Jeremy Brevard – USA TODAY Sports
The Duke Blue Devils are coming off their most successful season in the last 20 years after making it to their first bowl game since 1994. They fell short in the Belk Bowl against the Cincinnati Bearcats, but head coach David Cutcliffe is determined to keep the train of success rolling in Durham. To do so, he will turn to Anthony Boone at quarterback next fall to replace Sean Renfree. After his strong performance in the spring game, they have plenty of reason to be optimistic about going bowling again in 2013.
Boone saw limited time in 2012 behind Renfree, completing 49-of-94 passes for 531 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. He also added an element to the offense with his ability to run, gaining 82 yards and scoring two touchdowns on 26 carries. He showed enough when he got onto the field to give his coaches confidence in him and headed into spring as the leader for the No. 1 quarterback job. His performance this spring has ensured he stays there next fall.
The day started out rough for Boone who threw two interceptions in the first quarter of the scrimmage. The first came on a bad read by Boone while the second was an unfortunate tipped ball that happened to land in the hands of the defense. He bounced back, however, showing the mental toughness needed to succeed when things aren’t going just your way during a season and finished the day throwing for 273 yards on 18-of-30 passing and two touchdowns to balance out the early interceptions.
The redshirt junior still has some things to work on. On top of the poor read that led to his first interception, Boone struggled with fade routes in goal-line situations and overthrew some of the deep patterns, but those will be the fine-tuning that takes place over the summer and early in fall camp. What Duke saw out of Boone in the spring game was that he was mentally tough enough to lead the Blue Devils through the ACC in 2013 and makes a return trip to the postseason a strong possibility.
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