Kurt Roper's longest coaching stint during his 22-year career was as Duke's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach from 2008-2013. To learn more about Colorado's new quarterbacks coach, we spoke with Brian McLawhorn, the publisher of DevillsIllustrated.com on the Rivals.com network. Check out the Q&A below!

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What are your overall impressions of Roper as Duke's offensive coordinator?

When I look back at Kurt Roper's time at Duke, the first thing I consider is the Herculean task he and David Cutciliffe's staff had in rebuilding a Blue Devil program that was left to them in shambles. The cupboard wasn't empty, but it was pretty close. In the year prior to Roper's arrival as offensive coordinator, Duke averaged just over 270 yards of total offense. That's total offense, not passing or rushing, but total.

By the end of year two at Duke, the Blue Devils were averaging close to 370 yards, and by his final year in Durham, he had the offense posting 426 yards and nearly 33 points per game. He had to essentially rebuild the offense, and he did it around a passing game that produced two of Duke's all-time best at the position, Thad Lewis and Sean Renfree. He coached the two quarterbacks to three of the top four performances all-time at Duke in terms of passing yards, while tutoring Renfree and Anthony Boone to the top three season pass completion percentages in Blue Devils history.

Like any coach, Roper certainly had his vices and could have improved in some areas of his approach - how he attacked with the run game, being one - but he proved he develop and lead an offense with the tools provided, as limited as they were in the early years. He works with what he had, and adjusted accordingly. His willingness to be flexible and open to new approaches was certainly a reason Duke's offense was able to make such a quick turnaround.

Is he considered a strong offensive mind? How was he perceived during his time at Duke?

I would say yes, he is - at least amongst coaches within the ACC and with members of the media. Anytime a coach is faced with limited assets, but is able to make steady progress, clearly there is an understanding of how to coach an offense and be creative. When he arrived, one of Duke's biggest deficiencies was in the run game. There was some talent at running back, but nothing overwhelming. Run blocking was not a thing. Teams on Duke's schedule knew it, and they knew Roper and his crew would be one dimensional. Despite that, Duke became a team that opponents could no longer chalk up as an easy win, or get by with minimal effort on defense. Roper and his offensive staff found ways to be creative in the passing game and produce a competitive unit. Is he an innovative and high octane kind of guy, no - at least we didn't see that at Duke, but he wasn't someone we considered to be simple in his offensive approach either.

That said, perhaps the biggest criticism of Roper - and certainly some of this comes from the top with Cutcliffe - was his propensity to move away from the ground game. Duke really recruited the position well with four stars Desmond Scott, Shaquille Powell and high three stars Jela Duncan, Josh Snead and Juwan Thompson, but the running game never really produced at a level in which many thought it would. Duke fans really grew upset with Roper and Cutcliffe's unwillingness to feature these guys and produce a dominating ground attack. At times he certainly could be stubborn in his approach and playcalling and how he stuck to the passing game.

What do you remember at Roper as a recruiter? Did he just recruit quarterbacks or would he help in other areas?

I think it's fair to label Roper as a good, not great recruiter. He certainly could go into a kid's home and get his attention. He could hold his own. However, it didn't seem that he was often the go-to guy on the staff in terms of recruiting. Some of that had to do with limited responsibilities, in he didn't appear to have quite the number of targets under his responsibility that others on the staff did. This was somewhat of a theme for Cutcliffe's coordinators, though. Roper definitely took a lead in recruiting the quarterbacks, but he was involved in other areas as well - the offensive line and receiving corps in particular. He also helped with defensive prospects. He played a prominent role in recruiting Texas and the west coast, so position became less of a concern than that of area/region.

How was Roper with the media? Is he a pretty savvy, well spoken guy?

He was good with media. I would definitely consider him to be a savvy, well spoken guy. As a member of the media, I always found Roper to be respectful and easy to work with. Roper is a smart guy, and is certainly calculated in what he says - as he should be, but he never backed away from questions and was always honest.