Duke Blue Devils starting quarterback Thomas Sirk has torn his left Achilles for the second time this calendar year and will miss the entire 2016 season.
Duke Blue Devils quarterback Thomas Sirk has suffered another injury to his left Achilles and will now miss the entire 2016 NCAA season, the team announced on Saturday.
This is not the first time that Sirk has dealt with injuries to his Achilles since arriving on campus in Durham. Sirk tore the same left Achilles tendon back in February and tore his right Achilles before the start of the 2013 NCAA campaign.
Sirk was an effective player for the 2015 Blue Devils, throwing for 2,624 yards and 16 touchdown passes. He led Duke in on the ground as well with a team-high 809 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. Duke went 8-5 (4-4) in 2015 to reach a fourth straight bowl game.
While Duke head coach David Cutcliffe is a quarterback whisperer, Sirk’s injury makes Duke’s path to a fifth straight bowl game all the more difficult. Duke has two tough non-conference road games at Northwestern (September 17) and at Notre Dame (September 24th). They also have to play in Louisville on October 14th in addition to the Blue Devils’ ACC Coastal slate.
Now that Sirk’s season is done, Cutcliffe will have to figure out who his new starting quarterback is going to be. Will it be redshirt junior Parker Boehme, redshirt freshman Daniel Jones, or redshirt freshman Quentin Harris?
It’s likely to be Boehme, who ended up taking most of the first-team snaps when Sirk was out during spring practice. In 12 career games at Duke, Boehme has completed 55 percent of his passes for 584 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He has rushed for 195 yards on 48 carries and five touchdowns.
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Hopefully, all the extra spring practice reps have prepared Boehme to lead Duke football this fall. It will be up to him to get the Blue Devils to their fifth straight bowl game in an improved ACC Coastal Division.