Duke hopes that WR Drae Bowles will become a program-changer, on and off the field
Under Head Coach David Cutcliffe, the Blue Devil offense has featured some of the best receivers in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the country. This fall, Duke fans hope to watch All-ACC candidates Donovan Varner and Conner Vernon help lead the Blue Devils to a bowl game. With the impending graduation of senior Donovan Varner, however, Duke is looking for an elite wide receiver in the class of 2012, and are in the mix for a top prospect from the state of Tennessee. Drae Bowles is a 6’1” 200 pound receiver prospect from Jackson Christian HS. After an impressive junior season that included 14 touchdown catches on offense and an All-State selection at linebacker, Bowles has received countless accolades from coaches and scouts alike. With over 20 scholarship offers, the top wide receiver will have his pick of schools, and the Blue Devils hope he chooses to become an impact player for their program.
BDN: Can you start off by describing your strengths for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?
Definitely my hands, coaches tell me I have great hands as a physical receiver.
BDN: What are some of the things you have been working on this summer?
Just working on getting better at all aspects of the game of football.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
The most important things is a place that feels like home. A place where I have a good relationship with the coaches and I feel comfortable. And also a place where I feel like I can contribute early. Those are probably the most important things for me.
BDN: Which schools have been recruiting you the hardest, or have you had the most contact with?
Well I don’t have any favorites right now, but probably Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Duke, Ole Miss, and Maryland are recruiting me the hardest right now.
BDN: You mentioned the importance of your relationship with the coaching staff; which coaches do you feel like you have a strong relationship with so far?
Which coaches…probably the schools I mentioned. I have a good relationship with a lot of the coaches right now.
BDN: Do you have any plans for visits this summer?
I’m planning to take at least three visits in July, but I haven’t been able to visit any schools this month.
BDN: You mentioned Duke as one of the schools that is recruiting you the hardest; can you talk a little bit about what you like about Duke?
Well Duke is definitely a school I am considering. It obviously is a great school academically and that appeals to me, but I also like their coaches. Coach Cutcliffe seems like a real honest, genuine man and I also really like Coach Loebner and Coach Lubick. I really like their coaches.
BDN: Do you think that Duke is a place where you could contribute early in their offense?
Definitely.
BDN: Do you have an idea for how you would like to narrow things down and make your decision?
I really haven’t thought about it yet, I don’t know, I’m just going to take it one at a time.
TE Dan Beilinson hopes to make his decision soon between three finalists
With the impending graduation of Cooper Helfet and Danny Parker, Duke will be looking to reload at the tight end position in the class of 2012. After an early verbal commitment from Florida prospect Erich Schneider, the Blue Devils have remained focused on a local prospect to fill their remaining spot at tight end. Dan Beilinson is a 6’5” 220 pound tight end from Cary, North Carolina. As a junior, Beilinson caught 37 passes for over 500 yards, helping Panther Creek HS to a conference title and the state regional playoffs. One of the top tight end prospects in the state, his performance earned him 1st Team Tri-Nine All-Conference, among many other accolades. Highlights from Dan’s junior year can be viewed here. With eight scholarship offers in hand and interest from several other schools, Beilinson has narrowed his college choices to three finalists. [private]
BDN: Where are you in your recruiting process?
I’d say I’ve basically narrowed the schools down basically to NC State, Duke, and Wake Forest, and I’m just trying to figure out which of those schools is the best fit for me. I’m not really looking at this point for anything else, I’m just trying to decide between those three schools.
BDN: Have you had a chance to visit your finalists recently?
Yes, last weekend I actually visited all three of them.
BDN: You’ve obviously had a chance to visit these schools a few times now; what are the specific things you have been evaluating on your more recent visits?
I’m just trying to see the best relationship with a coach that I can establish, how they coach and how that relates to me. Just try to see what they’re doing and just try to evaluate based on that.
BDN: It sounds like the relationship you are developing with the coaches is important; which coaches are you closest with?
