Great! It's amazing to me how much Duke is recruiting in-region. 20 out of the 22 recruits are from the southeast (NC 9 , SC 3, FL 3, GA 4, VA 1). One is from Cali, and one is from MD.
Cutcliffe and company continue their recruiting success by getting a commitment from David Harding an OL from Orlando. He picked Duke over Florida State and South Carolina. Duke now has 22 commitments in 09.
http://bluedevilnation.wordpress.com...duke-football/
Great! It's amazing to me how much Duke is recruiting in-region. 20 out of the 22 recruits are from the southeast (NC 9 , SC 3, FL 3, GA 4, VA 1). One is from Cali, and one is from MD.
Thanks, Watzone, for the news, and continued great job by Coach Cutcliffe and his staff. In reading a little about Harding, he seems to be a very highly regarded prospect who had a number of offers. In recruiting parlance, a good get.
He is an honor student with a 4.4 GPA.
And he was offered by Florida State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, South Florida, Central Florida, Syracuse and Stanford. The last time Duke got a kid offered by Florida State was when???
--Jason "even before his first team gets on the field, it is impossible to ignore the ways Cut is making things better" Evans
This is super cool.
Not only is Harding a major get, he's a major get in an area of significant need.
Coach Cutcliffe has said over and over again the top factor in recruiting (for the recruit) is geography and he's proving it as he and his staff outhustle many established programs in the southeast used to easy inroads in recruiting. Coach's connections while at Tennessee and Ole Miss are priceless to our program at this early stage of revival.
Excepting only Southern Texas and So Cal, you don't need to recruit anywhere else in order to win. The level of Football played in the South East at the HS and College is so far beyond any other states, it is not even funny. Seriously, it is not a joke. It is bedrock fact.
Harding's commitment will hopefully segue into the commitments of a few other OLinemen that we're recruiting.
We have the QB and the HB. Now we just need a line to give them room to work.
Harding is a massive step in the right direction.
What's MOST exciting about this, however, is that we now have a coaching staff that will be able to really develop all this talent. We haven't had that in quite a while, IMO.
Wow.
I don't care now that I have to take a 9 hour trip there and back each way for one game ESPECIALLY if we keep on getting talent like this.
I wasn't arguing there was anything wrong with this strategy. Just pointing it out. Certainly it's probably easier to focus your energies on one region of the country and be successful to get a lot of recruits while maximizing your resources - and it makes sense when that region has tons of talent. Duke basketball, on the other hand, does a much more national recruiting search. But there are far fewer players you have to look at (since the team is so much smaller) and Duke typically looks for very specific players, so they probably have to cast a wider net to find them. Obviously, the logistics for football and basketball are different - and basketball talent is spread more evenly across the country...Anyways, I'm excited!
Coach Cutcliffe is already dispelling Duke football recruiting myths left and right.
If this year's team wins four games or more, watch out! Next year's haul could be something special.
Cutcliffe Fever. I have it.
Okay Devil in the Blue Dress, I know you were a teacher and you're smarter than me. But please explain what being able to figure out the particular angle of a triangle given two variables has to do with recruiting. I mean can't potential recruits take geometry most anywhere and isn't that a high school course? I don't care how he does it as long as he keeps reeling in good players and quantity to redshirt some of them. Five year seniors make a HUGE difference.
Thanks for the many updates!
Is that "Dawn of a New Day" poster that Coach Cut is holding in the picture on your site for sale anywhere? I checked goduke and didn't see it.