Twenty-seven up, 27 down.
Head coach David Cutcliffe announced his first full recruiting class Wednesday on National Signing Day, and all 27 of Duke's verbals shored up their commitments with Letters of Intent to come to Duke. And because there were no last-minute surprises, the day was about as perfect as it could have been for Cutcliffe.
"In our regard, this class is good for anywhere you are, any school we've ever been at, anything I've ever been involved with," Cutcliffe said at a press conference in Yoh Football Center. "This class holds its head high. It will be one that, in my opinion, will be remembered by Duke Football fans."
The class of 27 is highlighted by nine players from North Carolina, which is more in-state recruits than Duke attracted in the last four years combined. When Cutcliffe arrived at Duke in December 2007, he placed an emphasis on trapping in-state talent-a task that became even tougher this year, as Butch Davis and the Tar Heels pulled in a top-10 recruiting class.
Still, Cutcliffe did better than any of his recent predecessors. Since 2002, the most North Carolina players that chose Duke in one year was four, and in 2006, Duke failed to sign an in-state player.
The focus on North Carolina may have paid dividends for Duke, which secured its highest class rating since 2006 by Scout.com and Rivals.com.
"It's one of the bigger surprises in the country, not just in the ACC," said Mike Farrell, Rivals' ACC analyst. "When you look at our rankings, in the ACC, you tradtionaly expect Duke to be 12th. This year, they're ninth. That's not third or fourth, but it's still a lot better than 12th."
The only four-star recruit in the class is running back Desmond Scott, a product of Durham's Hillside High School. Five players in the class are from the Triangle area, and Scott, who originally gave a verbal commitment to Rutgers before reneging in July, is joined by 10 three-star players, according to Scout.
"He's a guy they're going to rely on a lot," Farrell said of Scott, who received an early offer from Florida. "He's a three-down back. He can run the ball, catch the ball, he's durable, strong and fast. A lot of people thought he was overrated, and I kept looking at the film-he was a combine kid that everybody said wasn't a great football player, but if you look at his production and what he does on the field, this is a very good running back."
The class benefited from an onslaught of commitments in the middle of the summer, when Cutcliffe picked up verbals from three-star defensive lineman John Drew from Columbus, Ga. and three-star quarterback Sean Schroeder from Dana Point, Calif. The pair of stalwarts of the class were two of eight future Blue Devils to commit in a 48-hour span at the end of July. By the middle of September, Cutcliffe already had 23 verbal commitments. He rounded out the class with Tyree Watkins, a three-star receiver originally committed to Virginia, who changed his mind and gave his allegiance to Cutcliffe last week.
Cutcliffe followed through on his pledge to bring more speed to Wallace Wade Stadium, a promise he has made since his introductory press conference 14 months ago.
"What I call this class is an emphasis on speed and skill, and size and skill," he said. "What I mean by that is, it's an emphasis on movement-an emphasis on being able to move your feet.... If they can't run and they won't hit, I don't care what position-if they don't display that, then they don't belong at this level.
"This field behind me will see more speed than it's seen in a long time, maybe ever."
Cutcliffe's class of 27 was the biggest class Duke has signed since 2002, when Rivals and Scout began to track recruits. The Blue Devils were able to sign more than 25 future players because four players-Zach Greene, Ryan Hall, Kevin Rojas and Sydney Sarmiento-enrolled in January and could be counted as part of the Class of 2008, which only featured 17 recruits.
Most of the class committed before Duke won more games than it had since 2003. Cutcliffe was impressed with the reception he got in all areas of the country throughout the whole recruiting process-and it only got better as Duke started to post more victories.
"We go to Central Florida, and people say, 'Hey man, congratulations, y'all are back. It's fun to watch you play,'" Cutcliffe said. "We go to New Jersey, and I heard the same things from high school coaches in New Jersey. I was in Detroit, Michigan. California. People are very aware of Duke Football. How much fun is that?"
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