At NC State, Coach Archer would be the recruiter for my area so I’ve got to know him pretty well. And then the former tight end coach, Coach Bridge, I know him very well and I’m establishing with the new tight end coach, Coach Horton, so I’m developing a relationship there. At Duke, mainly I know Coach Middleton and Coach Cutcliffe very well, and some of the other coaches I’ve established contact with. And then at Wake Forest, Coach Russ and Coach Tereshinski have been the two main people that I’ve talked to.
BDN: What stood out to you about each of your three finalists?
They’re all very good educational schools. If I choose to got to [NC] State or Duke, I’d probably do engineering and then if I go to Wake Forest, I’d probably do more of a science field. So in all aspects the education is really good and that’s really appealing to me. And then in football, all the programs are either rising or already good, so that adds more to the effect.
BDN: When do you expect to make your final decision?
I hope, in my head it just kind of happens, but it could be soon, or it could go past the season, I really don’t know, but it might be soon, I’m not sure.
DL Carlos Wray is the 6th verbal commitment in the class of 2012
Is it Friday already? Time flies when you’re knee deep in recruiting season. As we did last week, we’ll share Football Friday with everyone this week. If you like reading what we have to say, please consider joining BDN Premium. We’ve quickly become the best resource for all things Duke athletics around, and we’d love to have you join our community.
College football preview season
We mentioned last week that college football previews are in full swing as magazines hit newsstands and websites begin publishing their own predictions. While Duke is flying under the radar for most prognosticators in 2011, several Blue Devil players have garnered pre-season accolades. Will Snyderwine and Conner Vernon were named as preseason 1st Team All-ACC, while Matt Daniels, Cooper Helfet, Kyle Hill, Sean Renfree, and Donovan Varner were tabbed on the 3rd Team by Athlon Sports. I would caution those who are sleeping on Renfree and Varner in 2011; both have taken huge steps forward this offseason and are poised to lead the Blue Devils to a bowl this fall.
Chris Tavarez featured
Duke’s freshman safety has already made a name for himself in the acting world, and will star in a new NBC movie, “Field of Vision.” The Blue Devils are looking forward to Tavarez’s arrival on campus later this month.
Busy week
It’s been rapid fire at BDN this week, kicking off with the Blue Devils’ 6th verbal commitment in the class of 2012. Carlos Wray joins Allen Jackson as future Duke defensive linemen under new Coach Rick Petri. Wray and Jackson are both athletic prospects who will be fun to watch in Wallace Wade Stadium in the years to come.
With camp season in full swing, BDN checked in with several new Blue Devil prospects to learn more about where they are in their recruiting process, and learned that Duke has made a significant impression on many of them. Some of the new interviews we featured this week included:
If you’ve followed Duke football recruiting in recent years, you know we are just getting started here in early June. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Recruiting rewind
Most Duke fans are conditioned to expect recruiting success due to Coach K’s historic run in Durham. In football recruiting, you win some and you lose some. At BDN, we believe it’s more important to focus on the recruiting victories and keep things in perspective. Here’s a quick recap of some of Duke’s biggest recruiting coups in the last two classes alone.
Class of 2010
LB Kelby Brown
Duke fans didn’t know how good of a player they were getting when Brown committed to the Blue Devils in July 2009. The coaching staff was able to secure Kelby’s commitment over nine other scholarship offers from programs like Arkansas, Boston College, Louisville, Northwestern, UCLA, and Wisconsin. After knee surgery cut his freshman year short in 2010, Duke fans are expecting Brown to lead the Blue Devil defense in 2011 and beyond.
QB Brandon Connette
With Sean Renfree entrenched as the heir to Thad Lewis, it was easy to overlook the commitment from Connette, which the Blue Devils received early in the recruiting season, in May 2009. The Duke staff was able to beat out in-state power Stanford for Connette, who came in and led the Blue Devils with 8 rushing touchdowns as a freshman, a new school record.
