I figured starting a fresh football recruiting thread is in order. Duke had several verbals and prospects on campus this past weekend. Duke is loading up at the offensive line spots and here are Matt Skura, a future Blue Devils thoughts on his visit. He goes into detail and shows that kids are excited to be coming to Duke. http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/m...visit-to-duke/
Duke will be making some offers soon and FWIW, the staff has been on the road since the Monday after the UNC game working it hard.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
Here's another interview with one of the recent official visitors, Lucas Fisher: http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/d...visit-to-duke/
In other news, Tevin Hood will be transferring out of the program.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/f...visit-to-duke/ Here is another kid Duke is really high on - Jared Boyd, a DB.
Coach Luke is bringing in a nice group of offensive linemen in 2011: http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/o...senior-season/
Duke WR Commit Blair Holliday has recently received interest/offers from UCLA and Colorado, but remains solid to Duke: http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/b...lair-holliday/
Also, interviews with
Carson Ginn
Cody Robinson
Jamison Crowder
Here's an updated on Duke commit Chris Tavarez.
Also, an interview with top TE prospect Cam Clear: http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2010/...-potential-te/
With a class of 23 verbal commitments already, is it still possible for us to sign more recruits? I'm not sure what the roster limits are per year. And are we in the running for other top recruits?
I think we only have 21 commits because we lost a couple,academics? The total number we have on schollies depends on how many redshirt jrs are invited back by the staff.
Depth, depth,depth. We need it. Good to see Coach Cut beefing it up.
I was looking at ESPN recruiting site which gives Duke the most favorable rating of 23 commits: 1 four-star (Kicker/punter), 15 three-stars, and 7 two-stars.
Rivals and Scout gives Duke 21 commits: 12 three-stars and 9 two-stars. I guess you may be right, can anyone else confirm this?
The two that we lost for whatever reason are:
Kaylen Pearson, RB, 5-10, 185
Joe Watson, WR, 6-2, 210
Accounting for these two, ESPN has us at 21 commits: 1 four-star (Kicker/punter), 14 three-stars, and 6 two-stars.
Of note, we have 9 linemen coming in (6 offensive, 3 defensive), which is a huge area of need, especially on the D-line.
While the class may lack some of the star power of other recent classes (Renfree, Scott, Drew), it is still pretty deep. Probably the 2nd best class that Cutcliffe has brought in after the 2009 class (15 three/four-stars out of 27).
Much has been made of Cutcliffe's focus on in-state recruiting. Personally I don't really get why this is such a good thing - to go up against 3 in-state rivals with recent history of actual football success in a state that is not exactly football talent-rich, at least compared to TX, CA, FL, PA, and OH. Of our 21 commitments, we only have 1 from CA and 0 from TX. I know Cutcliffe has a lot of experience and history recruiting in the Southeast, but to me, it doesn't make sense to compete directly with all the SEC powers and in-state NC schools. Especially when we need all the players we can get.
Would like to see us utilize Duke's national appeal (which only few schools possess) and recruit more nationally because MANY recruits who are also great students would love to go to Duke. For example, Heisman runner-up QB Andrew Luck was reportedly interested in Duke but received no offer (now this could be because we had Renfree signed already).
Yeah, Luck was and is a top student, so we were on his list at some point but never really pursued him. He was also the same class as Renfree, and both were top-10 QB recruits (Luck #4, Renfree #10), which is probably why.
There is a limit of 85 football scholarships for D-1. It appears from the ncaa.org site that there is an annual limit of 25 scholarships in the entering class. Schools can have up to 28 annually sign letters of intent, to allow for shrinkage due to academic and other issues.
sagegrouse
Well it looks like we have room for 4 more studs. Let's sign'em up Cut!