Dating back to spring practice, Mickey Matthews has been pointing to linebacker as the position he's most concerned about this season.

Now he's counting on true freshman Jamie Veney to help ease that concern. In his first college game, Veney will start alongside senior D.J. Brandon on Saturday at Duke.

Matthews admits his staff has been careful not to flood Veney with too much information going into the game. He also knows there will be growing pains with his freshman linebacker.

"You've heard me say before, a lot of times, young linebackers, they wait until it's third down to remind you they're young," says Matthews.

"It's something new everyday," Veney says. "I just got to take it day by day, and do the best I can."

Veney has already earned the confidence of his teammates.

"He's a freshman, so you can't expect too much out of him," says junior defensive end Sam Daniels. "But he gets out there, he plays hard, he's in the right place."

"He looks ready to do the job," says Brandon. "Jamie, he's new, so he's going to have some mistakes here and there, but he's coming a long way, and I trust him being beside me."