RB Juwan Thompson
The Duke coaching staff went down to Georgia in the spring of 2009 and stole a pretty good running back prospect from the Peach State. Thompson committed to Duke in June 2009 over offers from Minnesota, Ole Miss, Stanford, UVA, and Wake Forest. After finishing in the ACC’s top 10 in kickoff returns as a freshman, the Blue Devils expect Thompson to see an increased workload in 2011.
RB Josh Snead
After landing 4-star prospect Desmond Scott in 2009, the Duke staff continued their impressive in-state recruiting, adding the speedy Snead to the class of 2010 in December 2009. Snead chose the Blue Devils over Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, and Vanderbilt. Along with Scott and Thompson, Snead is expected to be a key playmaker in the 2011 Blue Devil backfield.
Kyler and Kelby Brown are two of the Blue Devils' biggest recent recruiting successes
Class of 2011
OL Cody Robinson
The Duke coaching staff landed four impressive prospects from the state of Tennessee in the class of 2011, led by the 300-pound Robinson. Cody chose the Blue Devils over 8 other scholarship offers and is expected to anchor the Duke offensive line for years to come.
OL Marcus Aprahamian
Coach Luke and the Blue Devils went into the Midwest and secured a commitment from the top offensive line prospect in the state of Wisconsin in May 2010. Aprahamian, who called Duke his “dream school,” is expected to join fellow 300-pounder Robinson and anchor the Blue Devil offensive line.
LB David Helton
Another good-looking Tennessee prospect, Helton chose Duke over 7 other scholarship offers, including ACC rival Georgia Tech. Helton is a player many think could contribute as a true freshman in 2011.
CB Jared Boyd, CB Tim Burton, S Chris Tavarez
Duke fans are going to love watching this trio of defensive backs develop in Wallace Wade Stadium. The three bring a distinct swagger to Durham, and they all know how to make plays. Boyd, who hails from Georgia powerhouse Stephenson High School, chose Duke over 14 other scholarship offers, including programs like Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Stanford, and Vanderbilt. Burton brings the reputation of a big-time speedster and trash-talker from the talent-rich state of Florida, where he chose Duke over 7 other offers, including Big Ten power Wisconsin. Tavarez may be best known for his career as an actor so far, but he plans to make a name for himself on the gridiron at Duke, which he chose over 6 other offers, which included Maryland and Vanderbilt.
DE/LB Kyler Brown, ATH Jamison Crowder
Do you remember where you were on February 9, 2011? What about March 13, 2011? Of course, you were watching the Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels on the hardwood. What a great feeling for a Duke fan! So why don’t you remember July 20, 2010? Or February 1, 2011? Duke beat the Tar Heels on those days as well, landing commitments from Jamison Crowder and Kyler Brown. With Crowder’s athleticism and Brown’s family lineage, Blue Devil fans should know to expect both to find a way to make an impact this fall.
You could certainly add more to this list – TE David Reeves, who signed with Duke after a late push by SEC power Auburn; WR Blair Holliday, who chose Duke over hometown UCLA; big DL Sam Marshall, who chose Duke over ACC rivals NC State and Virginia; Will Monday, the top ranked punter in the class; and several others. For a program whose last bowl game was over 15 years ago, the Blue Devil coaching staff is doing an impressive job on the recruiting trail. If recruiting success is any indicator, Duke fans should expect to see results on the field sooner rather than later.
Keep up with all things Duke athletics here at BDN. As always, thanks for reading. Until next week, WE ARE DUKE.
Under new defensive line coach Rick Petri, the Blue Devils have targeted some of the top defensive line prospects in the class of 2012. One of the first linemen to visit Durham and pick up a verbal scholarship offer was Korren Kirven, a 6’5” 275 pound prospect from Lynchburg, Virginia. The recently-named ESPNU150 defensive tackle is now up to over 20 scholarship offers from many of the top programs in the ACC and SEC. Kirven visited Durham again for the Nike camp on May 23 and came away with All-Camp Team honors. When BDN last spoke with Kirven, he had come away impressed with the Duke program: “Duke – their whole academic thing down there is really good…it was a good visit.” With his recruitment picking up, Korren checked back in with BDN to update his summer plans.
