Four early enrollees for Duke football

[jimsumner]

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22672&SPID=1843&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205898760&DB_OEM_ID=4200

[CameronBornAndBred]

Nice. I think this spring is going to very enjoyable. Is Cutcliffe planning on (hopefully) altering his past spring schedule since we went bowling this year?

[OldPhiKap]

Nice. I think this spring is going to very enjoyable. Is Cutcliffe planning on (hopefully) altering his past spring schedule since we went bowling this year?

I think in the bowl post-press he said we started early, but not sure.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Things change over time. If it serves a useful purpose to have spring practice early, you can bet Duke will start early again this year. Think of the way practice time is spaced throughout the year, especially with a bowl on the calendar.

[Newton_14]

Nice. I think this spring is going to very enjoyable. Is Cutcliffe planning on (hopefully) altering his past spring schedule since we went bowling this year?

I heard him state in an interview that the Spring schedule would be changed due to the Bowl practices. I think they got something like 14 practices which is huge.

Great to see the early entries!

If Boone or Sirk can step in and handle the QB duties, next year could be a really good team. We need to break through and get that first winning season for Cut, and going to back to back Bowl games would be huge for the program. Need to keep and build on that momentum.

[Son of Jarhead]

"The Blue Devils will return 16 starters and 46 lettermen in 2013..."

Do they already know which of the seniors who still had a year of eligability remailing are returning for a 5th year? And if so, who are they?

A couple more:

Who are those 16 starters and does that count kickers/punters?

Who is likely to take the place in the starting line-up of those senior starters lost?

Does 46 letterman seem low? (I guess adding freshmen who redshirted, and others who never got in a game, would get that up some.)

[Olympic Fan]

Do they already know which of the seniors who still had a year of eligability remailing are returning for a 5th year? And if so, who are they?

A couple more:

Who are those 16 starters and does that count kickers/punters?

Who is likely to take the place in the starting line-up of those senior starters lost?

Does 46 letterman seem low? (I guess adding freshmen who redshirted, and others who never got in a game, would get that up some.)

I can answer a few questions.

The 16 starters includes seven offensive starters (everybody but QB Renfree, WR Vernon, WR Scott and C Moore), seven defensive starters (everybody but S Canty, S Byas, CB Foster -- who was subbing for senior QB Butler, and LB Gamble). It also includes both kickers.

It doesn't include Kelby Brown, a 2010 and 2011 starter at LB who missed the season with injury. It doesn't include TE Braxton Deaver and DT Jamal Bruce, who were preseasn starters who missed the year with injuries (Deaver missed the entire year ... Bruce was able to return and play a little at the end of the season. It doesn't include Jeremy Cash, who likely would have ben a starter if he had received the waiver he needed to play as a transfer.

And it doesn't include a number of players who had at least a little starting experience -- including QB Anthony Boone (who started and won the Virginia game) and freshman safety Dwayne Norman (six starts) and veteran OT John Coleman (9 career starts).

A bunch of fifth year guys are back -- plus one sixth year player (DE Kenny Anunike). Fifth year guys include All0-ACC CB Ross Cockrell (37 career starts), OG David Harding (27 career starts) and DE Justin Foxx (17 career starts). CB Garrett Patterson, DT Sydney Srmiento (36 career starts), OT Perry Simmons (37 career starts), S Anthoney Young-Wiseman (just one start, but 28 games).

I am very happy to see that Evert Edwards has enrolled. Not only does he play a position of need (we very much need to find a CB to play opposite Cockrell) he's a underrated recruit who was starting to get a lot of late interest from SEC schools -- Bama's Saban was raving about him. Hate to see a true freshman in the lineup, but (1) it wouldn't be so bad if he ha spring practice to get ready and (2) by enrolling now, we don't have to worry about losing him to an SEC school in the last weeks before signing day).

[Reilly]

The GoDuke article said our incoming QB's senior year was cut short due to injury. I googled around, and apparently it's a toe injury:

http://jacksonville.com/sports/high-schools/2012-10-26/story/sleeper-play-nightmare-sandalwood-devastating-loss-flagler-palm

[TruBlu]

It is an epidemic!

