Duke football not included in Sporting News bowl predictions for 2024 season

Sporting News released its 2024 bowl game projections on Friday, and the team from Durham didn’t make any of the matchups.

Sporting News released its bowl game projections for the 2024 college football season on Friday, and one ACC team remained curiously absent from the list.

Among the nearly three dozen matchups included in the article, none of them featured the Duke Blue Devils.

Despite the Blue Devils winning 17 games over the past two seasons, the loss of former head coach Mike Elko and quarterback Riley Leonard has the football world unsure if Duke can repeat such success. First-year head coach Manny Diaz has exceeded on the recruiting trail so far this offseason, but 2025 commitments don’t change the 2024 team.

ESPN FPI gives the Blue Devils a 60.3% chance to finish with at least six wins, and their projected record by the popular formula is almost exactly 6-6.

Check here for Duke Wire’s game-by-game projections for how the 2024 football season might go at Wallace Wade Stadium (spoiler alert: we think the Blue Devils reach six wins).

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.

EA Sports confirms Duke fans will make ‘Bull City’ hand gesture in College Football 25

EA Sports released a list of the school-specific gestures in EA Sports College Football 25 on Wednesday and ‘Bull City’ will feature.

EA Sports reiterated over and over again that College Football 25 will be as authentic as possible, and they got one step closer on Wednesday.

During the game’s ‘Sights and Sounds Deep Dive’ release on Wednesday, the studio said the game will include dozens of school-specific hand gestures in the crowd to make the experience immersive. Among the list was Duke’s ‘Bull City’ gesture, a motion when Blue Devils fans stick two fists together with thumbs out to resemble bull horns.

The Duke football program already got a taste of its inclusion in the long-awaited game when the first trailer showed a split-second clip of Wallace Wade Stadium. The same Wednesday release also said that the developers recorded crowd noise from more than 40 different schools, including Duke.

The game will be released on July 19. Check out Duke Wire’s predictions for the five highest-rated players in the game here.

Duke football lands former Harvard cornerback from the transfer portal

Diassa Diakite, who spent the four years with Harvard before spending 2023 with Robert Morris, will play for the Blue Devils this fall.

The Blue Devils landed a former Harvard football player from the transfer portal this month.

Lost amid a hot streak on the 2025 recruiting trail, with Duke landing double-digit commitments since the month began, cornerback Diassa Diakite committed to the Blue Devils from the transfer portal.

Diakite spent 2019-22 with the Crimson, but he only played one game in his first two collegiate seasons because the Ivy League canceled its 2020 football season. After playing 15 games across his final two seasons with the program, tallying 15 total tackles and deflecting three passes, he transferred to Robert Morris for the 2023 season.

He tallied 31 total tackles for the season with the Colonials and his first career interception in a game against Tennessee Tech. The 6-foot corner should have one final year of eligibility remaining, based on his transfer announcement from the previous year.

He’s the second cornerback commitment from the transfer portal this offseason after former Rice defensive back Tre’Shon Devones.

2025 defensive line target for Duke football shares photo in a Blue Devils uniform

One Duke football target for the 2025 recruiting class shared a photo of himself in Blue Devils gear on social media with an encouraging caption.

Duke football fans couldn’t wish for a better month on the recruiting trail than the team had in June.

In his first full recruiting cycle as the team’s head coach, [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] has worked the Blue Devils inside the top 20 of national rankings with more than 20 commitments thus far.

The hot streak might continue, too. On Monday afternoon, three-star defensive lineman Carmello Brooks shared a photo of himself in Duke gear on X (the social media platform formerly known on Twitter).

“#bleedblue,” Brooks captioned the post.

Brooks took a visit with the program over the first weekend of June and shared a positive social media post about the experience. The 88th-ranked defensive lineman in the 2025 247Sports Ranking has no Crystal Ball Predictions for any program as of Monday night, but 247Sports says his recruiting race seems to be down to Duke, Houston, and the Texas Longhorns.

The Texas native stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 275 pounds according to his player profile.

The Blue Devils already have an edge rusher and two defensive linemen among their 2025 commitments.

Future Duke quarterback Dan Mahan sounds excited about all of his future teammates

Every college football program wants its young quarterbacks to become vocal leaders, and 2025 Duke commit Dan Mahan is well on his way.

The Blue Devils have racked up 2025 commitments on the recruiting trail this month, and no one seems more excited than three-star quarterback Dan Mahan.

11 of Duke’s 21 commitments for the 2025 cycle have announced their decision since the start of the month as head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] started hosting official visits, and Mahan’s been vocal about all of them on social media.

One of the earliest commitments for the 2025 class, Mahan aligned himself with the Blue Devils back on April 13. The three-star prospect from Burlington, North Carolina, plays for Walter M. Williams High School, and he compiled 1,776 passing yards, 323 rushing yards, and 25 total touchdowns as a junior last season.

The future passer started his recent social media content by teasing that there was “some great news on the way” for the Blue Devils after his official visit on June 9.

Here’s a look at some of Mahan’s tweets about the program over the last few weeks.

Mahan picked up another future teammate on Sunday, a Georgia wide receiver named Jaivon Solomon as Diaz continues his dominance in the Peach State.

