By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The goal for Elon’s football team will be defeating Duke when the teams meet in Thursday night’s season opener.
First of all, the Phoenix will want to get into the end zone. That’s something that wasn’t accomplished in last year’s matchup.
“We have a really good game plan going into it, blocking them,” Elon offensive lineman Tim Hogan said. “They’ve got some good guys up front. They’ve got some big, powerhouse guys. But we have a good game plan going against it.”
Elon returns to Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, where Duke posted a 26-3 win in last season’s opener between the teams.
“It was a competitive game and we couldn’t show up offensively and that’s obviously what we want to try to correct this year,” Elon tight end Dylan Maguzu said. “The inability to score points last year is probably the most frustrating part looking back other than the fact that we didn’t win.”
The Phoenix has had an overhaul on offense with new coordinator Doug Martin and redshirt freshman quarterback Landen Clark, who’ll make his first career start.
“It’s a completely different feel this year,” Hogan said. “Last year, our offense we were running, it was pretty predicable and this year we’ve got a lot of different plays that we can throw at these defenses. Duke (is) great defense, but they can’t cover everything we have.”
Duke’s defense proved to be stout last season and the Blue Devils have kept that unit largely intact. The Blue Devils ranked third nationally in sacks per game in 2024.
“They played some suffocating defense,” Elon coach Tony Trisciani said. “They led the ACC in sacks last year and they return a lot of those players, including both defensive ends.”
The Phoenix will rely on relative youth across the offense, so this is a challenging first-game assignment.
“We will look different,” Trisciani said. “There’s some formations and plays and schemes that may look the same, but we are a different offense. Doug has done a really good job of really adapting what we want to do to the players that we have.”
The Elon coach is hoping the unknown might cross up the Blue Devils.
“They’re not certain what we’re going to look like,” he said.
Running backs T.J. Thomas, Jr. and Jimmyll Williams, a Virginia State transfer who’s from Durham, could give the Phoenix sparks, though Jamarien Dalton, the team’s top returning receiver, is out after a preseason injury.
The offense will be determined to demonstrate an upgrade.
“It kind of seemed like the wheels fell off the wagon a little bit,” Magazu said of last year at Duke. “We didn’t execute what we needed to and I think that’s definitely something we’re looking forward to getting right this year. I think we have a lot of opportunities to go make some big plays.”
Duke has a newcomer at quarterback with redshirt sophomore Darian Mensah, a highly touted transfer from Tulane. The Blue Devils also have restocked at receiver.
“It’s a combination of watching last year’s film of who they are systematically on offense,” Trisciani said of preparations. “And then it’s a matter of watching a lot of Tulane film.”
Hogan suffered a knee sprain about a week prior to last year’s opener and didn’t play in the Duke game. He watched from the sideline.
“I got to see what those guys were about last year and this year I get to actually play against them,” he said.
Elon enters as a major underdog.
“They know what we’re getting into with Duke,” Trisciani said of his players. “We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game to be successful. … I’m anxious for this group. They’ve put a lot of work in, players and staff and this is the fun part now.”
Mahan in uniform
Williams graduate Dan Mahan attended numerous Duke games last year as a recruit. Now he’ll be in uniform as a freshman, wearing No. 12 (as will starting linebacker Tre Freeman, who has twice received All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors).
Mahan, who was an early enrollee in January, is listed third on Duke’s quarterback depth chart behind Mensah and graduate student Henry Belin IV.
