Football inks large recruiting class of 25

After going 4-7 in its 1995 campaign, the Duke football team earned its first victory of 1996 when it was able to chalk up 25 recruits for next season. The Blue Devils stayed in their traditional grazing grounds on the east coast, signing only one player west of the Mississippi. But Duke did do its best to expand its horizons by signing six players from talent-rich Florida, compared to only five from North Carolina.

One of the keys to Duke's recruiting class was purely in its ability to sign all 25 athletes it wanted. With the growing trend of redshirting as many first-year players as possible, Goldsmith was very excited with the large numbers and would like to continue his trend of redshirting his players. While some may jump instantly into the first or second teams depending on their natural ability to become acclimated to the college game, Goldsmith approximated that he would like to have about 75 percent of the new recruits sit out their first year.

"I'm thrilled to have back-to-back years where we had 25 [recruits]," Goldsmith said. "To have them be very successful years, and of course, the way things are with the 85 [scholarship athlete] limit, you're not going to have 25 every year. Next year we'll have about a dozen, so when you go from 25 to a dozen, it was very, very important for this group of 25 to be outstanding.

"And needless to say, here at Duke University we will not be in suspense at the end of year as to whether these guys have the NCAA minimum 2.5 average or if they have their test scores because in order to be tendered a scholarship offer at Duke University they have to be far above those minimums."

With 25 different athletes, the Blue Devils went for as much variety as they could possibly find. While they dabbled in the specialty positions by signing two players each at the quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end positions, Duke sighted the offensive and defensive lines as its main points of contention. The Blue Devils succeeded in that area, signing five on each side of the ball to shore up an area that has been decimated in the past year by graduation and injuries.

"We really needed lineman, but then we needed a good balance all the way too," Goldsmith said. "But I felt we had to get at least 10 quality lineman. And we did that. I think we hit every area that we wanted too."

The lineman Duke signed were typical of past years and average about 6-foot-4 and 230-240 pounds, slightly lacking from the 280-300 pound lineman you will see in the running games of the Big Eight or other top programs. One thing Duke did find was plenty of speed. Six different players have recorded a 4.4 or 4.5 in the 40-yard dash, and two of these players will fit into the defensive secondary where opponents consistently blew past Duke last year.

While none of Duke's recruits this year were the recipients of a state Player of the Year award, Goldsmith was very pleased with the amount of talent he was able to find. He credited the team's success to his assistant coaches who were able to make many visits and attract the type of players to Duke who would succeed both academically and athletically.