CHARLOTTE – Manny Diaz walked into ACC Kickoff with purpose. Before anyone could ask a question, he addressed the elephant in the room: the new ACC tiebreaker rule that was created because of Duke’s path to last year’s championship game. He did not tiptoe around it whatsoever.

“Inherent in the narrative of changing a tiebreaker is the assertion that last year’s team was undeserved of being in the championship game,” Diaz said. “I think it is not just false. I think it is insulting.” Diaz defended his team with clarity. Duke won the games it needed to win. Duke earned its spot. Duke beat Virginia in Charlotte. And Duke finished with nine wins and a Sun Bowl victory. “We were the top team to go play Virginia,” Diaz said. “By the most objective metric you can have.”

It was a strong opening statement, and it set the tone for a program that refuses to apologize for success. Duke has won nine games in back-to-back seasons. Duke has won the state of North Carolina two years in a row. Duke has built a culture that has survived coaching changes, transfers, and roster turnover. Now Diaz wants to do it again.

Diaz talked openly about the four pillars of Duke’s rise: evaluation, acquisition, development, and deployment. He said Duke has won games in different ways each season because the staff adapts to the roster instead of forcing a system. 

In 2024, Duke won with defense. In 2025, Duke won with offense. This year, Diaz believes the roster is deeper, faster, and more balanced. “We have eleven guys running over twenty-two miles an hour,” Diaz said. “We have sixty-seven players running over twenty. Our guys are seeing real proof that if they follow the program, they get better.”

He credited strength coach David Feeley for building the foundation. He credited the locker room for maintaining the connection that keeps Duke from becoming a revolving door in the transfer era. “We have a very distinct ‘us’ at Duke,” Diaz said. “I am proud of that.”

Duke’s defense slipped last season and Diaz did not hide from it. “Somehow last year we lost urgency,” he said. “I do not know that we have a guy right now who knows for sure he is a starter, and that is fantastic.” The defensive end room lost Wesley Williams and Vincent Anthony to the NFL, but Diaz believes the next wave is ready. Kevin O’Connor had a strong spring. Tyshon Reed and Bryce Davis are pushing for snaps. New position coach Trent Harris has taken over a room that has produced NFL talent for decades.

The linebacker group is one of the deepest in the ACC. Nick Morris Jr. returns healthy. Luke Mergott is coming off a breakout season. Bradley Gompers, Will Felder, and Kendall Johnson give Duke real depth. Mergott said the key is not letting success change the approach. “The second you let it change your approach is the second you change as a player,” he said.

Running back Nate Sheppard had every reason to enter the transfer portal but chose to stay. “I believed in Coach Diaz’s vision,” Sheppard said. “We have one of the best locker rooms in the country.” Sheppard ran for more than eleven hundred yards last season and scored ten touchdowns. His one hundred seventy yards in the Sun Bowl were the third most by an ACC freshman in the last decade. Diaz challenged him to avoid complacency. “Do not be content,” Sheppard said. “Keep pushing.”

Tight end Jeremiah Hasley is four touchdowns away from Duke’s career record at the position. He has become one of the most reliable players on the roster and one of the strongest leaders in the program. “Our first goal is always to come back to Charlotte,” Hasley said. “Then the College Football Playoff.”

Schedule Breakdown

Duke’s 2026 schedule is balanced but challenging. It includes a strong opener, a pair of early home games, and a November stretch that will determine whether the Blue Devils can return to Charlotte.

Sep. 5 vs Tulane  

Sep. 12 at Illinois  

Sep. 19 vs Stanford  

Sep. 26 vs William and Mary  

Tulane is a quality opener. Illinois on the road is a physical test. Stanford at home is winnable. William and Mary is a chance to reset before ACC play. If Duke starts three and one, it will be in a strong position.

Oct. 10 at Georgia Tech  

Oct. 17 vs North Carolina  

Oct. 23 at Virginia  

Oct. 31 vs Boston College  

Georgia Tech on the road is always tricky. UNC in Durham is a rivalry game that has the potential for fireworks. Virginia reached the ACC title game last season and will not be overlooked. Boston College is a physical matchup that often comes down to the fourth quarter.

Nov. 7 at NC State  

Nov. 14 at Miami  

Nov. 20 vs Clemson  

Nov. 28 at Wake Forest  

Three road games in four weeks. Miami and NC State are both conference contenders. Clemson comes to Durham on a Friday night. Wake Forest closes the season with a rivalry game that has grown more competitive each year. If Duke is still in the ACC race by early November, this stretch will decide everything.

CHARLOTTE – If the 2025 Duke Blue Devils are going to return to Charlotte in December with an ACC Championship on the line, Manny Diaz believes it won’t be because of slogans or lofty goals. It will be because of standards. “The big message in our program this year is really, don’t tell me a lot about your goals, about your expectations, tell me about your standards to reach those goals,” Diaz said Thursday at ACC Kickoff.

Duke Head Co;ach Manny Diaz Photo Credit: ACC Media Services

Coming off a 9-win campaign in his first season at the helm, Diaz brought a confident, businesslike tone to the podium. His team, he said, is faster and stronger than it’s been in at least four years, numbers borne out during summer strength and conditioning workouts under David Feeley. “This is the strongest team we’ve had at Duke in the last four years,” Diaz said. “This is the fastest team we’ve had at Duke in the last four years… If we get challenged into an arm wrestling competition, we should expect to come out on top.”

But the games ahead won’t be decided in relay races or weight rooms. They’ll come down to whether Duke can meet the same standard, week after week, across what Diaz called “48 consecutive quarters.” “In a league that’s so tightly packed, that’s so competitive… it can be two or three quarters that dictates who’s back here in December and who’s not,” Diaz said.

