Plus we stole Lee Butler back from GT!
Here is a good breakdown on the class.
http://rivals100.rivals.com/commitli...ear=2008#page3
Best I can tell, 7 out of the 18 signers committed since Coach Cut came.
Congrats young men, you made the right choice
Plus we stole Lee Butler back from GT!
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=19168
Chat with one of our recruits, Donavan Varner. I like his attitude!
Them being an underdog exciteds me. I like to start from the bottom and grind my way up. Everyhting that shine ain't a dime.
So let me get this straight:
To resuscitate our dreadful kicking game we're bringing in...Zack Asack's brother???
ESPN gives him a good grade, (77 out of 100, our 3rd highest recruit) but I'm skeptical that nepotism is the best way to tackle this problem (pun intended).
The recruits look very solid, and I'm reminded that, in the midst of the lacrosse mess, more than one professor made a point of extolling the virtues of our football players.
In terms of their fooball rankings, Duke and Wake were the only teams in the ACC not to get a 4 star player, and many of the other teams got a bunch of 4 stars and the occasional 5 star. Hope the conditioning program works...
From Goduke, here
(see article for the rest of the list)Paul Asack
Kicker • 6-2, 215
Westwood, Mass. • Xaverian Brothers
* Three-year letterman at Xaverian Brothers under Charlie Stevenson
* Charted as the No. 15 kicker and No. 8 overall prospect in Massachusetts by Rivals.com
* Listed as the No. 14 kicker in the nation by Scout.com
* Ranked as the No. 11 kicker in the country by ESPN.com
...
Last edited by JBDuke; 02-06-2008 at 06:32 PM. Reason: edited for copyright reasons
Renfree is ranked the 10th best overall qb by scout; he is a parade all-american, one of 7 qbs selected. He is 4 star by scout. so is randez james a 4 star.
renfree is ranked very highly, especially relative to TL who was ranked by scout 45th best overall qb in 2006. zack asack was ranked 35th overall best qb in 2005. delle donne, quite a good qb get in 2005 was ranked 31st overall best qb.
Paul Asack is a highly ranked kicker, I think 14th by scout.
there is not nepotism here in the sense we wanted to be good fellows and offer him a scholarship because his brother is one of our qbs and his dad played football for Duke. We landed him because of these facts - we were lucky for the connection.
Likewise, we landed Asack who was offered by Notre Dame (because his dad went to Duke) and Delle Donne who was offered by Notre Dame (because his dad played for Columbia and liked the idea of a top school) because we were lucky.
We will be much better this fall, and when we land higher ranked recruits in the next class it will because of a number of factors, including that we are offering a good football program. Luck will less and less a factor.
Some interesting points from the press conference.
Lots of these signees may play as freshmen. Cutcliffe doesn't think Duke has the luxury of redshirting good players. Says the best players will play regardless of class.
Cutcliffe says that the skill-position players average lower then 4.5 40 speed. None of the linemen are huge but they can run. He really likes speed.
Cutcliffe praised Scottie Montgomery for keeping the class together during the interim.
Duke will make North Carolina the base for future recruiting efforts. DC is trying to build bridges with NC high school coaches.
He really likes Renfree. Says he has fast feet and a fast mind. I suspect Thad isn't going to be grandfathered into the starting QB spot; he's going to have to win it on the field.
With the exception of Renfree (QB) and ASack (K) the remainder of the recruits are listed as just linemen or backs. This is by design. DC not afraid to move people around, change positions, anything to get the best players on the field.
Randez James is the only recruit currently in school. He played against the UT J-V this year, so Cutcliffe got to see him play and was impressed.
Matt Daniels came in for special mention for his leadership. Apparently Daniels helped keep the Roof committments on board. DC calls him a "glue" guy.
DC says that Duke's strength and conditioning is way behind where it needs to be but there is time to catch up. Duke has added a s/c position that concentrates on football.
Duke appears to be finished with recruiting this season although DC says he wouldn't turn down a really good player at this point.
Cutcliffe has a quite arrogance. He used the word "train" a lot, as in "we know how to train quarterbacks" or "we know how to train place-kickers."
Rivals gave those guys 3 stars, while scout gave 'em 4. The number of stars doesn't matter all that much, since we saw what Wake did recently with guys who weren't highly rated in high school.
Yes, quiet arrogance. And I mean that in a good way. He exudes confidence that he knows what he's doing.
And yes, lower than 4.5 means faster than 4.5. One kid, Jordon Byas, was Florida 400-meter champion and Florida has a lot of people who can run.
Byas, btw, pronounces his first name Jor-don, not Jor-den.
I'll also assume your meaning "quiet arrogance", and say this; I am super excited about having a coach who has a past that warrants arrogance. In no way am I trying to disrespect CF or TR, I appreciate what they did.
I have no problem whatsoever with a little chip on his shoulder attitude. He knows what he is doing, and it shows. I had grown tired of the "well, we will go out there and give it our best and see what happens" attitude. Again, I'm not saying anything in disrespect, just happiness
PS- Thanks for the review Jim!
Last edited by 365Duke; 02-06-2008 at 04:17 PM. Reason: PS
I actually disagree. I think it's more important for us to show clear signs of improvement (ie wins) now so that we can build confidence in the program and bring in more recruits. Redshirting talent is frankly a luxury that I don't think we can afford at this point. We need something tangible to build support, and if the freshmen can help now, I say we've got to use them.