Duke football will be without star safety Terry Moore for much of the 2025 regular season after he tore his ACL in the Blue Devils’ 2024 finale — the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against No. 14 Ole Miss. While the loss is significant, it could open the door for transfer safety Caleb Weaver, one of head coach Manny Diaz’s key offseason additions, to make his mark on the college football stage.
“In terms of Terry, we knew we wouldn’t have him for the first part of the year,” Diaz said during his August 4 media availability. “When we get him is really just based off the medical people. Certainly a big miss for us.”
Moore entered 2025 as one of Duke’s top defensive players, but Weaver offers a short-term solution in the secondary — and a chance to shine. A Houston native, Weaver spent four seasons at Sam Houston, redshirting in 2021, and rising from walk-on to First Team All-Conference USA in 2024. Last season, he led the Bearkats with 97 tackles, four interceptions, and six pass deflections.
Weaver narrowly missed ESPN’s list of the top 10 defensive backs in the nation, receiving votes just behind Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers, who ranked seventh. Moore, meanwhile, paced the Blue Devils in pass deflections (5), interceptions (4), and forced fumbles (2) last season, and was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the No. 49 player in college football entering 2025.
Replacing Moore won’t be easy — he anchored a defense that ranked among the best in the country last year. But if Weaver can translate his C-USA dominance to the ACC, he could become one of the league’s most disruptive defenders.
Duke will again lean heavily on its defense in 2025 as it looks to outperform preseason projections of a middle-of-the-pack ACC finish. In 2024, the Blue Devils ranked second nationally in tackles for loss (116), fourth in sacks (43), and 26th in third-down defense (33.8%). Weaver entered the program as the No. 13 safety in the transfer portal, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Industry Rankings.
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