Tag: 2025 Duke Football Recruiting Class

Duke football flips three-star wide receiver formerly committed to Wake Forest

One day after the Duke Blue Devils defeated Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, a former Demon Deacons commit flipped to Manny Diaz’s program.

The Duke Blue Devils won in Winston-Salem for a second straight day on Sunday afternoon.

Three-star 2025 wide receiver Jamien Little, a former Wake Forest commit, announced his decision in favor of the Blue Devils on Sunday.

“(I’m) truly blessed,” Little wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

A 6-foot-1 wideout from Hickory High School in North Carolina, Little decommitted from the Demon Deacons on November 10 just eight months after his initial decision. He visited Durham in October, and he received an offer from the North Carolina Tar Heels just two weeks afterward.

Little is the No. 64 wideout in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports recruiting rankings, and the site’s Composite rankings have him as the No. 768 overall player in the class. According to MaxPreps, he leads the Hickory Red Tornadoes with 51 receptions for 1,167 yards and 16 touchdowns through 13 games as a senior.

His decision comes less than 24 hours after the Blue Devils took down Wake Forest on the road, a 23-17 victory clinched by Maalik Murphy’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Moore on the final play of the game.

Little becomes the fourth wide receiver and 27th overall commitment in Duke’s 2025 recruiting class, and he’s the highest-ranked player at his position among that group.

Three 2025 Duke football commits now considered four-star prospects by 247Sports

With 247Sports updating its football recruiting rankings on Wednesday, the 2025 Duke recruiting class now features three four-star prospects.

247Sports updated its 2025 football recruiting rankings on Wednesday, and three Duke football commits now count as four-star prospects.

Edge rusher Bryce Davis flipped to the Blue Devils from the Clemson Tigers in August, and at the time, he was graded as the best Duke commitment since 247Sports tracking began.

Now, despite still being the No. 145 overall player in the country, Davis isn’t even the top player in the class. Two-way star Bradley Gompers rose to the No. 104 overall spot thanks to a torrid start to his senior season.

The Pittsburgh product has caught 14 passes for 412 yards and five touchdowns on offense while adding 45 total tackles, two sacks, and an interception on defense in just seven games for Central Catholic High School.

Bariate Kara, an edge rusher from Georgia who committed to the Blue Devils in July, also reached the four-star threshold as 247Sports’ No. 32 defensive lineman. Between him, Davis, and three-star Sampson Onuoha, edge rushers make up three of Duke’s four highest-rated commits.

Duke football flips four-star 2025 edge rusher Bryce Davis from Clemson

After multiple predictions that Greensboro native Bryce Davis would flip to Duke, the four-star 2025 edge rusher made it official on Sunday.

Four-star 2025 edge rusher Bryce Davis officially flipped from the Clemson Tigers to the Duke Blue Devils on Sunday, according to multiple reports.

“I love the culture,” Davis told On3’s Hayes Fawcett. “I love the people, & I love what they are building at Duke. It’s time to be different. Bleed Blue.”

The news comes after three different national analysts (247Sports’ Tom Loy on Friday and On3’s Chad Simmons and Steve Wiltfong on Saturday) filed official predictions for first-year Duke coach Manny Diaz to secure the flip.

Davis initially chose Clemson over Duke in July, but an article from On3’s Collin Ginnan on Saturday said that the Greensboro native debated between the Tigers and Blue Devils until the morning of his announcement.

Davis is the No. 59 player in the entire class according to 247Sports Composite rankings, and the Grimsley High School product logged 15 sacks and 30 tackles for loss in just 16 games over the past two seasons. He’s one of the 10 highest-rated defensive linemen in the Class of 2025.

Davis now becomes the highest-ranked player in Duke’s 2025 recruiting class, the first four-star prospect among more than two dozen commitments. Three-star running back Nate Sheppard from Louisiana, the most recent Duke commitment, announced his decision on Friday.

Three-star running back Nate Sheppard announces commitment to Duke football

Nate Sheppard, a three-star 2025 running back from Louisiana, announced his commitment to the Duke Blue Devils on Friday.

The Duke Blue Devils picked up another football commitment on Friday when running back Nate Sheppard announced his decision.

