Walker Eget's first game with Duke didn't go as planned, but there are still some promising takeaways from his opening contest. For one, it's not like Duke didn't beat Tulane and start the season on the wrong foot, which we've seen in the past.
At the end of the day, while the Blue Devils didn't play the type of football that we were all hoping for, Duke still beat a decent Tulane team.
This was also his first start at Duke, which means that there was certainly some pressure on his side. I'm curious to see how he looks over the next couple of weeks, but I also think it's important that he plays a lot better. Otherwise, there are going to be some major changes possibly coming.
At the same time, it's important that Duke fans don't get too upset about some of his struggles this early on. Instead, it's best if the program gives him some time to get used to things, at least according to one writer.
“Simply put, Eget did not look great. With a knee brace still visible, he looked completely out of sorts until late in the second half. Duke even made a switch early in the fourth quarter, bringing in Mahan, though he didn't attempt a pass on that drive. But when Mahan left the field and Eget returned, there seemed to be some "boos" headed Eget's way.
“Now, it's important to remember all that Eget is coming back from. He missed the spring after undergoing offseason surgery and is in a brand-new system with a brand-new team. Additionally, the wide receiver room is completely revamped from 2025,” Hugh Straine wrote.
I think Straine made some really fair points here, and the biggest one is the fact that he's coming back from a tough injury and didn't really get a whole lot of reps during training camp. Had this been a guy who has been in the system over the past couple of years and looked this poorly again, I'd have more of an issue.
However, that isn't the case, so we shouldn't focus on it for now.
