Duke was one of the first schools to offer top RB Keith Marshall
Raleigh’s Keith Marshall is widely regarded as the top running back in the class of 2012. At 5’11” and 180 pounds, Marshall has impressed coaches and scouts with his electrifying speed and quickness. Highlights of Keith’s junior year can be viewed here. After his impressive junior season at Millbrook High School, Marshall holds verbal scholarship offers from nearly every major college football program. Duke and North Carolina were two of the first schools to offer the elite running back, and he remains wide open at this stage in the process.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for someone who hasn’t had a chance to see you play?
My biggest strength are my speed, acceleration, and vision. I’m working on getting bigger and stronger so I will be effective between the tackles at the next level.
BDN: What are some of the goals you have for yourself and your team this fall?
My biggest goal is just to get better and it’s the same for my team.
BDN: As you approach your college decision in general, what are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
The relationship the players have with each other and with the coaches. I also look at the academic program.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you? What schools have you heard from the most often?
I’ve heard from probably over 50 schools. The first schools to offer me were UNC, Duke, and Georgia. I hear from a lot of different schools on a regular basis so I can’t say who I hear from the most.
BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far? Were there any schools you came away particularly impressed with?
I've visited UNC, UGA, Clemson, South Carolina, NC State, Duke, Florida, and Alabama. I was impressed with all of them.
BDN: Do you have any plans for other visits this spring or summer?
I’m not sure yet but I know we'll be taking a lot of trips this spring and summer.
BDN: It’s still very early in the process, but ideally, when would you like to make your college decision?
I'll make my decision whenever I’m sold on a school and I know that’s definitely where I want to go.
BDN: Is there anything else you think is important for ACC football fans to know about you?
I have a 4.25 GPA and the fastest I’ve been timed at in the 40 is 4.25.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Keith, and best of luck to you.
Duke was the first to offer Tarboro RB Todd Gurley
Led by elite running back Todd Gurley, Tarboro High School successfully defended their 2009 State Championship and finished 16-0 in 2010. Gurley, a 6’1” 195 pound athlete, finished the season with 30 touchdowns and was named to the 2A All-State team. Highlights of his junior year can be viewed here. Thus far in his recruitment, Gurley has focused on schools close to home, but he is certain to attract national attention at camps this summer. Duke is looking to add an elite running back in the class of 2012 and was the first school to offer Gurley a scholarship. Todd visited Wallace Wade Stadium last fall and was in Cameron Indoor Stadium last week for the Duke vs. North Carolina men’s basketball game.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?
My power, and I’m just aggressive. My weaknesses would probably be – I don’t really know, to tell you the truth, my weaknesses. I haven’t really pointed it out.
BDN: What are some of the things you’ve been working on this offseason?
Put more weight on my body, like I need to become a little bit more of a bigger back, and just use my vision more.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
You know, tradition, not too far from home, and just the community, the city, and the school. Just, you know, I have to feel like I’m at home, but I’m not home. Just the coaches and everything.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you?
Duke was like, Duke was the first. NC State, then UNC and ECU. I’ve visited Duke once.
BDN: How was your visit to Duke?
It was good, I went for the Duke versus Miami game, to go see them play against Miami.
BDN: Growing up in North Carolina, is there a school that you’ve grown up following?
[Pause] NC State.
BDN: Do you have any plans for other visits this spring or summer?
Yes, I have plans to visit NC State, Duke, ECU, go to camps there, go to camps at every one of those, and at Clemson too, I have a coach who’s starting to recruit me from there, too.
BDN: Is there anything else that you think is important for college football fans to know about you?
I am a very versatile player, I also play both sides of the ball. Not just running back, I can play safety, and I am just a very competitive athlete.
DL Carlos Wray says that Duke has stood out to him early.
