Duke coach Mike Elko: ‘Payton Wilson is having as good of a year as any defender I’ve seen in my recent time’
As Duke coach Mike Elko talked about the Blue Devils’ upcoming opponent — NC State — the Wolfpack’s defense came up pretty quickly.
“I think what they’re doing defensively jumps off the page,” Elko said during his Monday afternoon press conference. “They’re very explosive, they’re very disruptive. What they’re doing in the front six is causing a ton of disruption.”
And as he spoke about the red and white’s defensive unit, a particular player’s name soon followed: graduate linebacker Payton Wilson.
“Payton Wilson is having as good of a year as any defender I’ve seen in my recent time. He’s all over the field making a ton of plays. He’s obviously a kid that we’ve got to spend a ton of time prepping for.”
Wilson and NC State’s defense present a challenge for any offense, but especially Duke, which may be without star quarterback Riley Leonard. If that’s the case, it will be Henry Belin IV’s first-career start.
The Wolfpack lead the ACC in sacks with 21, and Wilson is the engine that makes the NC State defense go. He leads the conference with 70 tackles, and has added 5.5 tackles for a loss, including 3.5 sacks this fall. Wilson has also accounted for three passes defended.
Elko, a former defensive coordinator at Bowling Green, Wake Forest, Notre Dame and Texas A&M, continued to use the word “disruptive” to describe the Wolfpack defense. He cited the ACC-leading sack total as a reason why.
The second-year coach also noted NC State’s stout run defense, which is third in the ACC at 97.0 yards allowed per game.
“They’re really disruptive,” Elko said. “They’re hard to find angles to run against. They do a great job of shedding blocks, and they can cover. That’s a piece of it too, so you don’t see many weaknesses. Yards will be hard to come by, for sure, Saturday night working against them.”
Elko added that the Pack is very confident in defensive coordinator Tony Gibson’s 3-3-5 defense, and it shows on tape.
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While Elko raved about NC State’s defense, he spoke highly of the Pack’s offense and sophomore quarterback MJ Morris, who made his first start of the season last week.
“Last week, they made the switch to MJ Morris, and I think that ignited a spark in everybody,” Elko said. “I think everyone around MJ stepped up, and I think what you saw last week against Marshall was a complete offensive performance. They threw the ball well, they ran the ball well … they played extremely hard.”
But this weekend’s game is uncharted waters for almost every player on both teams, as well as Elko. Saturday night’s contest between the Blue Devils and Wolfpack marks just the third meeting between the two programs, and the first in Durham since 2013.
Duke and NC State is slated to be an every year occurrence currently within the ACC’s protected opponents, but with the league’s addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU, it’s unclear how that will affect things.
There’s one thing that Elko reminded everyone of during his press conference: these are the games that college football should be about.
“Keeping the conferences a little more regional, making sure we keep in mind this part of football a little bit,” Elko said. “These games are a lot of fun for the kids when they play the schools that are right down the road. … Those things matter. Anytime you have proximity, I think you add a little bit to the game, for sure.”
