 14 straight games, dating back to a bowl game in 2023. Per PFF, he’s GT’s second-highest graded defender (minimum 100 snaps).
Otherwise, the Yellow Jackets will be missing defensive tackle Akelo Stone for the second straight game.
