2025 Duke Football Recruiting

[AustinDevil]

others will note that we had a higher ranked class back in the 1980s (essentially the guys Spurrier won with) but ratings were much more limited then, none of the current sites around of course...so yes, highest in the internetz era which is still nice...

So the SMU board did a deep dive into this when the same "highest ever" comment came up there a couple of years ago, and the conclusion was that there really wasn't *any* generally accepted rating system that attempted to be nationwide in the 1980s. (There's only been an *ESPN* since the tail end of 1979, of course, and they didn't ramp up much beyond scrambling to fill programming for quite a while.)

Duke almost certainly had classes that were at least as "good" in a few decades before 1970, of course; but there's no way to quantify it.

 

[Maged]

I think the better question is, how much can our coaching (and training) staff coach up these players to compete with the schools spending 5 times more (forgetting the schools spending 10 times more)? Can they make the 33rd best class into a top 25 team? I think they can, at least most of the time. And that to me is a worthwhile goal.

 

[Nugget]

I think the better question is, how much can our coaching (and training) staff coach up these players to compete with the schools spending 5 times more (forgetting the schools spending 10 times more)? Can they make the 33rd best class into a top 25 team? I think they can, at least most of the time. And that to me is a worthwhile goal.

Also, I would hope that in the current NIL era one comparative advantage that the true "academic" schools (Duke, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Vandy, Northwestern, BC, Notre Dame, etc.) might have is the ability to leverage the fact that more of their players are likely to be "real students" -- and place the value on a degree from and lifelong business connections from those schools -- so as to be able to outperform pure mercenary NIL programs on player retention (albeit, it will still be necessary to provide the higher performers on your team with reasonably competitive NIL to deter transfers out of productive 2nd-3rd years players).

Obviously, that won't fully offset the recruiting advantage the big-spending FB powers have, but it hopefully mitigates it to some degree.

 

[dudog84]

Also, I would hope that in the current NIL era one comparative advantage that the true "academic" schools (Duke, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Vandy, Northwestern, BC, Notre Dame, etc.) might have is the ability to leverage the fact that more of their players are likely to be "real students" -- and place the value on a degree from and lifelong business connections from those schools -- so as to be able to outperform pure mercenary NIL programs on player retention (albeit, it will still be necessary to provide the higher performers on your team with reasonably competitive NIL to deter transfers out of productive 2nd-3rd years players).

Obviously, that won't fully offset the recruiting advantage the big-spending FB powers have, but it hopefully mitigates it to some degree.

I get what you're saying, but big state schools have business connections also, and probably far more because of the size of their undergraduate classes. Where do you think all that NIL money is coming from?

 

[RoseBowl1942]

Also, I would hope that in the current NIL era one comparative advantage that the true "academic" schools (Duke, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Vandy, Northwestern, BC, Notre Dame, etc.) might have is the ability to leverage the fact that more of their players are likely to be "real students" -- and place the value on a degree from and lifelong business connections from those schools -- so as to be able to outperform pure mercenary NIL programs on player retention (albeit, it will still be necessary to provide the higher performers on your team with reasonably competitive NIL to deter transfers out of productive 2nd-3rd years players).

Obviously, that won't fully offset the recruiting advantage the big-spending FB powers have, but it hopefully mitigates it to some degree.

Wait, are you saying some people come to Duke to “play school”?!?!?!

We had a board in the Chronicle office with Thad Lewis’ top quotes. My favorite was: “Who is we to question Coach Cutliffe?”

No one is here to play school anymore. The days of celebrating the highest GPA or graduation rate or whatever we had next to the ‘Orange Bowl 1955’ signage on our football-field-as-a-college-track are over

 

[Mike Petrik]

I get what you're saying, but big state schools have business connections also, and probably far more because of the size of their undergraduate classes. Where do you think all that NIL money is coming from?

Yes, but those state school connections tend to be very in-state concentrated.

 

[Mike Petrik]

Wait, are you saying some people come to Duke to “play school”?!?!?!

We had a board in the Chronicle office with Thad Lewis’ top quotes. My favorite was: “Who is we to question Coach Cutliffe?”

No one is here to play school anymore. The days of celebrating the highest GPA or graduation rate or whatever we had next to the ‘Orange Bowl 1955’ signage on our football-field-as-a-college-track are over

For the record I’ve met Thad, and I do not believe your quote.

 

[brevity]

Did you mean this article?

7:00 a.m. is the first time that the signed agreements are allowed to be sent in, and a number of prospects will get theirs in the first moment they're able to. They'll be having signing ceremonies at their schools later on today, and Diaz will host a press conference for the media at 11:10 a.m. All financial aid agreements are expected to be in place prior to Diaz's appearance at that time.