Sheppard chose the Blue Devils over California (one of the newest members of the ACC), Cincinnati, Northwestern, and Tulane. A three-star product out of Mandeville High School in Louisiana, he’s the No. 61 running back and a top-800 player in the Class of 2025 according to 247Sports Composite rankings.

According to a pinned post on his X account (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter), Sheppard ran for 1,816 yards and 32 touchdowns during his junior season in 2023. He also added 316 yards and four scores as a receiving threat, all in just 13 games.

As of August 23, the Blue Devils have 24 commitments for the 2025 class, and 247Sports national recruiting analyst Tom Loy logged a Crystal Ball prediction for Diaz to flip four-star defensive lineman Bryce Davis from Clemson on the same day as Sheppard’s commitment.

Sheppard becomes the second running back commitment for Diaz in his first full recruiting cycle as the Duke head coach, joining Javin Gordon from Georgia.

Duke football picks up commitment from three-star 2025 athlete Qeanu Johnson

Qeanu Johnson, a three-star athlete from Connecticut, became the 25th Duke commitment from the Class of 2025 on Saturday.

Duke head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] landed his 25th commitment from the Class of 2025 on Saturday when three-star athlete Qeanu Johnson revealed his decision.

“Grateful to have announced my commitment to (Duke football),” Johnson wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Truly blessed and thankful for my family, friends, teammates, coaches and anyone that has helped me along the way!”

Johnson plays for Hamden Hall Country Day School in Connecticut, and he led the team with 584 yards and 11 touchdowns last season as a receiver. He also ran for 164 yards on 11 carries, adding three more touchdowns, and he came away with an interception and seven pass deflections as a cornerback.

He also lists himself as a returner on social media, and MaxPreps says he averaged 34.2 yards per kick return and 28.7 yards per punt return in 2023-24.

Johnson joins high school teammate Asher Wasserman, a three-star linebacker from Hamden Hall, in the Duke recruiting class.

Johnson becomes the second Duke commitment in two days, although Friday’s commitment (three-star defensive lineman Ayden Cain) came from the Class of 2026.

2025 Duke football commits receive their official offers from the Blue Devils

2025 Duke football commits like quarterback Dan Mahan received their official offers on Thursday, the first day of August.

The 2025 Duke football recruiting class gained many new members over the summer, and with August finally here, the future of the Blue Devils is officially taking shape.

On Thursday, Blue Devils commits like quarterback Dan Mahan and wide receiver Gerritt Kemp shared social media posts about their official offers from the school.

In his first full recruiting cycle as the Duke head coach, [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] already landed 24 commitments from the 2025 class. Four-star linebacker Cameron Smith from Philadelphia leads a class of 12 defenders, six offensive linemen, and a handful of receivers.

Mahan, who committed to the program back in April, already visited Durham and shared some photos of himself in a Blue Devils uniform on social media. 247Sports ranks him as a three-star prospect and the No. 54 quarterback in the class.

Kemp committed shortly after his official visit in June. The third-highest-ranked Blue Devils commit on 247Sports, the three-star wideout is a top-100 prospect at his position.

Duke football adds commitment from three-star 2025 DL Bariate Kara

Duke lands three-star defensive lineman Bariate Kara.

The summer has been very fun for [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], who is spending his first complete recruiting cycle as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils.

He hopes to recruit for the foundation of his program for the next few years, and his 2025 commitment class offers some promise. A team’s success is directly tied to their ability to win in the trenches, so it was important for the Blue Devils to land the pledge of three-star Bariate Kara over the weekend.

The 6-foot-5, 248-pound Loganville, GA native held over 20 offers during high school recruitment, but his relationship with new defensive ends coach Harland Bower ultimately gave Duke the edge.

The Blue Devils haven’t recruited Kara for long. Still, after they offered him just in March of this year during his unofficial visit, the relationships with the staff, the cultural fit, and Duke’s academics became significant factors in sealing the deal.

Kara is a terrific athlete. His size and athleticism allowed him to play both as a defensive end and a tight end during high school. Duke recruited him to slide inside for Saturday games, which means he’ll need to add to his frame to have the requisite mass to battle with the guards and centers of the ACC.