BDN: How has your spring been going?
We had 7-on-7 stuff, that’s almost over. We have one more event, that’s at UVA and we’re going to be traveling up there to play. That’s it with spring ball, but we’re going to be starting weight lifting, our weight-lifting program on Monday.
BDN: How has your 7-on-7 season gone?
We’ve been doing good, I think we only lost one time. Other than that, I think we’ve been pretty good.
BDN: What schools have you visited this spring?
I’m going down to UNC soon. The schools that I’ve visited, though, have been Virginia Tech, Duke, Tennessee, and Virginia. I think that’s about it, but I’m going to be doing a lot of traveling this summer.
BDN: Which coaches have had a chance to stop by to see you this spring?
Virginia Tech’s coaches, UVA, Notre Dame, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Marshall, Colorado, Texas Tech, UCF, it’s quite a few of them. There’s a lot of them, I can’t really name all of them right now, but it was quite a few of them.
BDN: Which schools have you been in contact with the most so far?
My Virginia schools I always stay in contact with, but other than that, Alabama, Tennessee, Duke, Rutgers, Stanford, Notre Dame, Colorado, and Florida have been the schools that I’ve stayed in touch with, and Maryland.
BDN: You mentioned taking a lot of visits this summer, which schools are you definitely planning to visit?
Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Stanford, Tennessee, Colorado, and possibly Oregon.
BDN: Obviously you’ve got a lot of great choices in front of you, how you do plan to start to narrow things down at this point?
Yeah, I’m going to take all my visits and slowly narrow down my list and go from there. I’ll take all my officials and then I guess I’ll have a school.
BDN: That sounds like a long way off right now, doesn’t it?
[Laughs] Yeah, yeah.
BDN: Which schools do you feel like you have the best relationship with right now?
Always the Virginia schools stand out, but like I said, Florida and Alabama, and Tennessee.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Korren, and best of luck to you.
Charlotte OL Casey Blaser has offers from Ball State, Duke, ECU, and Marshall
With camp season in full swing, recruiting has picked up quickly, and Duke has extended offers to a number of top offensive linemen across the country, and BDN is profiling some of the top 2012 offensive line prospects on Duke’s radar. In-state recruiting has been revitalized under Head Coach David Cutcliffe, and the Blue Devils have targeted an in-state offensive lineman with a recent offer. Casey Blaser is a 6’5” 261 pound offensive line prospect from Charlotte. The Blue Devils are the first ACC school to offer the hard-working lineman, who also has offers from ECU, Ball State and Marshall.
BDN: Can you start off by describing your strengths for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?
In the offense we run, we do a lot of run-blocking, so I think I’m a good run-blocker. I have long arms, so that works. My footwork is ok, my technique is ok, they need to be improved.
BDN: What are some of the things you have been working on this spring?
Been working on my speed and my strength, and my footwork also, those have been the three main things.
BDN: What are your goals for your senior year?
For myself, just to play the best I can play and get the scholarship offer from the school I want to go to. And for the team, hopefully win a conference and state championship.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
I want to have a college where I feel comfortable, where I feel like I’m at home pretty much, where the coaches are like second fathers. It’s got to have good academics and just a good vibe about it.
BDN: Which schools have you had the most contact with this spring?
Well I’ve been talking to South Carolina, ECU, Ball State, Marshall, Illinois. Those are the teams out of the ACC. The ACC schools have been UNC, Duke, NC State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Clemson.
BDN: Have you had a chance to take any visits yet?
I visited Clemson, UNC, NC State, Duke, Ball State, Illinois, I was at ECU today, and I’m planning on visiting South Carolina next week and then Georgia Tech later this summer and Virginia Tech later this summer too.
