Any lingering concerns regarding the validity of Duke's hiring of Ted Roof as head football coach have been completely shattered in the past few weeks. Inside the program, people are lauding Roof as a superlative motivator and organizer, characteristics which have helped him to pull in multiple football recruits that have managed to turn some heads in the world of college football pundits.
Still, my optimism--and that of anyone else that follows Duke athletics--is tempered with a pessimistic historical precedent. This is, after all, Duke football.
But the negative connotation which has gone hand in hand with the Blue Devils on the gridiron is now being lost on many highly-touted recruits. The reason springs from Roof, whose ability to unite his team has created tributaries that are flowing from California to New York, flooding some of the top football-playing student-athletes in America with the once-silly notion that Duke can win on the football field.
For example, Justin Boyle, a young man from Georgia with 4.5 speed and a 6-foot-1, 210-pound frame, denied interest from SEC-powers Auburn and Arkansas to play for the Blue Devils.Then there was Cameron Goldberg, who gave California and Stanford the cold shoulder in favor of the Blue Devils.
But the icing on the cake came tonight, with the announcements from wide receiver Ronnie Drummer and offensive guard Izzy Bauta that they would also be coming to play in Wallace Wade. Drummer has been clocked at 4.21 in the 40-yard dash, and Bauta turned down offers from behemoths Ohio State and Maryland.
Pay no attention to my naivete, however. Consider theinsiders.com's analysis of Duke's recruiting class to date, which was ranked No. 22 out of 24 schools in the region as of yesterday afternoon, before the Drummer and Bauta commitments: "Yeah, Duke is near the bottom, what else is new? This is what's new... Ted Roof has already picked up some outstanding players on a class that is going to be short on numbers, and they are head to head with some of the big boys in the SEC and ACC for their final slots. Duke is going to close with a bang this year instead of a whisper."
Plus, Roof recently hired an exceptional recruiter and offensive coach from Stanford--and an NFL mind may be on the way.
So if Duke can sell its football program, its academic supremacy and coaching staff will take it a long way--much like at Stanford.
The Blue Devil football program still has many miles to go before it can rest upon its laurels, but at least it has finally emerged from the murky waters of mediocrity.
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