Duke LB Joe Giles-Harris emerges as a tackling force

Duke linebacker Joe Giles-Harris entered last spring as a relative unknown, a redshirt freshman with his sights set on a starting job.

As practice progressed, and spring turned to fall, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles kept coming back to Giles-Harris for one reason: He made tackles.

So Giles-Harris became a surprise starter and made tackle after tackle, forcing everybody who did not know him before to become quickly acquainted. He finished with a team-high 107 tackles and ranked fourth in the ACC in tackles per game, on the way to Freshman All-America honors and All-ACC honorable mention accolades, too.

This spring, there has been less thinking and more doing as Giles-Harris returns with…