[Reilly]

Do they already know which of the seniors who still had a year of eligability remailing are returning for a 5th year? And if so, who are they? ...

The roster at GoDuke.com is sortable by year. So, the R-Jr. list from 2012 was this:

6 Ross Cockrell CB 6-0 180 RJr. Waxhaw, N.C. (Charlotte Latin)
70 John Coleman OG 6-4 290 RJr. Florence, S.C. (West Florence)
44 Jack Farrell TE 6-2 225 RJr. Atlanta, Ga. (Holy Innocents)
64 Joey Finison C 6-4 290 RJr. Greensboro, N.C. (Ragsdale)
92 Justin Foxx DE 6-3 245 RJr. Charlotte, N.C. (Victory Christian)
14 Corey Gattis WR 5-11 165 RJr. Durham, N.C. (Hillside)
74 Dave Harding OG 6-4 285 RJr. Orlando, Fla. (Boone)
24 Garett Patterson WR 6-1 190 RJr. Richmond, Va. (Monacan)
82 Sydney Sarmiento DT 6-4 300 RJr. Florence, S.C. (West Florence)
72 Perry Simmons OT 6-5 300 RJr. Raleigh, N.C. (Sanderson)
15 Taylor Sowell S 5-10 210 RJr. Spartanburg, S.C. (Dorman)
21 Anthony Young-Wiseman S 6-0 220 RJr. Bethesda, Md. (Walt Whitman)

Of that list, Farrell, Finison, Gattis and Sowell were honored prior to the Miami game for Senior Day, per the Miami game notes. So, removing those names, here are our 5th year seniors for 2013:

6 Ross Cockrell CB 6-0 180 RJr. Waxhaw, N.C. (Charlotte Latin)
70 John Coleman OG 6-4 290 RJr. Florence, S.C. (West Florence)
92 Justin Foxx DE 6-3 245 RJr. Charlotte, N.C. (Victory Christian)
74 Dave Harding OG 6-4 285 RJr. Orlando, Fla. (Boone)
24 Garett Patterson WR 6-1 190 RJr. Richmond, Va. (Monacan)
82 Sydney Sarmiento DT 6-4 300 RJr. Florence, S.C. (West Florence)
72 Perry Simmons OT 6-5 300 RJr. Raleigh, N.C. (Sanderson)
21 Anthony Young-Wiseman S 6-0 220 RJr. Bethesda, Md. (Walt Whitman)

[BigWayne]

Checking the sortable roster over the last few years you notice that the number of guys in each class has grown significantly to where we have about 30 1st year and 2nd year guys on the 2012 roster vs. low 20s in the previous two years classes. While some of these are likely walk-ons, it shows the growing strength of the program.

[JasonEvans]

Question about the kids who enroll early, how does it affect their 5 years to use 4 years of eligibility clock? I guess their clock starts now, with enrollment. If one of them were to redshirt next year, would he still have 4 full years of eligibility left?

-Jason "love that Cut had the patience and confidence a while back to redshirt a good number of freshmen as 5th year seniors are huge to building a successful football program" Evans

[jimsumner]

Question about the kids who enroll early, how does it affect their 5 years to use 4 years of eligibility clock? I guess their clock starts now, with enrollment. If one of them were to redshirt next year, would he still have 4 full years of eligibility left?

-Jason "love that Cut had the patience and confidence a while back to redshirt a good number of freshmen as 5th year seniors are huge to building a successful football program" Evans

Yes. They would have four years left.

[BigWayne]

Question about the kids who enroll early, how does it affect their 5 years to use 4 years of eligibility clock? I guess their clock starts now, with enrollment. If one of them were to redshirt next year, would he still have 4 full years of eligibility left?

-Jason "love that Cut had the patience and confidence a while back to redshirt a good number of freshmen as 5th year seniors are huge to building a successful football program" Evans

Not a problem generally as football season is in the fall. Becomes the same as basketball players that show up for summer sessions to get a jump start on classes.

I don't know if football has a different rule that ignores semesters. With the winter sports like basketball that have a season spanning semesters, transfers, etc. get eligible on semester boundaries. For football that never has mattered before, but it could get dicey in the future if the championship setup pushes the last game into the second week of January.