Dre Bly believes sitting out has made UNC’s Storm Duck a better cornerback. Here’s why.
North Carolina sophomore Storm Duck hasn’t played a meaningful snap since being injured in the second game of last season at Boston College. When he left the lineup, he was the Tar Heels’ shut down corner.
As he returns healthy and practicing again, UNC cornerbacks coach Dre Bly believes Duck could actually be better than he was the last time he played in a game.
“He was a guy that we felt like could take away a side of the field,” Bly said. “But that didn’t come because of the skill set, that came because of where he was mentally and the knowledge that he had gained through being a starter his first year. He didn’t lose that.”
Duck said he doesn’t dwell on the injuries that have kept him out of the lineup citing his faith for not letting them get him down. He said there haven’t been any lingering effects so he hasn’t had a major transition period once he got cleared to return to practice.
“As far as like the physical aspect, coming to work, I haven’t lost a step or anything,” Duck said. “I feel like I’m getting out of breaks really good and just being who I was in the beginning -- being a better player than that.”
Bly has one of those good problems on his hands in figuring out how to juggle playing time for Duck, sophomore Tony Grimes and junior Kyler McMichael. Both Grimes and McMichael improved during the course of last season being put in a position where they had to play.
There’s currently a friendly, but fierce, competition among the cornerbacks to see who will emerge as the starters for the opener at Virginia Tech. None of the Tar Heels will be surprised if Duck is one of those starters.
“Storm is like he never left, he got better,” Grimes said. “That’s one thing I can say. Storm is going to be a dude that college offenses have to watch out for.”
Duck played all 13 games as a freshman in 2019 and started nine of those games. That included the Heels’ Military Bowl victory over Temple, in which he scored a pick-six touchdown on his second interception of the season.
When he went down against Boston College, which the school officially described as a lower body injury, it seemingly put all his progress on hold.
“I thought last year when he got injured, there wasn’t a better cornerback in the ACC in my eyes,” Bly said. “He was playing really, really well.”
For the remainder of last season the Heels played the guessing game of would he or wouldn’t he be healthy enough to return to a secondary that suffered some kind of personnel attrition almost weekly. Duck said he used that time to focus on the details like route recognition out of specific formations.
“(Sitting out) really didn’t affect me, I mean the mental aspect of the game, I’ve just got better at,” Duck said. “Not being able to do anything last year just gave me more time to just mentally be ready.”
Bly noticed it too. Duck was in every meeting, he watched even more film and was still able to give the players who were in the game helpful suggestions from the sideline. He emerged as a stronger leader in the cornerbacks’ position room.
McMichael said Duck was still active even when he wasn’t able to participate physically.
“Any kind of input that he can give us, of course we take it,” said McMichael. “...he’s always been very informative of tips here and there and just things to do.”
Duck said having a highly competitive position group has helped elevate his play as well.
“Having a good (position) room is like that is like an ideal like thing,” Duck said. “Being out there with guys that you know are good and can compete at a high level, they hold you up to a standard and you hold them up to a standard.”
It’s a standard that Duck’s prior injuries hasn’t changed. He still expects to be among the best.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Dre Bly believes sitting out has made UNC’s Storm Duck a better cornerback. Here’s why.."