Fields would be nice but I hear he's strongly considering The Ohio State University. Specially if Dwayne Haskins declares for the NFL Draft.
There are dozens of articles talking about Fields' appeal for immediate eligibility due to the racism incident. While no one knows what the NCAA will decide, most of the buzz I have heard indicates the NCAA will grant the waiver. Fields' family has hired an attorney who specializes in this kind of thing.
-Jason "the last thing the NCAA wants to do is argue that having the N-word screamed at you isn't a big deal... Fields will be immediately eligible (I doubt he is even looking at Duke though)" EvansFields is expected to retain attorney Tom Mars to aid with petitioning the NCAA for immediate eligibility. Mars worked with Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson and helped him earn a win with the NCAA this season in Ann Arbor after transferring from Ole Miss.
“I’ve helped more than a dozen student-athletes from different sports in the past year, but I don’t talk about it publicly unless there’s a good reason to do so,” Mars said.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Fields would be nice but I hear he's strongly considering The Ohio State University. Specially if Dwayne Haskins declares for the NFL Draft.
The allure of playing big time football in huge stadiums filled with fans almost every game is powerful. Duke cannot offer that, and never will be able to. What we hope is that the chance of Cut developing you into an NFL quarterback will nab us a few of these 4 and 5s at some point.
How would the team feel about a grad transfer coming in and getting the job over Harris, or Holmberg for that matter? I could see as a more acceptable situation if we sucked, but we don't. And while I'm assuming the job would be earned and not given, I like the idea of one of our guys who has paid his dues being the one on the field instead of someone else who wasn't happy with their playing time at another school.
If we get a transfer that has only spent one or two years at another school, I'd be more ok with that.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
I know filling DJ's shoes next season will be a bit issue but imo bigger will be filling the shoes of both our LB's, Humphreys and Joe Giles-Harris. I'm truly hoping we have some really good vocal players to step in and fill those shoes. Those two are imo going to be huge losses for us on the defensive side of the ball. They where such good football players!!
Gunnar Holmberg was a 4* recruit per ESPN:
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/f...unnar-holmberg
Bob Green
The problem with the grad-student-transfer scenario is simple.
Guys who clearly are better than Harris/Holmberg likely won't want to come to Duke.
Guys who want to come to Duke likely aren't any better than Harris/Holmberg.
FWIW, Notre Dame's Brandon Wimbush is leaving.
Last edited by jimsumner; 01-02-2019 at 11:27 AM.
Fields will come to Duke right after Peyton Manning becomes our new offensive coordinator.
Here are some thoughts that mean nothing:
* Harris showed that he should be capable of being our starter. However, one game was against NCCU, which we can't draw much from. Against Baylor, he showed poise, ran the team well, made plays, and won on the road against a Power 5 team, although against, as Jason Evans will tell you, a bad Baylor defense. With that said, he did his job and I think will be capable of being our starter. He got great experience and should only get better. However, he also connected on about 50% of his passes against Baylor, which is not good in today's game (again, against a bad defense). So hopefully, with more experience he'll get more comfortable and his completion percentage should go up, which it will need to be for us to be successful next year.
* Whoever our quarterback will be, they won't have much experience. So, hopefully our offensive line will stand up, and we can rely on our running game. Our offensive line should return plenty of experience, with many of the younger players returning. Though Brittain Brown basically lost this year due to his injuries, it let Deon Jackson really merge and shine. Assuming Brown will be back healthy and with Mateo Durant joining the mix, we should have a stacked backfield. Plus, Harris (assuming he's the starter) is an excellent runner. Hopefully we can rely on our running game to control the ball more, which should help our new QB and the defense.
* I have no idea how good Katremick or Holmberg are or will be. If one of them looks like the heir apparent, I still have a hard time thinking Cut will put one in as the starter against Alabama for his first start. However, on the flip side, I guess we can't manage our whole season around that one game, which will be a tough spot for us, regardless of who starts under center. In any case, if Cut thinks Katrenick or Holmberg should be the guy (like he chose DJ over Boehme when Sirk went down again), I guess he has to throw him out there and learn on the fly. I just can't see it though.
