The men's basketball team isn't the only program on campus to have good news coming from the recruiting trail over the past few days. According to the Durham Herald-Sun, the Blue Devil football program received a verbal commitment from four-star LB/DE Aramide Olaniyan of Woodberry Forest, VA. Olaniyan, who is currently a junior, chose Duke over Michigan, Auburn, Stanford and Notre Dame, in large part due to the university's academic reputation.
Although the 6-foot-2, 195 lb Olaniyan is undersized in his current position as a hands-down defensive end, he is unusually young for his age and has tremendous growth potential. His high school coach, Clint Alexander, said it was likely that Olaniyan would redshirt as a freshman, as he will only be 17 years old when he steps on campus in 2010. Still, Olaniyan's key strengths are his motor and explosiveness off the ball, which can be seen in the video that accompanies his ESPN.com recruit page. ESPN's scouting report notes that Olaniyan "is dripping with upside, but may be a better fit as an OLB with pass rush skills off the edge... Overall, Olaniyan is a good football player with a very high ceiling for development. Good prospect that could be excellent in a few years."
Olaniyan is now the second four-star recruit to commit to the Blue Devils in the past two years, along with class of 2009 running back Desmond Scott of Durham's Hillside High School.
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