Duke football is stacking 2025 commits from one state, and it isn’t North Carolina

The Blue Devils, in Manny Diaz’s first full recruiting cycle, have 21 commitments for the 2025 class so far, and one state keeps showing up.

The Duke football program keeps succeeding in one state on the 2025 recruiting trail, and it’s not North Carolina.

The Blue Devils aren’t doing poorly in their home state by any means, they have a three-star quarterback from Burlington. However, if fans look at Duke’s 21 commitments for the cycle as of Sunday afternoon, a third of them come from Georgia.

The Duke football team has seven commitments from the Peach State, including wide receiver Jaimon Solomon, who committed on Sunday morning. Gerritt Kemp, the Blue Devils’ other receiver in the class and the team’s highest-rated offensive commit, also comes from Georgia.

[autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], the first-year head coach in his first full recruiting cycle, also snagged two defensive backs, a defensive lineman, an offensive tackle, and a running back from Georgia.

All seven of the future Blue Devils come from different schools and cities, too. Solomon plays for Jones County High School in the city of Gray, while Kemp plays for Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula. Ma’Khi Jones, one of the defensive backs, comes from Alpharetta while the other defensive back, Kaleb Lanier, hails from Decatur.

Defensive lineman Julius Columbus calls Gainesville home, and running back Javin Gordon is from Toccoa. Offensive tackle Evan Scott, one of five offensive linemen in Diaz’s class, comes from Evans (a funny coincidence) to round out the state.

Georgia routinely produces some of the best college football talent in every recruiting class, a stat that makes sense when you consider that the state school won two of the last three national championships. There’s immense promise for the future if Diaz, whose major connections lie in Pennsylvania and Florida to this point, can expand his reach around the South.

Duke football extends an offer to 2025 quarterback prospect…with a twist

Kavon Simmons, a 2025 quarterback prospect, announced an offer from Duke on Sunday, but one report says the Blue Devils want him at wideout.

2025 quarterback prospect Kavon Simmons announced through social media on Sunday that he received an offer from the Duke football team.

Blue Devils fans who have kept track of the recruiting trail might be a little confused by that first sentence. After all, three-star prospect Dan Mahan from Burlington, North Carolina, already committed to the school earlier this spring.

Well, according to 247Sports’ Adam Rowe, Duke football coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] wants Simmons as a wide receiver.

Simmons, who plays for Wake Forest High School within the state of North Carolina, also plays as a point guard for the school basketball team. The 6-foot-2 prospect threw for 1,999 yards, rushed for 711 more, and stacked 34 total touchdowns for the Cougars on the football field last season.

On the basketball court last season, Simmons averaged 9.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, second on the team in both categories, and paced the Cougars with 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals.

Should Diaz lure Simmons as a wideout, he’d join Gerritt Kemp and Jaivon Solomon as Duke wide receiver commits for the 2025 class, the latter of whom committed on Sunday.

Duke football lands commitment from another offensive prospect from Georgia

After he took an official visit to Durham this weekend, wideout Jaivon Solomon announced his commitment to the Blue Devils on Sunday.

Duke football remained hot on the 2025 recruiting trail on Sunday.

Jaivon Solomon, a wideout from Georgia, announced his commitment through social media after he took an official visit over the weekend.

“1000% COMMITTED.” Solomon wrote on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter), along with a photo of himself in a Duke uniform and a short hype video.

Solomon, who stands more than 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds, becomes the 21st member of Duke’s 2025 class. 11 of those commitments have come since June began, including five offensive linemen.

Solomon becomes the second wide receiver in Duke’s 2025 class, joining three-star prospect Gerritt Kemp. As a junior at Jones County High School last season, Solomon finished with 671 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games.

He knows how to survive in a crowded wide receiver room, as well. He split the Greyhounds’ production with seniors Tyler Stewart, a three-star Temple commit, and Zion Ragins, who will play for Oklahoma.

Solomon will have a few fellow Georgians as his future teammates, too. Kemp, Duke’s highest-rated offensive commit for the cycle, hails from Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula, Georgia.

Four other 2025 Blue Devils commits call different Georgia cities home, too. Running back Javin Gordon comes from Toccoa, defensive lineman Julius Columbus is from Gainesville, and defensive backs Ma’Khi Jones and Kaleb Lanier are from Alpharetta and Decatur, respectively.

Pro Football Focus lays out Duke football’s odds to make a bowl game in 2024

Pro Football Focus released a ranking of every FBS football program this week, and the popular site broke down Duke’s odds to win six games.

Pro Football Focus released a ranking of all 131 FBS football programs for the 2024 season on Monday, and the Blue Devils finished as the 54th overall team in the site’s models.

According to PFF’s simulations, Duke should be expected to win 6.2 games, putting them right on the knife’s edge for making the postseason. The percentages work out as a 61.2% chance to make a bowl game next season.

The Blue Devils finished as the 10th-highest ACC team in the rankings. Florida State (seventh), Clemson (15th), and SMU (17th) each cracked the top 20, with the Mustangs joining the conference for the first time alongside California and Stanford.

North Carolina, one of the nine teams in the conference ranked above Duke in the list, slotted in at 25th.

Duke’s 2024 season gets underway on August 30 against Elon. Read Duke Wire’s game-by-game predictions for the upcoming season here.