2024 Football Portal News

We said our goodbye and thanks to Starr Thomas on Sr Night. At that time, we were told he was out of eligibility. We presumed he would play in the undetermined Bowl Game. We also knew Jaquez Moore was going to be available for said Bowl Game, along with Peyton Jones.

Fast forward to a recent court ruling, giving Star another year of eligibility. It was like getting a late Christmas gift of a backup running back for next season. I opine he was going to be #3 on next season’s depth chart.

It’s difficult for me to get riled up, in this case specifically, for a 3rd string running back I wasn’t counting on, to leave for other pastures. Thanks Starr for stepping up this year. I wish you nothing but success in your future. As for Duke? We’ll be okay.
 
johnb said:
3. If I were writing the 2-year Mensah contract, I’d want to back-load the payment if I were Duke; if he’s as good as touted, I want him back for that year before he’s eligible for the draft.
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He was a redshirt freshman last season which means he will be in his 3rd year of college football this coming year. That means that he would be eligible for the NFL draft should he choose that option.

That said, I agree about backloading the deal as extra incentive for him to stay at Duke another year. If it was, for example, $3 mil in year one and $5 mil in year two then he would earn more than most first round draft picks by being at Duke for the $5 mil salary.
johnb said:
4. The NIL money might come from some billionaire or selling lots of novelty t-shirts, but the money could come straight from Duke as part of a decision to do what it can to win the next musical chair conference realignment. We can’t win the SRO Big Ten Stadium sweepstakes, but we’re a unique national brand that could be appealing if the football team is nationally competitive.
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Until the House settlement is finalized, the money cannot come from Duke directly.
 
All this portal and NIL news is unsettling, but hopeful. I’m reminded of when Duke basketball finally had early defections after the 1999 season. As I recall, we were the last major program to go through that. But we came out all right. I’m feeling that Manny, Nina, and others have a plan in place for the new world we’re entering, and it’s got more potential and staying power than throwing money after an old pro coach. It also seems to have the added benefit of posing no threat to b-ball unlike in Chapel Hill. Cheers to Duke for being on the cutting edge one again!
 
budwom said:
As Star departs, the ace Tulane running back just portalized, as did their tight end. Ya never know.
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Tulane averaged 35.1 ppg this past season, 18th most in college football.

Makhi Hughes, the RB who just entered the portal, is considered the top player currently available. He rushed for over 1400 yards last season, 10th most in college football.
 
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Ol Guff said:
All this portal and NIL news is unsettling, but hopeful. I’m reminded of when Duke basketball finally had early defections after the 1999 season. As I recall, we were the last major program to go through that. But we came out all right. I’m feeling that Manny, Nina, and others have a plan in place for the new world we’re entering, and it’s got more potential and staying power than throwing money after an old pro coach. It also seems to have the added benefit of posing no threat to b-ball unlike in Chapel Hill. Cheers to Duke for being on the cutting edge one again!
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Yes, we came out all right, but my passion for Duke basketball did diminish. And I know I'm not the only one. Don't get me wrong, I agree that should do what it takes, within reason, to thrive in this new environment, but as the student-athlete concept becomes more and more irrelevant my passion for Duke football will wane.
 
blue DEVILS advocate. I would not go after another running back. I like Jaquez, Peyton and the App State bowling ball along with the younger kids. Over recruiting from the portal can have negative consequences IMHO.
Now, the tight end? Let’s Gooooo!
 
The running back is definitely a good player. The tight end is a big guy but his career stats aren't overwhelming. I wonder how much he's been featured in their offense.

Does Duke know anyone who can give the coaches a scouting report on these guys? ;)
 
OldPhiKap said:
Let’s do the Time Warp again.
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I hadn’t thought of that song in a decade or more. Then I went to the Georgia Tech game and heard that along with a number of other 80’s call backs (apparently singing the antique Budweiser theme is a thing there?).

Maybe while the conference is getting modern coaches they should update their soundtrack to stuff from this century?
 
budwom said:
I wish Star well, but honestly did not think he was a top tier ACC running back, did not run especially hard, and he ran a lot horizontally (I made these comments before he portalized, so I'm not piling on)...again, best of luck to him, I still think it's amazing we won nine games...hopefully we have better run blocking next year...we have some promising young backs, but they all need competent blocking.
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Those watching and rating portal players agree with you. He essentially had three games that were great, and the rest were at or below average in production.