Football Friday is back for its second week and BDN’s Patrick Cacchio offers up a brief introduction to Duke Football recruiting. Join Blue Devil Nation Premium today to get an inside look at Duke athletics and become a part of our growing community. [private]
We did it! We all survived another week and we’re back for our second installment of Football Friday. Somehow, enough of you read this column last week that they're letting me write it again. It’s all thanks to you, our members, with your emails, your PMs, your tweets, and your Facebooking. And as a big thank you to you, we’ll give you what you want this week – recruiting updates.
Kudos and other random thoughts
I figure I’ll get the simple stuff out of the way first each week. Duke had 13 players named to the ACC All-Academic team, more than twice any other ACC school. In fact, add together any other two ACC schools and you’re still not even close. Virginia and North Carolina? 5 players combined. The 2 Techs? 9 players combined. The Duke players who were recognized are some of the team’s stars on the field - almost all of them are starters. Obviously, having the smartest players doesn’t translate into wins on the field, but academic excellence is an important part of Duke culture, and it’s great to see that as Duke football becomes more competitive, we’re not forgetting our roots (cough, tarheels, cough). Congratulations to all of the well-deserving student-athletes.
I feel obligated to get on my soapbox for a minute and talk about what happened at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn. It’s a great reminder for all of us that our individual actions (and tweets/Facebook posts) reflect on our fan base as a whole. A proud tradition at Auburn has been forever tarnished by one severely misguided Crimson Tide fan. The bottom line is that all of us as fans need to do a better job of cheering for our own team and respecting our opponents, as difficult as that can sometimes be.
Football recruiting 101
For those who have heard Coach Cutcliffe and his staff talk about recruiting, much of the rest of this article may be review, but bear with us, there are big names at the end.
I’m going to go out on a ledge here and assume that if you’re a BDN member, you follow Duke basketball recruiting pretty closely. And why wouldn’t you? All you have to do is find a ranking of the top 25 or so prospects in a given class, read one of Mark’s magnificent basketball updates (or should it be magnificent Mark’s basketball updates?), check out highlights on YouTube, and you’re pretty much a Duke basketball recruiting insider, right? That doesn’t work so well for football. ESPN lists over 15,000 prospects in the class of 2011, and already has about 10,000 prospects in the class of 2012. Unfortunately, Duke cannot just target the top 25 or so from the rankings, since they have to fill out a roster with 85 scholarships. So somehow, we have to sort through all of those football prospects to find our future Blue Devils. I should have asked for more cell phone minutes for Christmas.
Luckily, the list gets broken down several ways. First, each member of the Duke coaching staff serves as the recruiting coordinator for a geographic area. For example, as you might expect, Matt Lubick is the lead recruiter for most of the west coast. Then, within a region, there are only a certain number of FBS-caliber athletes, which can be determined by evaluating game film and transcripts (or paying for a scouting service). At Duke, the next step is probably the most restrictive, and that’s whether or not the student will qualify academically for admission to Duke. The staff will then focus their recruiting efforts on this remaining group of core prospects. Obviously, hundreds of hours of work go into the evaluation process alone, but luckily for us, we don’t have to really start following all of this until Duke starts recruiting a prospect to see if there's a mutual interest. I won't be needing those cell phone minutes after all!
A word on in-state recruiting
Duke was the first to offer Tarboro RB Todd Gurley
Ok, a couple hundred words. A common misconception/criticism seems to be that Coach Cutcliffe and his staff are almost exclusively focusing their recruiting efforts on North Carolina prospects and failing to “leverage the Duke brand” at a national level. This is simply not true, and the numbers prove it. Duke’s current roster has about two dozen players from North Carolina, which is by far the least among the 4 North Carolina ACC schools. The Duke staff has placed an emphasis on in-state recruiting, but it’s by no means exclusive.
There are two primary benefits to Duke’s emphasis on North Carolina and surrounding areas. First, prospects within driving distance of Durham are the easiest to get on campus for unofficial visits, which allow prospects to build relationships with the coaching staff and grow comfortable with the Duke campus. The Duke staff places a lot of stock in the ability to get to know a player at a personal level, and the best way to do that is to have as much face-to-face contact as the NCAA allows. Second, it’s important to a lot of players and their parents that they go to school close to home. This may be more significant for athletes than the average college student, as it is usually important for the player’s family to be able to watch him play on Saturdays. Most college football rosters are made up of a significant number of in-state recruits, and this probably has a lot to do with it.