The Devils Den posted Manny Diaz's press conference for Signing Day.

 

[RoseBowl1942]

For the record I’ve met Thad, and I do not believe your quote.

To be clear, I didn’t hear the quote, this was just a poster in the Chronicle office (along with some other quotes; personally wasn’t involved)

 

[Skydog]

For the record I’ve met Thad, and I do not believe your quote.

I don't know about that -- I’m pretty sure I heard him say “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”

 

[duke79]

The Devils Den posted Manny Diaz's press conference for Signing Day.

Thanks for this link to the press conference. Very impressive job by Manny. He is smart, astute, well-spoken and articulate. The more I see of him, the more I understand why Nina hired him. I think he's a great representative of Duke University. I like that he also thanked the city of Durham for making Duke and Durham an attractive place for recruits to attend college and play football (spoken like the son of a mayor!). My long-time pet peeve is that we just need to get more bodies in the stands for home football games. It has to hurt recruiting when the stadium is only half full or so for many home games.

 

[Mike Petrik]

Thanks for this link to the press conference. Very impressive job by Manny. He is smart, astute, well-spoken and articulate. The more I see of him, the more I understand why Nina hired him. I think he's a great representative of Duke University. I like that he also thanked the city of Durham for making Duke and Durham an attractive place for recruits to attend college and play football (spoken like the son of a mayor!). My long-time pet peeve is that we just need to get more bodies in the stands for home football games. It has to hurt recruiting when the stadium is only half full or so for many home games.

Agree!!! While every college town has town-college tensions, we need to make Duke football Durham’s team. Give away merch and offer steeply discounted tickets. Get Wallace Wade full and rockin’!

 

[duke79]

Agree!!! While every college town has town-college tensions, we need to make Duke football Durham’s team. Give away merch and offer steeply discounted tickets. Get Wallace Wade full and rockin’!

Yep, totally agree here, Mike. I would do everything imaginable to get more bodies in the stands. Heck, I'd give away free tickets to Durham citizens and free tickets to all Duke employees for all (or almost all) home games. I'd run all sorts of in-game promotions - free restaurant gift certificates and other such goodies to have people remain in the stadium for the full games.

 

[wilko]

Only mildly related - Good to see Manny being a cheerleader at Cameron.
It certainly seems like he is enjoying the Duke experience and is a supportive team player for all sports.
While other coaches have made appearances and had fun... he seemed to be relishing it.

And how can you not think that enthusiasm will be brought back home for football?

 

[Papa John]

Thirteen of the 27 are expected to enroll in January:

Football Welcomes 27-Member Class on National Signing Day - Duke University

Duke head football coach Manny Diaz announced Wednesday that 27 student-athletes have signed financial aid agreements and will join the Blue Devil gridiron p...

goduke.com

A well-rounded class. About the only thing I see missing is perhaps a TE or a 2nd RB, but I absolutely love the fact that the class is anchored by 7 OL and 5 DL, with 4 LB (among them the standout Gompers) to boot. You build winning football teams from the line-of-scrimmage out. Can't wait to see these guys coached up by Manny and crew!

 

[Maged]

I'd be interested in statistics on attendance trends in the past 3 years. Is attendance trending upward?

 

[chrishoke]

I'd be interested in statistics on attendance trends in the past 3 years. Is attendance trending upward?

Student attendance is way up.

 

[luvdahops]

I'd be interested in statistics on attendance trends in the past 3 years. Is attendance trending upward?

Average total attendance was as follows:

2022 - 24,505
2023 - 25,111
2024 - 26,183

This year was pushed down by weak crowds (<20k) for the Elon and UConn games, plus a lower than expected (or at least hoped for) 22,462 for the home finale against Virginia Tech thanks in part to unseasonably cold weather and an 8pm kickoff. We had crowds of 30K+ for UNC (sell out), FSU and SMU. YMMV, but I think the Devils Deck was a good addition, both as an in-game option and for the TV visuals. Definitely trending the right way, especially student attendance, as noted by chrishoke above.

 

[budwom]

In the saga of Duke football (which I've followed for 56 years) we DO get more fans when we're good, but it's a slow process because we've been bad for a long time, and the locals have more of a natural affinity for State and unc...we are making progress....it's taken time for folks to realize we have a good team and program. Duke has given tickets away in bunches, still tough to get people to come out unless they know they'll see good football.

 

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Student attendance is way up.

In 2023 they gave away to students $100, $200, $300 and $1000 cash in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters (progressively larger amounts) to keep the students at the game. In 2024 they gave students $250 in the 2nd and 4th quarters. It seems to work. And having a winning football team certainly helps!