Duke football coach Mike Elko finalizes offensive staff

Duke’s coaching staff on the offensive side the ball is complete as the Blue Devils officially hired Zohn Burden off Maryland’s staff Saturday.

The 37-year-old Burden will coach wide receivers and coordinate Duke’s passing game on new coach Mike Elko’s staff.

Before coaching wide receivers at Maryland, Burden was on Virginia Tech’s staff in the ACC from 2015-19 as wide receivers coach for one season and running backs coach for four others. In 2020, he didn’t coach college football, choosing instead to found and run the G.A.M.E. Academy, which provided football training to high school and middle school athletes in a safe environment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Virginia native, Burden played college football at Virginia Military Institute from 2002-05. He has also coached in college at Richmond and Old Dominion.

Formerly defensive coordinator at Texas A&M, Elko became Duke’s head coach on Dec. 10, replacing David Cutcliffe. After Duke played in six bowl games in seven seasons from 2012-2018, the Blue Devils suffered through three consecutive losing seasons.

Since joining the Blue Devils, Elko has hired Smith, from Rutgers, as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, Lyle Hemphill from Wake Forest to coach safeties and Harland Bower from Texas A&M as defensive ends coach. The school is finalizing the hiring of New York Giants assistant coach Sean Spencer to coach Duke’s defensive linemen and as co-defensive coordinator.

On offense, Kevin Johns left Memphis to become Duke’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach where he’ll work with Burden, tight ends coach Patrick Dougherty. Trooper Taylor, a holdover from Cutcliffe’s staff, will coach running backs as Duke’s assistant head coach while Adam Cushing, who left his job as head coach at Eastern Illinois last week, is Duke’s offensive line coach and running game coordinator.

Dougherty will also coordinate Duke’s special teams.