North Carolina Football Association (NCFA)

Gavin Rucker will more than likely be facing a pink slip if he's unable to improve Durham's record in 2009.  Two straight seasons of 4-8 ball doesn't win many friends, and especially when the team doesn't seem to really have a direction.  Nate Mustoe would seem to be the quarterback Rucker plans to use, but his numbers were anything but impressive last season only completing around 49% of his passes.  If Durham hopes to see some improvement this year they will have to figure out what it is going to take to make Mustoe a better quarterback.  

Of course it would help Mustoe if Durham could run the ball, but they had the worst running game in the league last season.  It also didn't help that they had the worst run defense and third worst pass defense.  In other words Rucker has a large task it would seem to make this team better.  

To the average fan it seems that Durham has been developing players for a long time now.  In fact it has been a long time, Brett Baker was part of that original cleansing of age and he's now starting his fifth season, and the only standout player from the bunch.  It is still a young team, but these potential stars need to start coming out of the shadows to have some influence on the games.  

Look for Rucker to focus on finding a star.  Durham has built a solid base of young mediocre players, but they need someone on offense who can become a star.  There is no one in the pool of rookies who screams start talent, so it will be up to Rucker and his staff to figure out who in the crowd has the ability to stand out.

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