Ready in Reserve: Durkin Steps In Under Center

It’s a mid-summer evening at Fort Knox, and the Kentucky darkness and humidity are settling in, equally thick.

Davidson College’s Luke Durkin, with 50 pounds of gear in tow, is hiking about 10 miles through the woods on a training mission with hundreds of fellow ROTC cadets. All around him, there’s a red, white and blue kaleidoscope against the night sky. It’s just one experience of ROTC Cadet Summer Training, which lasts more than a month, but it’s one that will long be etched in his memory, thanks largely to the cadets’ sweeping headlamps, aptly color-tuned for the exercise.

“It’s for sure the most patriotic thing I’ve ever done on the Fourth of July,” says Durkin.

A senior communications major from San Diego, Calif., Durkin is part of two of Davidson’s longest-running programs. The college’s ROTC program dates to 1919, and Davidson athletes first snapped a football in 1897. Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that Durkin presents himself as a bit of a throwback.

He is a quarterback — fittingly, a gridiron’s field general — and when he graduates next May, he’ll be commissioned as a U.S. Army officer. Whether in red and black Under Armour gear or camouflage, Durkin hones his leadership skills through discipline, preparation, repetition and prioritizing team over self. He’s found that what he learns in ROTC pays off in football and vice versa.

“I think they go hand-to-hand,” says Durkin. “I got into ROTC, and I’m so used to communicating and working in a mass team environment (in football). So as soon as I was with 40 people doing missions, it felt very natural to me. I’m used to doing it with an offense every play.”

Ready in reserve
Durkin spent some time as Davidson’s starter under center in 2022, and heading into 2023, he was also named a captain.

Then early last season, the Wildcats transitioned to a new starter under center, Durkin’s close friend, Coulter Cleland. That not only put Durkin into a backup role, but it presented him with the kind of test not every athlete can pass. He was being asked to lead by example while not out front.

By the way he carried himself and continued to contribute and prepare, head coach Scott Abell saw him do just that.

“It hasn’t always been easy for him here, for one reason or another, but he’s always had the best attitude and put the team ahead of himself every step of the way,” says Abell. “Luke embodies what our program is about.”

Durkin set his mind to supporting Cleland and his other teammates as best he could and prepared so he could efficiently and seamlessly run the offense, if needed.

“I just try to be ready as much as possible because you never know when that opportunity comes, whether you’re first string or the fourth string,” he says. “It could be the next play, so I definitely try to keep that mentality the entire time.”

Durkin was called upon to close out this year’s Aug. 31 season opener at Georgetown, when Cleland injured his leg in the second half. And after starting last week’s home debut at Davidson College Stadium and Field 76, he orchestrated the offense in a 49-14 win over Catawba. The Wildcats did most of their damage on the ground, with running backs Mari Adams and Mason Sheron combining for 236 yards and five scores. But Durkin also pinpointed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Brody Reina in the second quarter.

“There was no doubt in my mind that when the opportunity came to him again, he was going to be ready,” says Abell. “He executed our offense superbly Saturday night in every phase.”

Next play call
One of five Wildcat football players in the ROTC program, Durkin also graded well at the 32-day Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, finishing in the top five percent among 10,000 cadets from across the country. It’s designed as a condensed version of officer training, with the basics taught and then implemented through infantry tactics in field environments so that leaders emerge.

Durkin said it was a challenging-but-rewarding experience that included “a lot of mental strength, not a lot of sleep.”

He’s grown to love the ROTC life as much as he does football, and after his Davidson days are done, he plans to get an educational delay from the Army and attend law school, with an eye on Judge Advocate General (JAG) law. His favorite movie is “A Few Good Men.”

Abell says the Wildcats have a good one in Durkin.

“He’s resilient, he’s tough, he’s incredibly intelligent out there on the football field and he’s a great leader,” says Abell. “So everything that you want your program to represent, Luke does that.”