Breaking down the 2012 board
The Duke staff maintains a recruiting board of a few hundred prospects. Each prospect is evaluated individually by the entire coaching staff and a collective decision is made whether to offer that prospect a scholarship or to evaluate again at a later time in the recruiting cycle. For the class of 2012, there are already well over 100 prospects on Duke’s board, and roughly a third of them have received verbal scholarship offers to date. In addition to the board, there are several hundred other prospects that Duke will invite for unofficial visits to Junior Days, summer camps, and games during the fall as part of their ongoing evaluation process. Keep in mind that just by taking a quick look at Duke’s current roster, it’s easy to see that there won’t be many scholarships available in 2012 (think 15, give or take a few).
So how does the board breakdown? Since I mentioned the in-state emphasis, let’s start there. Duke is currently evaluating or has offered about 30 players from North Carolina, and roughly another 30 players from neighboring states. There are also over a dozen prospects from Florida and Ohio, and another dozen from California and Colorado as well.
Position-wise, Duke has clear needs at QB, RB, and DL in 2012. As such, there are 18 quarterbacks already on the board, 10 running backs (4 with offers), and 16 defensive linemen (8 with offers). The offensive line is a position that is best built by signing a few prospects in each class, and Coach Matt Luke has done a great job getting in early with top prospects. Duke has already offered 10 offensive linemen, all of whom are highly-coveted by programs around the country. Obviously, there are a handful of players that have been offered at other positions, but for now, we’ll just focus on the key areas of need.
Bilal Marshall is the first 2012 QB with a Duke offer
Top targets
QB: Right now, Bilal Marshall is the only quarterback with a Duke offer. Coach Cutcliffe, known as a QB guru for his work with the Mannings, tends to keep his quarterback recruiting close to the vest, but we know that most of the top high school quarterbacks in the country are on his list (Gunner Kiel, Zeke Pike, Bart Houston, Casey Cochran). Even though Marshall seems to be at the top for now, we know that Duke has also been involved with Ian Fisher from Maryland, and that Bart Houston will visit this weekend. Several other top quarterbacks are giving Duke a serious look and it seems safe to say at this point that Duke has a good chance of landing an elite quarterback in this class, though it's too early to say which one.
RB: Keith Marshall is a perfect example of why it’s important for Duke to build its relationships and reputation in-state. Many consider the speedy prospect out of Raleigh’s Millbrook High School to be the top running back in the class of 2012, and Duke was among the first to offer him. It’s too early to tell where his recruitment will go, but he’ll have his pick of schools from around the country and Duke remains in the mix. Another top in-state RB is Todd Gurley, who took in Duke’s win over North Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium last week. At this stage in the process, Duke is in good shape with Gurley and will be a major player in his recruitment.
DL: Vince Oghobaase was probably the last elite defensive line prospect to commit to Duke, but early indications are that Duke will land one in 2012. Early on, Duke is in good shape with Carlos Wray, D.J. Reader, Matt Godin, and Allen Jackson. All four look to be solid 4- or 5-star caliber prospects and have all made visits to Durham and came away impressed.
LB: This is another area of need and Duke is in good shape early with two top prospects in Preston Durham and Keilin Rayner.
2011 preview next week
In case you didn’t know, Duke’s schedule was released this week, spring practice kicked off Wednesday, and Duke hosts its second Junior Day this weekend. Oops, probably should have written about those this week, but I had to give you guys what you wanted. I guess we’ll tackle those issues next week. Again, I have to give you a reason to keep coming back (as if my wit and charm aren't enough). Best of luck making it through another week. Until then, WE ARE DUKE.
