Recruiting – Page 2 – Bull City Coordinators

Duke Nets 16 On Signing Day

Duke had a productive National Signing Day signing 16 targets on Wednesday, a good haul albeit slightly smaller than normal.

The Blue Devils signed players from the normal recruiting grounds of Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina while reaching out to California, Alabama, and Massachusetts. All of the prospects signed were rated 3-star recruits according to 247-Sports ranking Duke 11th in the ACC and 56th nationally.

The likely prize of the class is quarterback Luca Diamont, a dual threat Quarterback out of Los Angles. Diamont is a 6-3, 185 pounder. He is likely to be the Blue Devil’s quarterback of the future but will likely need a year to two of grooming and strength training.

Duke added some possible weapons for Diamont signing wide receivers Jontavis Robertson (6-foot, 180 lbs), Malik Bowen (6-foot-2, 180 lbs) and Nicky Dalmolin (6-foot-4, 215 lbs ). They also added tight end, Cole Finney (6-foot-6, 240 lbs).

The Blue Devils also landed two athletes in Jaylin Stinson (5-foot-8, 160 lbs) and Da’Quan Johnson (6-foot, 190 lbs) who had committed to Troy before decommiting on Monday and declaring for Duke following his visit on Dec. 6.

Duke added lineman on both sides of the ball including offensive linemen Graham Barton (6-foot-5, 300 lbs), Calib Perez (6-foot-5, 270), and Gary Smith (6-foot-2, 310 lbs). Adding to the defensive line are Michael Reese (6-foot-4, 260 lbs) and Aeneas Peebles (6-foot-2, 265 lbs).

Rounding out the additions on the defensive side of the ball include linebackers Dorian Mausi (6-foot-2, 215 lbs), Christian Hood (6-foot, 205 lbs) and Ryan Smith (6-foot-2, 200 lbs). The Blue Devils also signed safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith (6-foot, 200 lbs).

Barring any transfers, this will be a solid, if not great class, though David Cutcliffe has been able to find success with 3-star recruits in the past. There has also been talk that Duke may add some more recruits between now and February. Stay tuned!

2020 Outlook – Ryan Smith Commits to Duke

As we were finishing our last post, word broke that Ryan Smith committed to Duke. Talk about Bang Bang Duke Gang! While Smith isn’t the highest rated prospect, he’s a three-star LB who was named defensive player of the year for his region. That’s always impressive, no matter what level of competition.

What can Smith do? A little bit of everything. His junior year highlights show how capable he is. He can run, catch and block kicks on special teams. Given how important special teams will be for Duke next year as the Blue Devils break in a new starter, a player like him could be important.

How did Duke get him? Well, the Blue Devils got him over competition from Air Force, Akron and three Ivy League schools. It may not be like taking a guy from the SEC, but with a small recruiting class and the need to replace Koby Quansah, you have to take guys who show an ability to make plays. Also, given what success Duke has had with folks from Georgia making plays on special teams and defense (DeVon. Edwards.), it’s always good when the Blue Devils pick up a player from the Peach State.

Congrats to Ryan Smith and to Duke!

2020 Outlook – Incoming Recruits

(This article was written before Ryan Smith committed. We will add a piece about him later.)

Currently, Duke has a pretty small recruiting class that totals all of 12 people. In advance of National Signing Day, let’s get to know the class a little better.

The gem of Duke Gang 2020 is, without question, Luca Diamont. We’ve discussed him before. Diamont is a three-star quarterback who can run, throw and do seemingly everything. He’s a dual-threat quarterback and at 6-2/180 has good size, though will need to pickup some weight.

Having watched his senior season highlights on Hudl, what I found particularly interesting is his ability to throw on the run. Given Duke’s difficulties on the OL this season and the coming changeover, making plays outside the pocket will be a necessity for him. Take a look at Diamont here.

The kid is impressive. He has a strong arm and the ability to throw deep. If Duke can remember how to do that next season, the Blue Devils offense may be fun again.

The next highest rated player is Graham Barton, a 6-5/300 pound offensive lineman from Tennessee. Barton joins Calib Perez, an offensive tackle from Texas as Duke’s only incoming linemen.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Blue Devils recently picked up Gary Smith. Like Barton, Smith is a Tennessean. He chose Duke over Virginia Tech and looks poised to make a big impact in the coming years. Smith also plays on the OL at times – 247 has him listed at both positions in different spots. I’m not sure where he will play at Duke. Learn more about him at Hudl.

Other top prospects include Malik Bowen (WR), Michael Reese (DT) and Dorian Mausi (OLB). Of these three, I’d expect Mausi to have the best shot at playing early. Duke’s a little thin at LB and while Mausi is a little undersized, he has a real motor, gets after the quarterback and makes good decisions. His senior highlight reel is here.

