Manny Diaz Reveals How He Kept Walker Eget Healthy During Offseason

Duke finally announced its starting quarterback last week, with former San Jose State quarterback Walker Eget winning the job. Eget, a college football veteran, has started the past two years at San Jose State. 

He spent all four years of his college career at the D1 level before that, but over the past two seasons he really impressed with 2,554 yards in 2024 and 3,051 yards in 2025. He had 13 touchdowns in 2024 and 17 in 2025.

To say that he's the same player as Darian Mensah would be a bit unfair. However, we also have to talk about his injuries. Eget suffered an injury during the 2025 season, and it was part of why he didn't play much during practice at times throughout this offseason. He also tore his ACL in 2024 and had another knee injury in 2025.

Duke's priority was keeping him healthy, and head coach Manny Diaz recently said he accomplished that throughout the offseason.

"We don't tackle our quarterbacks in training camp and that's been the deal year by year," Diaz said, per Hugh Straine. "But, what we were able to do is we were able to sort of amp up the amount of pressure that he saw over training camp and when we were in alignment with our medical staff of what's best for his rehab, our strength staff, in terms of drills that they did and reactions."

"And all signs that, every time if there was a benchmark of monitoring his health and his ability to take the next step, he passed it every single time."

It's promising that Duke got this out of the way, ensuring that Eget finds himself in a good position to be healthy. 

Still, it's important to recognize that he could have some flare-ups, and Duke's early-season schedule isn't exactly easy, with Tulane and Illinois being the first two teams it plays. 

Eget will have to show he's fully healthy and good to go if the Blue Devils want the start to the season they're expected to have.