California QB Bart Houston will visit Duke this weekend
Bart Houston is a 6’4” 201 pound quarterback from Concord, California. As a sophomore starter for perennial powerhouse De La Salle, Houston led the team to a 11-0 record, an 18th straight CIF-NCS title and the CIF State Open Division Title. His sophomore performance was eclipsed by his junior campaign, during which Houston led De La Salle to a perfect 14-0 record and #4 national ranking, completing 66% of his passes for 20 touchdowns with just 4 interceptions. He added 11 touchdowns on the ground while also handling some of the punting duties. Highlights from his junior season can be viewed here.
Colleges have been watching Houston closely the past two years and most scouts have him near the top of their national QB prospect rankings. At this point, Houston is just getting started with his recruiting process and will fly to Durham this weekend for his first unofficial visit to Duke.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?
My strength, I have to say, is accuracy. I completed 66% of my passes in the season, and in the post-season I completed 77%. So accuracy and quick decision making, I think those would be my strengths. My weaknesses, I’d have to say, is getting quicker and faster, I’m living with the jump rope.
BDN: Being a quarterback, is there a particular player in the NFL or in college that you compare yourself to or have studied closely?
Well, this is a throwback, but I try to model myself after Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr, so kind of a throwback there. But current ones, I’d have to say Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.
BDN: Congratulations on your undefeated championship season last year. What are your goals for your team and for yourself individually in your senior season?
My goals for senior year, well nothing less than last year. Win state, and if national championship comes along, then that’d be cool too.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
I’m looking at outstanding academics and a big football tradition, basically.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you?
Just in general, I haven’t gotten any offers yet, but Duke, Oregon State, Miami, Wisconsin, UCLA, Penn, Cornell, - those are the big names that I’m hearing from. It’s a pretty diverse group.
BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far? What schools do you definitely plan on visiting later this year?
I have not, but next weekend I’m taking an unofficial visit to Duke. I will be visiting other people, but I have not scheduled them yet.
BDN: In your contact with college coaches, have any schools stood out to you at this point in the process?
Well, we have friendly conversations, but I haven’t talked to anybody long enough to have a longstanding relationship yet, so we’ll see probably by later in the summer.
BDN: Is there anything else that you think is important for college football fans to know about you?
Okay, there’s one thing. I’m big on the team part of football, and not much of the individual part. It’s more of football a team sport, and it’s not all about me. It’s about everyone else. So you won’t be seeing me playing the hat game on signing day, I just want to make a decision and go. I don’t want to bring much attention to myself.
Oliver Lumpkin likes Penn State and Ohio State early
Oliver Lumpkin is a 6’4” 280 pound offensive line prospect from Bowie, Maryland. After his standout junior campaign, Oliver was named 2nd Team All-Conference and has received interest from several top college football programs on the east coast. Penn State and Ohio State are his early favorites, but he’s also interested in visiting Duke and North Carolina.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for someone who hasn’t had a chance to see you play?
Well, sir, I play hard and fast. I’m more of a technician, I’m a very good technician. I’m very good at pass blocking. I have adequate feet, I feel that it could be better. I have a lot of power in my stance and I can explode out of it very quickly.
BDN: What are some of the things you are focusing on this offseason as you head into the fall?
Well what I’m working on this offseason is quicker feet, sir. Quicker feet and power, so I can get off the line faster.
BDN: What are your goals for you team and yourself individually for the fall?
My goals for this fall, is after this season, is to make All-American, the US Army All-American Bowl, and possibly the Chesapeake Bowl, and of course the playoffs.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
The important factors that I’m looking for in a school have to be the education and the football team. I need to have a good relationship with the coach, I need him to accept me as a person, not just a player with a number on the jersey on his back.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you?
I’ve been in contact with North Carolina, Duke, Wisconsin, Penn State, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. Those are the schools that have contacted me and I have contacted them as well. And Alabama.
BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far? What schools do you definitely plan on visiting later this year?
I was supposed to visit Duke a couple weeks ago but I wasn’t able to. North Carolina wants me to come down to one of their spring practices and Penn State wants me to come down as well.
BDN: Have any school stood out to you so far in the process?