The Blue Devils have a lot other talented players coming in. There have also been some other offers of late. Specifically, Duke offered Addison Penn (OL), a BC commit. Duke is also looking at Jontavis Robertson, a WR from Georgia. The Blue Devils have found a lot of good players from Georgia over the years (the Singletons, DeVon Edwards, etc.), so let’s hope this works out, too.

Finally, Duke is making a play for Ger-Cari Caldwell, a WR from Rock Hill, SC (Rock Thrill, baby!). Caldwell is a little thin at 6-4/192, so expect him to redshirt if he comes to Duke, but his highlight reel shows how good he is at running WR screens. That ability makes him the perfect Blue Devil WR.

While the class is small, it may grow. Duke Maven has a lot of good coverage on the class and some outstanding offers. Take a look when you can.

2020 Updates – QB and Staff

When Jake Bentley announced he would be leaving USC, there was some speculation he might end up in Durham. Unfortunately, Utah was the front runner and is where Bentley ended up. While Luca Diamont and Gunnar Holmberg look promising, they lack the experience that Bentley has. The Blue Devils’ quarterbacks will be lacking in that area next season.

While Duke struck out on Bentley, they also missed out on bringing back Matt Luke. As you probably remember, Luke was on Coach Cutcliffe’s first Duke staff in 2008. He coached the offensive line and served as the co-offensive coordinator. Luke stayed at Duke until the end of the 2011 season when he returned to Ole Miss. Towards the end of his time in Durham, Duke’s OL included Matt Skura, Cody Robinson, Lucas Patrick, Dave Harding, Takoby Cofield and Laken Tomlinson. Three of those guys made it to the NFL and Cofield played in the CFL. Not bad.

Luke took over as the head coach at Ole Miss in 2017. While he didn’t win a lot of games, he recruited well and Ole Miss’ young team lost a lot of close games this season. It seemed like he was building something special. It would have been nice to get him back in Durham to see if he could improve the OL.

As with Bentley, that isn’t going to happen. Luke took a job at Georgia as the assistant head coach/OL coach. He’ll stay in the SEC and our offense will continue to struggle.

What does all of this mean for next season? It means Duke will have an inexperienced quarterback. It also means that Cutcliffe will likely not make a staff overhaul. While there may not have been a real shot at getting Matt Luke to come back to Durham, it is a little concerning to see a good OL coach with ties to Cutcliffe not come back to the program. Perhaps Cutcliffe is looking to bring in someone else, but I doubt it. I just don’t see Cutcliffe making significant changes.

Anyone disagree? Anyone think that Cutcliffe is planning something big in regard to the staff? Let us know.

Biggest Needs for 2020

With the 2019 season over for the Blue Devils, let’s look ahead to the biggest areas of need for next season. Despite the 5-7 finish, Duke has a lot to look forward to in 2020.

The defensive line, anchored by the likes of Chris Rumph, Victor Dimukeje, Tahj Rice, Derrick Tangelo and Drew Jordan, should be strong. The secondary will continue to do well even with the departure of Dylan Singleton. And while Koby Quansah will hopefully be playing in the NFL next year, Shaka Heyward and Brandon Hill ought to be able to pick up the slack. Quansah jumped in for Ben Humphreys and Joe Giles-Harris and didn’t miss a beat. Let’s hope history repeats itself.

On the offensive side of the ball, the running back stable is loaded. Duke brings back Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant and hopefully a healthy Brittain Brown. Marvin Hubbard should also be back after sitting out this season recovering from an Achilles injury.

The wide receivers look good, too. While Scott Bracey is almost certainly gone, the Blue Devils will bring back Jalen Calhoun, Jake Bobo, Eli Pancol and Darrell Harding, Jr. And while he may not catch a lot of passes, expect Damon Philyaw-Johnson to give Duke good field position on kick (and hopefully punt) returns.

The real question is whether Duke will have someone to get the receivers the ball. And this brings us to the first need for next season — quarterback.

While Quentin Harris wasn’t particularly great at getting his receivers the ball, he at least brought certainty to the position — you knew who the quarterback was each week. Next season there will be a lot of uncertainty.

The Blue Devils return the following quarterbacks next year (designation for 2020 in parentheses): Chris Katrenick (R-Jr.); Gunnar Holmberg (R-So.); Gavin Spurrier (So.); Jack Colyar (So.); Robert Nelson (So.); and Daniel Karlin (Sr.). Of those, Katrenick and Holmberg are the likely candidates to get the starting nod.

Katrenick was the second-string quarterback this year, had Holmberg not torn his meniscus, Holmberg may have been in Katreinick’s spot and might also have taken Harris’ job. While some folks have raised concerns about his size, the buzz is that Holmberg can play.