Through the first seven weeks of the season, Thomas didn't crack 100 yards rushing in a game once and was only averaging 16 carries a contest for 56 yards per game. Then Thomas caught fire.

Over the next three games, Thomas would rush for at least 100 yards each in all three games and received 30, 17, and 22 carries in each of those games respectively.
.....
On3 currently lists Thomas as the #41-ranked running back in the portal.
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balldurham.com

Duke football's 'star' running back to enter transfer portal

Duke football running back Star Thomas has decided to enter the transfer portal after one season with the Duke program with one season of eligibiity remaining.
balldurham.com balldurham.com


One thought, Thomas said he is doing this for "personal reasons" and that the decision was hard on him. Remember, unlike most college players, he has a family including an infant daughter. His new path may be with his family in mind.
 
budwom said:
me too, should know soon...evidently Duke is looking at Cooper Barkate, Harvard WR, first team all IVY...may not seem like much, but he was a BIG time recruit coming out of HS with offers from Notre Dame, UCLA, Oregon, on and on....10 TD catches for >1000 yards in ten games.
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www.thecrimson.com

Star Wide Receiver Cooper Barkate, 16 Harvard Football Seniors Enter Transfer Portal | Sports | The Harvard Crimson

Star Harvard football wide receiver Cooper Barkate entered the transfer portal on Monday as a graduate transfer alongside seven other Harvard players.
www.thecrimson.com www.thecrimson.com
 
Star Thomas was expected to be a one year guy, so I don't think this changes the plans much. Star did a nice job stabilizing the RB position under the circumstances. And on one beautiful night in September, he outplayed UNC's future pro.

That said, I don't think his production should be hard to replace. The running game is the area of our team that most needs to take a major step up next year. We now have a dual threat QB, which should help. A healthy Jacquez Moore would be big as well. And the OL and Peyton Jones can improve, we may have something cooking. Moore and Jones should get the primary carries, with this new App St transfer and our younger RBs getting the rest.
 
Mike Petrik said:
We all know that the Duke admissions standards are very tough, just as we also know that plenty of young men and women who don't meet those standards would, if admitted, do well at Duke and graduate. We should never admit an athlete who we believe will unfairly struggle academically, but there are plenty of athletes who would thrive and who would not meet normal admissions standards.
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So I think the question is what “unfairly struggle academically” really means. If you define that narrowly as being unable to graduate, then I think there really won’t be many students nationally that we won’t be able to admit. There are always easier degrees that students can get to cross the graduation stage. I know we all know and believe Duke to be academically rigorous, but not every kid that steps on campus can cut it in BME or chemistry or statistics (and I’m just talking about the non-athlete ones; was genuinely eye-opening for me personally seeing how absolutely brilliant some people were, but then how absolutely shockingly… well, just say “not brilliant” some others were). But there are ways to graduate at Duke without crazy help if you know the holes and where to go from a majors perspective (won’t name any here to avoid causing problems of course, but those that have attended can probably name 1-2 off the top of their heads).

Point being, I totally agree we shouldn’t let students in who will fail entirely. But I think the bar is way lower than we think it is if we define “fail” very narrowly as “not graduate without major struggles.” And if we’re paying players to come here and treating them as quasi-employees, then I think we need to view it in that very narrowly lens. Pre-NIL, I’d feel differently. But if we’re living in a world where folks are effectively hired hands, I’m less concerned with the sanctity of the Duke diploma, as long as the person can pass the minimum level of classes.

Also I know this is an unpopular opinion that I’m sure many here don’t agree with, but is just the way I’m personally thinking about it. If we’re serious about trying to win at the highest levels on the gridiron, we have to be willing to throw a bit of our academic standards out the window unfortunately. Though for balance, on a personal integrity level (think Baylor), we very much should never compromise. That’s a line we should never, ever, ever be willing to cross to win what is very much just a silly game
 
RoseBowl1942 said:
So I think the question is what “unfairly struggle academically” really means. If you define that narrowly as being unable to graduate, then I think there really won’t be many students nationally that we won’t be able to admit. There are always easier degrees that students can get to cross the graduation stage. I know we all know and believe Duke to be academically rigorous, but not every kid that steps on campus can cut it in BME or chemistry or statistics (and I’m just talking about the non-athlete ones; was genuinely eye-opening for me personally seeing how absolutely brilliant some people were, but then how absolutely shockingly… well, just say “not brilliant” some others were). But there are ways to graduate at Duke without crazy help if you know the holes and where to go from a majors perspective (won’t name any here to avoid causing problems of course, but those that have attended can probably name 1-2 off the top of their heads).