* While we lose plenty of senior wide receivers, we'll have an interesting mix of some veterans and new blood looking to take on bigger roles. Aaron Young hopefully will be back and healthy. Jake Bobo has gotten a lot of support on these boards, and I expect him to step into a key role. I also think Philyaw-Johnson is going to break out a bit. I think he showed some flashes towards the end of the year. Of course, we're all still waiting for Keyston Fuller and Scott Bracey to emerge, though I don't think anyone is counting on them.
* We still have lots of highly ranked TE recruits on the roster, particularly Noah Gray. While we haven't looked as much to our tight ends consistently, they can be a best friend to an inexperienced quarterback.
In any case, like you all, I'm really curious to see the QB battle play out during the spring and in August. However, I'm hoping we will be able to rely on our offensive line and running attack to take pressure off our new QB (whoever it is) and wide receivers. Already looking forward to the new season and team make-up.
P.S.
One side note. I wonder if Jack Sears, seeing DJ leave after his redshirt-junior year for the NFL draft, regrets his decision. He's a California kid who is at USC, so that can't be all bad. However, he would be poised to take over as our QB as a redshirt-sophomore and play under Cut. Right now, at USC, unless TJ Daniels gets injured, the best he can hope for is playing as a redshirt senior (assuming he can beat out whoever is on the roster at that time). Whatever. Not our problem, but was just thinking about it while we discuss our next QB.
I too hope the running game will take the pressure off the new QB. The offensive line needs to take a step up in opening up holes for the running backs so the off season strength and conditioning work will be critical. In your list of returning running backs, you left off Marvin Hubbard III who ruptured his Achilles tendon in the Virginia Tech game and was lost for the season.
Bob Green
"I wanted it to be in my hands," Roach said of his game-sealing drive. "I wanted to take—I wanted that moment."
"Definitely was a bit personal for me," Roach added. "I mean, what happened last year, obviously, but just wanted to come out here and do anything I can to get this win, and we did that." Duke-Carolina, Cameron Indoor, Feb. 4th 2023
Ha! I'm with you. Jones needs to go to some team that I don't care about. I don't want him on a team I hate, and I don't want him on a team I love. If he does great on the hated team, I won't be happy. If he does lousy on the team I love, I won't be happy.
Of course he could flip those scenarios, and I'd be thrilled, but I'd rather not take the chance.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
I think all your comments were meaningful...
Vis a vis Harris, I think the NW, Baylor and NCCU games in combination did tell us something. He made a huge run for a first down that kept the ball away from NW and helped Duke keep them at bay. It was a major play. He threw 7 TDs with no interceptions, and that's significant.
That Baylor D ended up having some good games...held Texas to 23 and TT to 24...and while QH was only 12 for 30 in that game - which is ugly - he had 3 TDs and he also had 3 long completions and a very good per completion average yardage. Ironically, the longer the pass, the better he threw it in that game. And against NCCU he took care of business. So all three outings were successful. Not a huge sample, but encouraging nonetheless. Now, is Gunnar or Katrenick a talent that will blow the others away in competition? I've no idea.
As for Jack Sears, be interesting to hear he and Chazz Surratt over some beers during NFL draft day this April....
It's going to be interesting to see where Jones goes. I don't believe 10% of the self appointed authorities, because teams (who have real professionals assessing guys, some better than others of course) don't go around
telling ESPN writers who they really like in the draft, it's completely illogical. The BS gets stripped away on draft day. I think the good news for Jones is that he isn't so great that he'll be taken by a bottom dweller with an ultra early pick, rather he'll (hopefully) go to a good organization who can afford to bring him along slowly. Maybe in the first round, maybe the second or third, we'll see.
I would suspect the combine is going to be key. In that situation, he'll have the same type of receivers all the other QBs have, which he clearly did not at Duke. Then there are the individual work outs for teams. I'm not a draft geek, and I don't follow how all this works, but I think in DJ's situation these will be huge. Everybody loves his size. They like what they've seen of his arm. They will test his speed on the clock. But his stats are not great, his consistency an issue, and he's had only a few games in what would be called a big time atmosphere.
Then there are the tests and interviews, and I think we all have the utmost confidence that he will crush those. He has many "face of the franchise" characteristics in his favor. Now, is he good enough to be that in the NFL? Time will tell.
I think the combine and work outs could be the difference between a first to a fourth round pick. And no, I do not think he'll fall to four, or even three.