Quarterback Upgrade, Culture Constant

One of the most watched additions to this year’s Duke team is quarterback Darian Mensah, a high-profile transfer from Tulane. The Blue Devils made a splash by landing the talented signal-caller, but Mensah made clear that the decision wasn’t purely transactional. “I think just the opportunity to compete at an elite conference like the ACC, an elite head coach with Manny, and an offense where you spread people out and throw the ball vertically,” Mensah said. “That’s the pieces that went into my decision.”

Duke QB Darian Mensah Photo Credit: ACC Media Services

Mensah acknowledged that adjusting to a new offense and culture has its challenges—especially given that Duke throws the ball far more than Tulane did, but said he’s embracing it fully. “It’s been my dream to play Power 5 football since I was a little kid,” he said. “It’s definitely not easy getting to know a new team when you had an old team just before… but I’m excited for the challenges because I know that’s where I’m going to elevate my game.”

The Blue Devils’ fast-paced offense, led by coordinator Jonathan Brewer, is already pushing Mensah to expand his game. “At Tulane we were more run-heavy, and this year will be more pass-heavy,” Mensah said. “So just the opportunity to showcase my talents even more than I did last year.” Mensah also credited Duke’s strength and conditioning culture, specifically Feeley’s demanding workouts—with helping him improve physically and fit into a program that “feeds off” its culture of intensity. “Everybody in the Duke program is wired the same,” Mensah said. “They feed off his energy.”

Veteran Voices: Rivers and Williams Set the Tone

While Mensah is new to Durham, Chandler Rivers and Wesley Williams are core pieces of the foundation Diaz inherited and is now building upon. Rivers, a senior cornerback with multiple preseason accolades, said his decision to stay at Duke amid coaching turnover and the explosion of the transfer portal came down to one thing: the locker room. “Honestly, it was the people in the locker room,” Rivers said. “Just the culture, I guess. It’s created by the players… I couldn’t leave that for anything.”

Diaz praised Rivers for his versatility—whether lining up at outside corner or in the slot, or even blitzing the quarterback. “He affects winning in so many ways,” Diaz said. “Some guys will get back there, and they can’t find a way to make a play. As you know, we like to get after the quarterback in our system… That’s what I talk about in terms of we’re proud of what he’s done.”

Duke DB Chandler Rivers Photo Credit: ACC Media Services

Rivers is coming off back-to-back seasons with pick-sixes against Florida State, and he said the team’s upset of the Seminoles in 2024—snapping a 23-game losing streak—validated years of effort. “It was amazing,” Rivers said. “It just shows that our preparation throughout the years and throughout the season helped us.”

He enters 2025 with national attention and personal expectations, though he insists his mindset is simple. “Just being better than I was last year,” Rivers said. “Take it a day at a time… keep my head down, prepare to the best of my ability.”

Up front, Williams—who led the team in sacks and tackles for loss in 2024—said the defensive line takes pride in carrying on a legacy of physicality and relentlessness. “There’s a powerful D-line lineage at Duke,” Williams said. “Myself and V.J., we’re trying to uphold that standard of being the nasty, physical Duke D-line that we’re used to having.”

Williams credited position coach Harland Bower for his development, calling him “passionate” and “caring. “If he could go out there and put the pads on right now and play, he would,” Williams said. “He loves ball. He cares about us as individuals and as men.”

Building with Trust, and the Transfer Portal

A major storyline over the past year has been how Diaz handled the transition from Mike Elko and earned buy-in from a team that was already on the rise. He emphasized consistency in building trust “You don’t really get to know more until you get into more high-stress environments like what football season brings,” Diaz said. “Trust is consistency over time.”

Reflecting on the one-on-one meetings he held with players when he arrived, Diaz shared a conversation with Williams that helped define his view of Duke’s culture “He said, we go on campus, and we feel like we’re around the best of the best,” Diaz said. “When we come into the locker room, I feel we have the best locker room of anywhere in the country.”

Duke DL Wesley Williams Photo Credit: ACC Media Services

Diaz has embraced the transfer portal, calling it a chance for “surgical” adjustments, but stressed that any new player must enhance, not disrupt, the locker room “When a guy walks in and [teammates] say, why did they bring him in… that’s going to lead to a problem,” Diaz said. “Morale is always above everything in every decision we make.”

Diaz also expanded on how Duke balances NIL deals with its “non-transactional” philosophy, noting that compensation and character don’t have to be at odds “It’s not like you have to invent this,” Diaz said. “You want to create a culture where the people who have the best work are compensated in the best way… It’s new to college football. It’s not new to capitalism and economics.”

Championship Standard, One Quarter at a Time

While Diaz was careful to avoid overhyping preseason expectations, he didn’t shy away from the idea that this team is built for big moments, if it can stay consistent. “We want to be a developmental program because we can be,” Diaz said. “We want guys to stay at Duke for four years to meet their goals.”

That foundation, he believes, gives the Blue Devils a unique chance to build something lasting in an era when college football often feels like musical chairs. “I really do believe we have a chance to build a proper team,” he said. “We were a team that didn’t flinch, that was mentally tough, and believed in one another.”

As Duke prepares to open fall camp Sunday night, the focus will be on translating that toughness into 48 quarters of excellence. “We train for three-quarters of the year with that in mind,” Williams said. “There’s a lot that goes into it… more than just playing hard and wanting to, you’ve got to do the details.”

The 2025 season will soon put those details to the test.