When Head Coach David Cutcliffe came to Durham, he vowed that he would transform the Blue Devils into a faster and more athletic team. In his first few recruiting classes, he has added several high-level athletes, including Isaac Blakeney in 2010 and Jamison Crowder in 2011. The coaching staff is looking to continue that trend in the class of 2012, and recently extended an offer to one of the top athletes in the country. Oshay Dunmore is an All-State quarterback from Newport, Oregon, who totaled over 3,200 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior. In addition to his prowess on the gridiron, Dunmore stars in basketball and competes in the decathlon, where he ranks among the top in the country. Highlights from his standout junior year in football can be viewed here.

Note: Oshay Dunmore has since committed to Oregon.

BDN: Can you start off by describing your strengths for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?

Well, I play football, track, and basketball. In football, I was a spread offense quarterback, so I did a lot of read-option type plays and we ran a spread so I got to run a lot. My game’s still – a lot of coaches have kind of compared me to Cam Newton, maybe not exactly on that level, but that was my style. I have a lot more running, my passing game is a little bit of my weak side right now, so that’s coming along, I have a lot of camps coming up. I’m a pretty good runner, pretty agile, and I like the stiff arm, I’m about 6’2” 200 pounds so my height, length, and size gives me some advantages on the field. And for track I kind of do everything. I do decathlons and this weekend I had my first decathlon of the year and it placed me #1 in the country right now. I scored a 6290 and it was alright, it was pretty bad weather but it was a good mark to get out there for the beginning of the season.

BDN: What are some of the things you’ve been working on this offseason?

Just some of my foot quickness and just speed and acceleration, getting stronger every day, working hard in the weight room. I’m just doing whatever I can to sharpen my game on the whole. But passing is one of the big things, not necessarily like – I have pretty good confidence and everything, it’s just more of my consistency with my throwing. I was pretty inconsistent this year, but that’s something that we’ve got a lot of camps lined up for. Just foot speed, strength, and just getting better as a whole football player.

BDN: What are some of your goals for your senior year?

I want to try and go 30-30, 30 rushing TDs and 30 passing TDs. That’s a big goal. There’s a lot of goals I have set for track to get all my numbers up there, but for football I want to get 30 rushing touchdowns and 30 passing.

BDN: What are the most important factors you’re looking for in a college?

I want to do track and football at the collegiate level, so anywhere that I’m able to do that is a big thing for me. I kind of like the big school atmosphere because I spent a lot of my life in the city, I grew up in Seattle for most of my life and then we spent 3 years over in Chicago, so I kind of like the big city, big environment with lots of diversity. I like kind of warm climate, a little bit of rain is alright, but yeah the major thing is letting me do track and football at a college.

 

BDN: Who are the schools that you have heard the most from?

Oregon was the first one to contact me with an offer and then the next day Oregon State offered me. Then later on during the week the University of Washington contacted me. Then at the beginning of the next week Duke offered me. Those are the schools that we’ve been in contact with a lot. We’ve talked to UCLA a little bit, Cal, and Princeton. Those are the big schools that have been in contact with me. I’ve sent some film to Texas, Alabama, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Florida. Alabama gave us a little bit of feedback, but I don’t think the staff has really gotten a chance to watch it, but they let me know they got it, I’m just waiting on feedback from them now.

BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far?

I’ve been able to go down to the University of Oregon and Oregon State, just because they’re here in my home state and so they’re not very far away, an hour, hour and a half max drive to go down there. I’ve been to a few games and talked to the coaching staff quite a bit for both schools, so those are the only ones I’ve been to.

BDN: Do you have any plans for additional visits or camps this spring and summer?

No, there’s not a lot. Just some passing league camps and a Nike combine I’m going to do. I think I’m going to go down to the Oregon camp they have there this summer, and then the majority of my summer will be taken up by track.

BDN: You mentioned interest in Duke as well as some other ACC and East Coast schools. Do you have any plans to visit any East Coast schools or are you mainly focusing on West Coast programs?

Yeah, I’d love to go over to the East Coast, but financially I don’t think I’ll be able to just fly myself out there, so if any schools were interested enough, I would like to take my official visits out there. I’m definitely interested in going out there, I just won’t be able to do it by myself.

BDN: You’ve obviously been busy with basketball and track, but do you have an idea for when you would like to make your final decision or how you would like to narrow things down?

I definitely want to take some visits, just to see some different environments, see what I like and make sure I’m making the right choice, it’s going to be the next 4-5 years that I’m going to be at this college. I want to take a few visits just to get some different looks at different places and see what I like best, where I’ll fit in the best, how I like the coaches and who’s going to be there to really support me in the long run. I think after I take a few visits I’ll make my decision, probably in the middle of my season next year for football.

BDN: Is there anything else that you think is important for college football fans to know about you?

I’m a hard worker and I’ll fit in where they need me to fit in.

BDN: Thanks a lot, Oshay, and best of luck to you.

Alright, cool, thank you.