The main schools that I’m trying to attend, or I’m thinking about attending are Ohio State and Penn State, somewhere close to home, but yes, I’m considering all those schools.
BDN: It’s still very early in the process, but ideally, when would you like to make your college decision?
I’ll kind of wait until I see my options because I don’t want to make the wrong decision. This decision basically proves about the rest of my life, what I’m going to be education and who I’m going to be educated by, coaching and academic wise.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Oliver and best of luck to you.
Junior Patrick DeStefano was named 2nd Team All-State
Patrick DeStefano is a 6’6” 280 pound offensive line prospect from Roebuck, South Carolina. In his junior season, he helped Dorman to the state championship game and later received several accolades, including 2nd Team All-State. Widely regarded as one of the top offensive line prospects in the state, Patrick has already received verbal scholarship offers from an impressive group of college programs, and Duke was among the first. Highlights of Patrick’s sophomore season can be viewed here.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for someone who hasn’t had a chance to see you play?
I’d say for me personally, the biggest strength is my versatility. In Dorman’s system I play regularly on a gamely basis, tackle, guard, center, tight end, fullback, defensive tackle, defensive end, and nose guard. But just as an offensive lineman, I’ve been told I have natural knee bend, I play with a straight back and I have really nice hips, and I can get up to the second level good.
BDN: What are some of the things you’ve been working on this offseason?
I mean, this is my last offseason before I actually get with the big boys, so every aspect of my game I need to improve. Bigger, faster, stronger, you know, you can never have enough of those. I know that I’m miles away from where I need to be to be a Divison I recruit, so I’m just trying to work as hard as I can. To be specific, it’s hard to single out just one piece of my game, but I guess I would say the biggest thing would be working on technique, just better technique.
BDN: I know you had a great year last season. What are your goals for you team and yourself individually for the fall?
We lost the state game to our arch rivals, the Byrnes Rebels. That just gets me going. No offense to them, but I can’t stand Byrnes. I hate them, and they hate me too, so it’s a mutual feeling. My biggest thing is I want to beat them in State. I understand they’re great rivals, they’re great competitors, it’s going to be a hard competition, but that’s my goal and our team’s goal, hopefully. But just for me personally, just every day trying to get better.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
The biggest thing I’m looking for in a school is how comfortable am I with that school. When I step foot on that campus, do I want to be there? Because I’m potentially going to be spending the next four or five years of my life there, so that’s definitely a big thing. The next thing I’m looking for is the academics of the school, because something my dad always drove into me as a little kid, he said that God many one day see it fit to take away your athletics, but he will never take away your academics.
BDN: Is there a particular field or program that you’re interested in academically?
No, I thought so, but not really. I’m 17, life changes, I’m just a growing kid.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you?
Duke was one of the first schools to offer Patrick DeStefano
As far as the first schools, I had three offers come in on the same day in the spring, it was a great day, it was a blessing. Clemson, Duke, and South Carolina all came in on the same day. But as far as the total rap sheet, those three plus North Carolina, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Arkansas, Northwestern, Stanford, and I think that may be. I may be forgetting one somewhere in there. I know it’s at 11 or 12, I’m sorry. I know that sounds arrogant, but it starts to blend together, I hope that doesn’t come across as cocky.
BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far? What schools do you definitely plan on visiting later this year?
My visits haven’t really started up yet. So far I’ve only visited Duke and Clemson. But you know I also have plans for setting up other visits to different colleges. I don’t really want to say what colleges because I don’t know yet, all I know is I have several other colleges to visit this spring.
BDN: Were there any schools that have impressed you with your visits or with your contact with them so far?
If you had asked me that question a few months ago, I would have had five schools, top five all ready to go, but you know, this recruiting process has just gotten so big lately that it’s all gotten jumbled together. So many schools have so many great things to offer that I couldn’t honestly give you a top five.
BDN: It’s still very early in the process, but ideally, when would you like to make your college decision?
I am going to graduate a semester early so I can go into spring practice wherever I want to go. I just know I need to have my mind made up before December.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Patrick and best of luck to you.
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