With Kara’s commitment, the Blue Devils are dangerously close to wrapping up their recruiting efforts for 2025. As it stands right now, they are the 30th-ranked recruiting class in the nation on 247Sports.

Duke football commit shows behind-the-scenes look at official visit on social media

Sampson Onuoha, a 2025 edge rusher and Duke’s second-best commit in the class, shared a look at his official visit to Durham on TikTok.

Division I athletic programs pull out all the stops for football recruits during their official visits. Top-ranked prospects get to enjoy personal tours of programs with no expense spared as coaches try to sway them for a commitment.

What does such a process look like in Durham? Duke football commit Sampson Onuoha would be happy to show you.

The three-star edge rusher from Massachusetts, the second-highest-rated 2025 prospect committed to Blue Devils head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], pulled back the curtain for a recent TikTok. Onuoha documented as much of his official visit as he could, from a driver picking him up to take him to the airport on Thursday through the weekend.

Onuoha, who had already committed to the program before his trip, said he watched a walk-through practice from the Duke team and took some photos in a Blue Devils uniform on the field at Wallace Wade Stadium. He even went to a waterpark with the coaching staff and some current players the following day.

@sampson.onuoha

Come with me on my Official Visit 🔵😈 #fyp #fypシ #viral #d1 #dukefootball #duke #officialvisit #committed #d1athlete #SampsonOnuoha

♬ original sound – Sampson

Onuoha helps form one of Duke’s best recruiting classes in recent memory, as the Blue Devils already have 23 commitments to sit inside the top 30 on 247Sports’ rankings.

2025 wide receiver prospect includes Blue Devils in his top three

Qeanu Johnson, a three-star wideout from Connecticut, released his top three schools on Wednesday with the Blue Devils still in the running.

Qeanu Johnson, a three-star wide receiver prospect from Connecticut, released the final three schools in his recruiting race on Wednesday.

His home school, the Huskies, remain in the race, but so do the Blue Devils and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Johnson plays for Hamden Hall Country Day High School, and he led the team with 584 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in 2023. He even picked up 164 rushing yards on just 11 attempts on the ground, adding three scores as a rushing threat.

He’s also played on the defensive side of the ball with seven total tackles and a 99-yard pick-six.

“(He has) a safety frame but a receiver skill set and uses his size and strength to create separation,” wrote 247Sports National Recruiting Analyst Greg Biggins. “He’s not a burner but runs well enough and shows good initial quickness off the line. He catches the ball cleanly and does a nice job on 50-50 balls. ”

The national recruiting website currently has Johnson as the 90th-ranked athlete in the 2025 recruiting class.

The Blue Devils already have three wide receiver commitments for the 2025 class, notably from three-star talents Gerritt Kemp and Jaivon Solomon. Kavon Simmons, a quarterback from Wake Forest High School, will also change positions to play wideout in Durham.

Duke football gets yet another June commitment from quarterback-turned-receiver

Kavon Simmons, a 2025 quarterback from Wake Forest, will play wide receiver for the Blue Devils in college after his Friday commitment.

The Blue Devils and head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] refuse to slow down on the 2025 recruiting trail.

Kavon Simmons, a Class of 2025 quarterback from Wake Forest, North Carolina, revealed his commitment to the Blue Devils on Friday morning.

COMMITTED,” Simmons wrote on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter). “thank you to everyone who made this possible!”

Simmons revealed that the Blue Devils extended an offer to him on Sunday after his official visit with the program last weekend. While he played quarterback at Wake Forest High School as a junior last season, 247Sports’ Adam Rowe reported that the Blue Devils want him to play wide receiver.

During the Cougars’ 2023 campaign, Simmons finished with 1,999 passing yards and 711 rushing yards, averaging 6.7 yards every time he touched the ball. He found the end zone 19 times with his arm and 15 more times on the ground.

A two-sport athlete, Simmons also plays point guard for the basketball team. He finished last season with 9.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.

He’s measured at 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds.

Here’s a quick highlight tape for Duke fans to understand the caliber of athlete Diaz just landed.

Simmons becomes the 23rd commitment of the 2025 cycle for the Blue Devils and the 13th in the month of June.