There is a four-star recruit coming to Duke, but this time it is for the football team.
Jay Davis, a native of Clearwater, Fla., is making his official visit to Duke this weekend after the staff paid him an in-home visit Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound quarterback is the best recruit to be seriously considering the Blue Devils at the moment. If coach Carl Franks and his staff to hook the blue-chipper, Davis would be the gem of Duke's class of 2005.
"Jay Davis is one of the top quarterbacks in the South," reports Rivals.com, one of the country's most reliable recruiting sources. "He possesses a very strong arm and has great size. [He is] a polished high school quarterback who can throw equally well rolling either direction. He is a good scrambler, shows escapability, gets squared up when he throws and is very accurate with short and medium passes. His real strength may be his instincts; he reads defenses very well and can deliver the ball with great timing and improvising when necessary."
After this weekend's visit, Davis, whose father John is also his head coach at Clearwater Central Catholic, will go to N.C. State and visit coach Chuck Amato and offensive coordinator Norm Chow. Chow visited Davis at home just before Duke did and is probably the best bet aside from the Blue Devils to snag him.
Aside from the two ACC schools, Colorado is also looking into the Florida phenom. According to his father, Davis may also visit Oklahoma and Clemson, but that is somewhat unlikely because his goal is to make a decision by the end of the year. Currently the Wolfpack appear to lead by a nose, although many experts thought he would be a lock there by this time.
"It is pretty much down to N.C. State, Duke and Colorado," Davis said. "I took an official visit to Colorado last week. It was a little cold but I had a nice visit. I like the offense they run. All three schools have offered and N.C. State still leads, all the schools know this. I have Duke scheduled for Dec. 1 and N.C. State Dec. 8."
Regardless of what he decides, Davis should have an impact at the school he finally chooses. The last two years, he has put up very impressive stats. He finished his senior year with 2,700 yards, 26 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in the Marauders' potent offense. This year, his team never scored less than 20 points and went over 30 points six times.
During his junior year, which was shortened by nearly five games due to a broken collarbone, Davis threw for 1,350 yards and 10 touchdowns.
He also managed to lead his high school to a 9-1 regular-season record and a berth in the highly coveted Florida state playoffs before losing in the second round. However, Davis still gathered both All-State and All-County awards his sophomore and junior years.
With all that, Davis is a consensus top-20 quarterback and given four of five stars by all recruiting sources. But for now, his decision waits until after his final two visits to Tobacco Road.
"I'm just waiting and seeing what is going to happen," Davis told Rivals.com a few days ago. "I would like to have a decision before Christmas."
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