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DURHAM -- At first, Romaro Miller admitted, he didn't get it.

In his first preseason camp under new Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe, Miller -- the Rebels' incumbent starting quarterback -- was working harder than ever before. But he wasn't just being schooled in moving from his secondary to his tertiary read on plays. No, he was spending an inordinate amount of time doing mundane things like footwork drills, over and over and over.

As his teammates laughed at the exhausted quarterbacks, Miller couldn't help but wonder what the point of Cutcliffe's approach was.

"Then you get in your game and you start watching the film, and you see yourself moving in the pocket and you realize: That's why I was doing that," Miller said.

Now it's Thaddeus Lewis' turn to learn those lessons. Like Miller before him, Lewis is a quarterback at the crossroads of his college career. In his first two years in Durham, Lewis has mixed flashes of brilliance with bouts of inconsistency. But many are intrigued by what Lewis might be able to accomplish if he takes to the tutelage of Cutcliffe and offensive coordinator Kurt Roper.

"He's definitely in good hands," Miller said. "He's just got to stick with what coach Cutcliffe teaches him."

It will be a graduate-level course in quarterback play.

"You have to learn what everybody does," Lewis said. "There's a lot going on."

It's not just about knowing all the pass-route options for a particular play. It's also about the much smaller details, the sort of things Miller learned to the point of exhaustion at Mississippi back in 1999. Lewis has been drilled, again and again, on everything from the proper steps to take when dropping back to how to hold the ball while waiting for patterns to develop.

"I don't think you can ever take that lightly," Roper said, "because when the fundamentals start fading, that's when the turnovers happen."

Fading fundamentals have been an issue for Lewis. Though he threw twice as many touchdowns as interceptions last season, he completed a little more than 55 percent of his passes. Not bad, but not good enough for Cutcliffe, who expects his quarterbacks to complete at least 60 percent.

"The most disappointing thing was the continual change of fundamentals," Cutcliffe said when asked about Lewis' past performances. "There are four or five throws that he's got to make better on a more consistent basis to fit into what we do in our system."

In Lewis' defense, though, it wasn't always easy to focus on those fundamentals when he was frequently running for his life from oncoming pass rushers. It's a problem Cutcliffe is determined to fix.

"My whole deal is protection," the Duke head coach said. "Nothing happens, nothing happens good if you're not a good pass-protection team and don't know your system."

Expect Cutcliffe and Roper to build a scheme that doesn't require Lewis to spend too much time in the pocket, waiting for downfield routes to develop. And as Roper noted, Tennessee frequently threw to its safety valves, the tight end and running back.

If Lewis can stay upright, then what might he be able to accomplish under Cutcliffe? He got a glimpse at the possibilities when he met Eli and Peyton Manning last spring, when the brothers came to Durham for the Duke-UNC basketball game.

"What Coach Cut says, do," the Mannings told Lewis.

"They did everything coach Cutcliffe said and look how successful they've become," Lewis noted.

No one is expecting Lewis to morph into the second coming of Eli or Peyton Manning. As the 6-foot-2 Lewis wryly noted, he's not tall enough. But expectations should be raised, according to Miller.

"He's definitely going to be a better quarterback," Miller said.

An improved Lewis improves Duke's chances in each game.