ESPN.com · Feb 16, 2016
Duke pushes spring back after early dates helped establish culture
For Duke football, early February brought six more weeks of winter conditioning this year.
At this time the last two years, the Blue Devils were already in the midst of spring football, opting to kick off practice the first week of February in 2014 and 2015. This year, Duke, coming off a win in the Dec. 26 Pinstripe Bowl, is not beginning practice until the first week of March.
When David Cutcliffe arrived in 2008, he inherited a team that won two games against FBS opponents in the previous four seasons combined. He methodically began turning Duke around, and he used early spring practice dates to build off the momentum the program was establishing at the end of each season.