DURHAM, N.C. – With the heaviest on-the-road recruiting season done, Duke football assistant coach Matt Guerrieri sat down with GoDuke.com to talk about the highlights from spring football as well as some of his summer plans. Guerrieri oversees the Blue Devil secondary and will begin his second season as a full-time assistant in 2016.
GoDuke.com: What is the easiest aspect to brag about Duke to recruits?
“Duke, to me, is the best combination of football, academics and people in America. When you look at all the things we've done over the last three years, it's impressive. We've won 27 games, being a top 25 football program, winning a bowl game, going to four straight bowls and having Coach [David] Cutcliffe as your head coach.
“It's a very special time at Duke. We are really writing a history book of what can be done here. We have players like Laken Tomlinson as an NFL first round draft pick, Jeremy Cash as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and guys like that. Jamison Crowder is another. I could go on and on about guys who have been huge here!
“The next part is definitely the academics at Duke. Duke is a top ten university. What an opportunity for a young man to get an education here and to be able to develop on and off the field under the guidance we've set up here. We have had a 3.0 team GPA for 14 straight semesters. So, seven straight years of a team GPA in college football at 3.0 is a hurdle. What our guys do on and off the field is really something special.
“Then, the next part is definitely the people. When you talk about the combination of football, academics, people and the coaching staff, it's a special group. But when I mean people, I mean the guys in the locker room. There are no locks on any of those lockers. We call ourselves the DukeGang. We are the furthest thing from a gang in America, but that's our family bond. It really is one family and one brotherhood of those players.”
GoDuke.com: What stood out during Jordan Hayes' spring performance?
“Jordan really stepped up from his redshirt freshman campaign to this spring. Obviously you see that he got that most improved award. We talk about defensive backs here having the ability to run, cover and tackle, and Jordan is able to do all of three of those things at a high level for us. The biggest thing about Jordan is that he has a special mentality and is always around the football.
“We call ourselves the coalition, our secondary, a pack of cheetahs. Cheetahs have to hunt, so Jordan has the cheetah mentality, hunting the football and around that thing all the time. He was able to have great production for us.”
GoDuke.com: What does Deondre Singleton bring to the table this year?
“He's going to be a four year starter coming up this year. He has seen just about every single team we are going to play, he's seen a lot, multiple times on the field. He is a really smart and savvy football player. We pride ourselves on senior leadership here, so he is going to be a guy that our team can look to in his leadership role, on and off the field and he is ready to embrace that opportunity.”
GoDuke.com: What does Corbin McCarthy bring that will be good for the Blue Devils this fall?
“Corbin is a really special football player. He has unbelievable speed and athleticism. He is a really special guy who can cover and run, tackle, blitz off the edge and do a lot of things for us. So, I'm excited about seeing Corbin. Obviously he's been able to start a couple games for us down the stretch and been huge for us on special teams and third down over the last couple of years. I know he has been waiting patiently behind Jeremy Cash and is ready to really embrace this opportunity. He is going to be important for our team.”
GoDuke.com: What would you tell NFL GMs about Jeremy Cash?
“Jeremy Cash is a fantastic football player, but even a better person. That's what makes him so special. He's going to be the first guy in the training room, he's going to be the last one to leave the office every day and he is going to work his butt off trying to become the best person and player he could possibly be. That's what makes that guy special. There are a lot of good football players out there, but he is really special on the inside, too.”
GoDuke.com: What social media outlet is your favorite?
“My favorite outlet for social media is probably Twitter. I think you can do a great job of promoting yourself, as far as a football program, and what you stand for. With your brand on there, you have immediate access to direct messages with prospective student-athletes. You can also retweet and share information across. You can showcase your page because that's pretty easy to do on Twitter.
“I love Instagram as well. With pictures, a lot of people are visual learners and they like seeing pictures on there, so that's awesome. Snapchat is fun. I know there are a lot of guys who are more and more prospective student-athletes on Snapchat. We try to use all of them Facebook, all that stuff, but Twitter is probably the easiest for us to communicate and share our brand.”
GoDuke.com: How has Coach Cutcliffe shaped the man and coach you are today and what is the biggest thing you have learned from him:
“I think of myself as a young coach and as a sponge. So I just try to soak up as much information as knowledge is possible. Coach Cut has been an unbelievable mentor and leader to me, on the field but even more so, off the field. What coach does is coaches his coaches, as hard if not harder than he coaches his players. We are going to evolve underneath him at an unbelievable pace and it's our jobs to turn around and get the best out of all of our players. What he has done as far as a mentor is teach me how to live your life, how to be a football coach and what it means to be a great man. He has been a great, great influence on my life.”
GoDuke.com: As a Davidson graduate, what is it like watching Steph Curry light it up in the playoffs?
“I love Steph Curry. He was at Davidson the same time I was at Davidson and I had a number of classes with him. He is a special young man. I would say similar to my comments about Jeremy Cash, that Steph is a better person than he is a player. He's obviously the NBA MVP, so it's fun. We are always rooting for him. We have another Davidson grad, Kirk Benedict, on staff and we both big time pull for the Warriors, but especially Steph any chance that we get to watch him play.”
GoDuke.com: When not recruiting, what is favorite summer time activity in the Triangle area?
“My favorite activity if I'm not on the road recruiting is, playing some golf with the staff. I really enjoy getting out there and even if it's just nine holes, just having fun and being able to continue to develop our relationships and get outside and get a little sunshine.”
#GoDuke
