Despite having to carry the nation's longest active losing streak through the winter off-season, the Blue Devils have plenty to look forward to next fall.
In his third full recruiting class, the Blue Devils signed 22 players from 13 different states Wednesday, NCAA football's National Signing Day.
After two consecutive classes ranked in the nation's top-40 by scout.com, Duke's 2007 incoming class has been pegged at No. 65. But despite the drop from years past, head coach Ted Roof is optimistic about the team's newest additions.
"This is a good day for us," Roof said. "We're very excited about our class. I think it's a very solid group."
Roof credited the talented class to the hard work of recruiting coordinator Glen Spencer and the rest of the assistant coaches, who managed to secure verbal commitments from 17 players before the school year began.
In the 22 players, the Blue Devils addressed several needs. Duke had holes at the cornerback position and brought in speed demons Randez James, Matt Pridemore and Tony Jackson to fill them. After playing with only one scholarship quarterback last year, Michigan-native Mike Cappetto will enter 2007 as the third-string after Zack Asack returns from suspension next fall.
The gem of the class is arguably three-star offensive lineman Bryan Morgan, who played for famous Hoover High School in Alabama. He played on three 6A state championship teams and was a finalist for Alabama's Lineman of the Year award his senior year.
After Roof heavily recruited offensive linemen for the past two years, Duke's corps could soon be among the deepest in the ACC. Duke's sophomore and freshman class have 10 linemen-seven of which are former three-star prospects. North Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Maryland and Clemson do not have as many. But the Blue Devils know that building an offensive line takes time.
"We feel really good about giving the freshmen offensive line a chance to grow and be good fourth and fifth year players," Spencer said. "And for the first time I think we're able to do that."
After playing more true freshmen than any other Division I-A program over the last two years, Duke will try to redshirt the majority of the incoming freshmen to prepare them for the seasons ahead.
"I think that we've gotten to where we can continue to recruit and build on the program and not have the pressure on the kids to walk in the door," Roof said. "And us as coaches, we don't have to count on our incoming class to play a substantial amount to win games."
NOTES:
After three seasons on head coach Ted Roof's staff, Duke announced last Friday that it had chosen not to renew contracts for both co-defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro and running backs coach Charles London. Former Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Peter Vaas was hired Tuesday to replace London's responsibilities at running backs coach, and he will also take over as the passing game coordinator.
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