BDN: Have any schools stood out to you at this point in the process, either from your visits or your relationships with the coaches?
I like most of the colleges, most of the colleges have good coaching staffs. I have to say of the ones I’ve visited, my favorite ones have been UNC, I really liked UNC today, and then I also liked Duke. Those have probably been my three favorite coaching staffs that I’ve gotten to visit personally.
BDN: Do you have an idea for how you would like to narrow things down and make your decision?
I plan on making a decision in August before the season starts, but I’m not really sure which school right now.
BDN: Is there anything else that you think is important for college football fans to know about you?
I have offers from ECU, Duke, Marshall, and Ball State.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Casey, and best of luck to you.
Pinecrest OL Bryce Kennedy is looking for a school with good academics
Many consider the strength of Duke’s last recruiting class to be the offensive line, led by Cody Robinson, Marcus Aprahamian, Lucas Patrick, and Matt Skura. Coach Luke and the staff would love to add a few more impact linemen to the roster in the class of 2012, but it’s been a slow start at the position so far. With camp season in full swing, recruiting has picked up quickly, and Duke has extended offers to a number of top offensive linemen across the country, and some close to Durham. One of the top linemen in the state of North Carolina resides in Southern Pines, and 6'3" 285 pound prospect Bryce Kennedy added a Blue Devil offer to his list a few weeks ago.
BDN: Can you start off by describing your strengths for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?
My biggest thing is I’m fast for my size, I get off the ball pretty quick, so I think that’s my biggest strength.
BDN: What are some of the things you have been working on this spring?
Trying to get stronger, I’m in the weight room a lot, doing a lot of weights. I’ve started the speed process, I’m doing less weights, a lot of reps, trying to get faster for the season.
BDN: What are your goals for your senior year?
My senior year I plan on giving my all, making plays, helping my team out, and I hope my team takes after me and gives it their all.
BDN: As you look at your college decision, what are the most important factors you are looking for in a school?
Main thing I’m looking for is if they have a good program in academics. I’m big on academics and my mom is too, so I know she’s going to want me to go to a school that’s big on academics.
BDN: Is there a particular academic program you’re interested in studying?
Not right now, I’m still looking around, but I mean schools like Duke and [North] Carolina, top academic schools.
BDN: What schools have you been in contact with the most?
South Carolina, East Carolina, NC State has been by. Clemson has been by, North Carolina by, and Duke has been by. I think that’s been about it. Wake Forest has been by. The schools I’ve been to already has been South Carolina, Duke, and North Carolina and I’m going to NC State this weekend or next weekend. Oh yeah, Stanford came by, too.
BDN: That was going to be my next question. How did your visits go to South Carolina, Duke, and North Carolina?
They’re all great, they’re all great schools. From what I saw, they’re all just great schools and would be great places to go to school.
BDN: Do you have any visits planned for this summer other than NC State?
I plan on going to Stanford this summer and Wake Forest and probably East Carolina. I’ll probably go back to South Carolina, Duke, and UNC too.
BDN: Have any schools stood out to you at this point in the process, either from your visits or your relationships with the coaches?
They’re all new to me, so they’ve all really, really, really surprised me. South Carolina, I know the coaches a lot, I know the OLine coach since I’ve been a freshman he’s been there and what type of guy he is. I like Duke and [North] Carolina a lot because of the campuses and I know how the academics are. I’ve talked to the coaches a lot and they seem like good coaches to have, like they’d be there for me and everything.
BDN: Do you have an idea for how you would like to narrow things down and make your decision?
Yeah, I’m going to talk to my parents about and see what schools are at the top.
BDN: Is there anything else you think is important for college football fans to know about you?
The only thing that’s really important to me is that I’m going to give my all on every play, I’m going to be there to support my team, and I’m a player that they can count on.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Bryce, and best of luck to you.
You must be logged in to post a comment.