But don’t go all in with Holmberg just yet. Duke has a recruit from California, Luca Daimont who can ball. If you haven’t seen any footage of him, go to YouTube or Hudl or wherever and enjoy. Daimont can throw deep, run fast and break ankles.

Given Duke’s fondness for an RPO scheme with QB runs, Diamont fits in great. The QB competition will be interesting. But neither has any experience to speak of (Holmberg has a few snaps from 2018) and not every first-time starter turns into Trevor Lawrence.

There has also been some chatter on social media, that South Carolina quarterback, Jake Bentley may consider transferring to Duke. Though that may be wishful thinking, if it did come to fruition, it would provide the Blue Devils with some experience in the quarterback mix. Bentley had a good career in Columbia. He threw for over 7,500 yards and 55 touchdowns. He’s also near the top of a lot of statistical categories. He’d be an excellent addition for 2020.

Until the quarterback situation works itself out, the Blue Devils will need to rely heavily on their kicking game if they want to win games, which brings us to our second need for 2020, a punter.

Coming into 2019, I liked Austin Parker, but always viewed him as a three-and-thirty guy (three second of hang time and 30 yards net). But he punted like Will Monday down the stretch this season. When he wasn’t running or trying to throw for a first down, he was snagging 70 plus yard punts. His end of season stats were pretty good — 45.7 yards per punt and a 41.1 net. That will flip the field and give your defense a chance to get stops.

His replacement will be Porter Wilson. He’s a three-star kid from Ohio and the buzz was pretty positive. I’m excited to see what he can do although I will miss Parker.

The field goal kicking situation is a little murky and is our third area of need – a kicker. AJ Reed entered the transfer portal and is probably gone. Reed had a really good year (15-18 FGs (some were missed due to snaps, holds and weather) and 34-34 XPs) including a 51-yard field goal. At times he was our best offensive weapon. Losing him could be disastrous. Remember what happened when Ross Martin left? Yeah, let’s not go there.

The Blue Devils do have a highly rated kicker waiting in the wings, Charlie Ham. He was a 3-star recruit and was ranked 11th nationally according to 247. I’ve seen him ranked 5th nationally elsewhere. Whatever ranking you choose, the consensus is that he’s good which means the odds are he will do well. That said, Reed was also highly touted but took a while to settle in. Let’s hope that Ham picks up where Reed left off (assuming Reed leaves).

And those are what I think are the biggest needs going into 2020 from a personnel perspective. We’ll have more on the coaching staff later.

While you wait for that, tell us what you think in the comments below. What are the biggest needs going into next season?

Season’s End: Comings and Goings

As the season quickly approaches its anticlimactic end, the preparation for next season is underway and that includes some notable departures for the Duke Blue Devils football program.

Aside from the seniors, the Blue Devils announced some unexpected, if not unsurprisingly early defections including wide receiver Scott Bracey and kicker AJ Reed.

They join four other early departures heading out of Durham following what is likely to be the season’s final game Saturday against Miami.

Bracey has battled injury most of his Duke career and finally broke out this season. Despite being healthy and reaping the benefits with greater targets, Bracey is on the way out likely to seek more opportunities with another program as a graduate transfer.

The bad news is Duke is losing a quality, and veteran receiver, which would come in handy with whichever first time starter the Devils opt to go with next season at quarterback. The good news is that despite the struggles of this season, Duke has a solid, young core group of receivers who have shown big play making ability.

Jake Bobo will return for his junior year and can be expected to be a go-to target for the Blue Devils. Bobo was sidelined to start the season but has shown glimpses of what the Duke coaching staff was hoping to see prior to suffering a broken clavicle.

Duke also will return Jalon Calhoun, Eli Pancol, Darrell Harding Jr., and Damond Philyaw-Johnson which should make for a formidable wide receiving core.

Bracey will be missed in Durham, but he hardly is leaving with the cupboard empty for whomever takes over at quarterback.

The departure of kicker AJ Reed, the comeback story of the year for the Blue Devils leaves a few more questions. After coming in with lots of expectations, Reed struggled through his freshman season and went nearly two years before making another field goal.

His reemergence this season stabilized the Duke kicking game which had become a liability since Ross Martin graduated. Duke now must replace Reed, presumably with Jack Driggars who has handled kickoff duties this season.

If Driggars can’t get the job done, then Duke’s kicking game will fall back into limbo.

Duke has plenty of time in the off season with no bowl to prepare for these things, and given the frustrations of this season perhaps some time away will re-energize a program that has suddenly found itself with more questions than answers after several years of steady progress.

Notes: Besides Bracey and Reed the early departures include: Safeties Javon Jackson, Damani Neal, and Antone Williams as well as lineman Liam Smith.