Point being, I totally agree we shouldn’t let students in who will fail entirely. But I think the bar is way lower than we think it is if we define “fail” very narrowly as “not graduate without major struggles.” And if we’re paying players to come here and treating them as quasi-employees, then I think we need to view it in that very narrowly lens. Pre-NIL, I’d feel differently. But if we’re living in a world where folks are effectively hired hands, I’m less concerned with the sanctity of the Duke diploma, as long as the person can pass the minimum level of classes.

Also I know this is an unpopular opinion that I’m sure many here don’t agree with, but is just the way I’m personally thinking about it. If we’re serious about trying to win at the highest levels on the gridiron, we have to be willing to throw a bit of our academic standards out the window unfortunately. Though for balance, on a personal integrity level (think Baylor), we very much should never compromise. That’s a line we should never, ever, ever be willing to cross to win what is very much just a silly game
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Yes, there is line-drawing to be sure. But I would not draw the line where you would. I understand the logic of "if we are going to compete with Alabama our admissions standards must be the same," I do. I just disagree. First, there is a difference between admitting students who are legitimately college material but would not otherwise be admitted to Duke versus admitting students who really have no business being in college at all. Second, I don't aspire to be Alabama, even in football. I aspire to be sufficiently competitive to be able to play them and know we have a shot, maybe win one in five or ten or so. Third, we need to exploit our comparative advantage, which most importantly is the value of a Duke education and Duke degree. We can be especially attractive to the cohort of top talent that appreciates that, as long as we are competitive. Stanford used to do that, and Notre Dame still does. As much as I enjoy football, corrupting the perceived value of a Duke degree just to "win at the highest levels" would be a colossal miscalculation, but I'm convinced we can "compete" at the highest levels without doing that. Finally, the more removed Duke athletes become from being Duke students, the less I'm interested. The NFL already has the best talent.
 
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Mike Petrik said:
Yes, there is line-drawing to be sure. But I would not draw the line where you would. I understand the logic of "if we are going to compete with Alabama our admissions standards must be the same," I do. I just disagree. First, there is a difference between admitting students who are legitimately college material but would not otherwise be admitted to Duke versus admitting students who really have no business being in college at all. Second, I don't aspire to be Alabama, even in football. I aspire to be sufficiently competitive to be able to play them and know we have a shot, maybe win one in five or ten or so. Third, we need to exploit our comparative advantage, which most importantly is the value of a Duke education and Duke degree. We can be especially attractive to the cohort of top talent that appreciates that, as long as we are competitive. Stanford used to do that, and Notre Dame still does. As much as I enjoy football, corrupting the perceived value of a Duke degree just to "win at the highest levels" would be a colossal miscalculation, but I'm convinced we can "compete" at the highest levels without doing that. Finally, the more removed Duke athletes become from being Duke students, the less I'm interested. The NFL already has the best talent.
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Totally fair and it’s good we have diverse opinions to have a healthy debate. For the record, I’m not suggesting we lower the admissions standards to the Alabama level (which let’s be real, is letting in kids that have no business being in college at all). But I do think our standards need not be extremely high. If someone can successfully navigate Duke and get a diploma without extreme levels of help, that should be sufficient to check the box of being academic enough. Heck, that’s the standard we set for every student that gets let in the door for whatever reason we decide (including massive donor kids who get an acceptance letter). If we are comfortable giving diplomas to kids that might not otherwise make it through admissions because they have wealthy parents, then we should be willing to admit and give diplomas to football players that meet the same standards when actually in Duke’s classrooms. Heck, at least the football players did something outstanding enough to warrant consideration beyond winning the lottery of birth to an extremely wealthy individual!
 
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