Grief shaped him for this moment. Holmberg’s rise to Duke QB was 8 years in the making

A family tragedy brought Gunnar Holmberg to North Carolina.

One of the best football seasons Duke has ever produced linked Holmberg to the Blue Devils.

Now, three-and-a-half years after enrolling in school, Holmberg is finally, exactly where he wants to be — entering the season as Duke’s starting quarterback.

“I think I’m one of the few quarterbacks from the North Carolina area that’s dreamed about being the Duke quarterback since 2013 or 2012,” Holmberg said Wednesday at the ACC Kickoff event in Charlotte. “So to finally be here, it seems like the blink of an eye. But it’s really been a long journey. Just very excited for it.”

Born in western Pennsylvania, Holmberg’s homeland is known for its football devotion and producing six Hall of Fame quarterbacks: Joe Namath, Joe Montana, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas and George Blanda.

Blanda happens to be Holmberg’s great uncle.

Holmberg’s father, Sean, wrestled at Slippery Rock before joining the Marines, which is where Gunnar’s name derived.

But Sean Holmberg was diagnosed with brain cancer the same year Gunnar was born in 1999. When Gunnar was in elementary school, the family moved to Wake Forest so Sean could receive treatments at Duke Hospital aimed at slowing his cancer.

Those treatments didn’t work as hoped and Sean Holmberg died in 2009, leaving Gunnar, his older sister, Torianne, and their mother, Jennifer, to mourn his loss.

“Getting to know his mom, what a great mom she has been after Gunnar’s father had lost his life, just how close the three — his sister, his mom, and he — were throughout all of this,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said.

Through that grief, both of Sean Holmberg’s children grew into the kind of athletes able to add to the family’s strong legacy.

Originally a softball player, Tori Holmberg picked up volleyball and, after her Wake Forest Heritage High career, played collegiately at Emory and Henry College in Virginia from 2015-18.

Gunnar ran track but football was his top sport, and he noticed that Duke’s football team turned into a winning program under Cutcliffe.

In 2012, the Blue Devils went to their first bowl game since 1994. The following season, Duke posted the program’s first-ever 10-win season while winning the ACC Coastal Division title and playing in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

Anthony Boone quarterbacked Duke to 10-4 and 9-4 records in 2013 and 2014. With Thomas Sirk under center, Duke went 8-5 in 2015 and its Pinstripe Bowl win was the program’s first bowl victory since 1961.

Holmberg went to football camp at Duke and was impressed not only with Cutcliffe’s reputation for molding NFL quarterbacks like Peyton and Eli Manning, but also how Boone and Sirk played for the Blue Devils.

“Yeah, I want to play there,” Holmberg remembers thinking, “especially being a quarterback.”

After throwing 65 touchdown passes in his Heritage High School career, Holmberg enrolled at Duke in January 2018.

Needing to add strength to his 165-pound body, Holmberg redshirted his first season while quarterback Daniel Jones led Duke to an 8-5 record and an Independence Bowl win. Holmberg played three plays in the fourth quarter of the 56-28 win over Temple that postseason.

The following year, with Jones having been drafted in the first round by the New York Giants, Holmberg appeared ready for more playing time. A knee injury suffered in an August practice ended his 2019 season before it started.

“That year was a really tough year for me from a mental health standpoint, from, of course, knee health, trying to keep my mind within football but also, at the same time, you are separated from the team,” Holmberg said.

He credits Duke’s medical staff, specifically naming executive director of athletic medicine Hap Zarzour, for helping get him ready to play again. Holmberg’s injury and lack of experience led Duke to take quarterback Chase Brice in January 2020 as a graduate transfer from Clemson.

Brice won the starting job but struggled mightily, throwing 15 interceptions in 11 games as Duke went 2-9; he has since transferred again to Appalachian State. Holmberg saw action in six games, completing 18 of 25 passes but also throwing two interceptions.

As Duke’s offense slumped, Holmberg heard plenty of people wondering why he didn’t get more playing time. He knew the answer.

“The moments I got in, I didn’t take full advantage of that,” Holmberg said. “In practice, maybe there’s something I should have done better. But I’m the player. That responsibility is on me to show them and give me the confidence to put me into the game. I trust Coach Cut. I trust his decisions. Here I am today.”

Yes, here he is on top of Duke’s depth chart at quarterback. It’s been a long time coming but the 6-foot-3 and now a solid 205-pound Holmberg is better prepared to lead the Blue Devils offense.

He and Duke running back Mataeo Durant became fast friends when they arrived on campus together back in 2018. Durant has full confidence his quarterback will get the job done.

“The love I have for Gunnar is, like, beyond anything,” Durant said. “I was so ready for him to have this opportunity. Gunnar is a really good thinker, a quick thinker, a great playmaker. He’s able to dissect defenses at any time because he’s been in this system for a while. He knows the ins and outs of things. I know when Gunnar gets this opportunity, he’s ready to ball out and perform and get it done.”

Holmberg is expected to not only help Duke throw the ball better, the coaches expect him to make the rushing attack better with his speed.

“If we’re able to run Mataeo Durant and use some quarterback-run stuff with Gunnar Holmberg, the explosive plays that will come off of that are going to lead to huge, explosive, big-play opportunities to get the ball down the field,” Duke co-offensive coordinator Jeff Faris said.

It’s what Holmberg has thought about and prepared to do for a long time, even before joining the Blue Devils.

Like Boone and Sirk and Jones before him, Holmberg sees himself leading Duke to a winning season and a bowl game.

“There’s a path that’s been paved before me that I’ve seen with Coach Cut,” Holmberg said, “just the way those guys walk out and have a total understanding and really have the game in their hands. I think that’s something I look forward to proving myself.”