Tag: Duke football

Rice defensive back Tre’Shone Devones announces official visit with Blue Devils

Former Rice defensive back Tre’Shon Devones announced he’d take an official visit to Durham on Thursday.

Former Rice defensive back Tre’Shone Devones announced through social media on Wednesday that he’d locked in an official visit with the Duke football team.

According to a post on X (formerly Twitter), Devones will visit with the Blue Devils on Thursday, May 3.

The Texas native spent four seasons with the Owls, but he broke out as a redshirt junior in 2023. After he amassed 31 tackles and 3 pass deflections across his first three seasons with Rice, Devones racked up 45 tackles and deflected 11 passes last season. He also came down with his first two collegiate interceptions, one against Charlotte and one against Houston.

At 6 feet tall and 187 pounds, Devones offers prototypical size and physicality at the cornerback position. He’d pair wonderfully with returning Duke star Chandler Rivers in a secondary that already looked excellent during the spring scrimmage.

Devones also received offers from Tulane, Houston, Charlotte, Ohio, and Western Kentucky, according to his social media, and he’s visited Notre Dame, UTEP, and Colorado State. He’ll have one year of eligibility left.

Former Duke safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith commits to North Carolina Central

Less than an hour after wide receiver Mehki Wall committed to North Carolina Central, former Duke safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith also joined the Eagles.

Former Duke safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith announced his commitment to North Carolina Central through social media on Wednesday.

Fisher-Smith spent four seasons with the Blue Devils starting in 2020. Across his time in Durham, he racked up 29 total tackles and a pass deflection. His most productive season came as a sophomore in 2021 when he recorded 15 tackles, including three against both North Carolina A&T and Kansas.

A former three-star prospect, Fisher-Smith was 247Sports’ 82nd-ranked safety in the Class of 2020.

Fisher-Smith wasn’t the only Blue Devil to join the Eagles on Wednesday. Less than an hour before the safety announced his commitment, former Duke wide receiver Mehki Wall also declared he would join NCCU next season. Wall spent two seasons with Duke, redshirting in 2022 before catching six passes last season.

https://twitter.com/IsaiahfisherSm1/status/1786144476831879462

Fisher-Smith and Wall became the first Duke transfers since the Blue & White Game to commit to a new program. Five other Blue Devils have entered the portal since the spring scrimmage.

Former Duke wide receiver Mehki Wall commits to North Carolina Central

Former Duke wide receiver Mehki Wall, who caught six passes for 38 yards as a freshman last season, committed to NCCU on Wednesday.

Former Duke wide receiver Mehki Wall found his next home.

On Wednesday, the former Blue Devil announced through social media that he committed to North Carolina Central for his next collegiate stop.

Wall caught six passes for 38 yards as a redshirt freshman last season. Five of those receptions came against Virginia on November 18, when he racked up 36 yards and caught his only collegiate touchdown thus far.

As a high school recruit, the 5-foot-9 North Carolina native was a three-star prospect and the No. 86 receiver in the Class of 2022.

Wall is one of seven Blue Devils to venture into the transfer portal since the Blue & White Game. He entered the portal on April 24.

None of the other six recent transfers have found a new school yet. Wall is one of two Duke receivers to enter the portal in the last two weeks along with former teammate Apollos Cook.

Two Blue Devils defensive backs enter the transfer portal

River Hanson and Quentin Ajiero, two three-star signees from the Class of 2023, both entered the transfer portal earlier this week.

A pair of Duke defensive backs, safety River Hanson and cornerback Quentin Ajiero, entered the transfer portal early this week.

The 247Sports Transfer Portal Tracker said Ajiero entered the portal on Monday and Hanson followed suit on Tuesday.

Two three-star prospects from the Class of 2023, Hanson and Ajiero both redshirted in their first season with the program. Both players still have four years of eligibility.

The Blue Devils roster is still undergoing some construction under first-year head coach Manny Diaz. Seven different Duke players have now entered the transfer portal since the end of the spring game, including three defensive backs. Safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith also submitted his name last week.

Duke offensive lineman Calib Perez enters the transfer portal

Duke offensive lineman Calib Perez entered the transfer portal over the weekend, further depleting a light positional group for the Blue Devils.

The Duke offensive line got even thinner over the weekend when redshirt senior Calib Perez entered the transfer portal.

On3’s Nick Schultz reported the news on Saturday.

Perez played in 11 games across his four years in Durham, but he did not suit up for the team’s spring game in April.

With Perez and redshirt freshman Ethan Hubbard both departing the program after the spring game, first-year head coach Manny Diaz would have seven offensive linemen left from the spring football roster.

Offensive tackle Jack Purcell, a transfer from Penn, offers experience on the outside, but almost everyone else left has zero starting experience.

Perez was one of three Blue Devils to enter the portal over the past week, joining defensive backs River Hanson and Quentin Ajiero.

Duke tight end Nicky Dalmolin returning for final year of eligibility

Duke tight end Nicky Dalmolin, who caught four touchdowns in 2022 and surpassed 100 receiving yards in each of the past three seasons, will be back for 2024.

Duke tight end Nicky Dalmolin will be back for the 2024 season, he announced through social media on Wednesday.

“Run it back!” Dalmolin wrote on the post.

Dalmolin, a four-year player for the Blue Devils, will exercise his additional year of eligibility from the COVID regulations in 2020. Across 41 career games played, the 6-foot-4 Georgia native hauled in 54 passes for 480 yards and five touchdowns.

Four of Dalmolin’s scores came during the 2022 season when he also set career highs with 21 receptions and 170 yards. The Blue Devils tight end caught multiple passes in eight of his 10 games that year.

As a senior in 2023, Dalmolin didn’t add to his touchdown total, but he did help a successful 2-point conversion. He finished with 10 receptions for 147 yards on the year.

Dalmolin will play alongside new quarterback Maalik Murphy in the first year of new head coach Manny Diaz.

Bleacher Report thinks this former Duke quarterback could be a top-10 pick in 2025 NFL Draft

Former Blue Devils quarterback Riley Leonard was mocked to go No. 10 overall in Bleacher Report’s way-too-early 2025 NFL Mock Draft. 

Bleacher Report released a way-too-early 2025 NFL Mock Draft on Monday, and their scouting department thinks former Blue Devils quarterback Riley Leonard could go early.

Leonard went 10th overall to the New Orleans Saints in the projection.

The quarterback played three seasons at Duke before he transferred to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this offseason.

Leonard only appeared in seven games in 2023 after he suffered an ankle injury against the Fighting Irish during the fifth game of the season. He tried to come back against Florida State three weeks later, but he had to leave the game after aggravating the injury. He threw 39 passes over the final seven regular-season games.

He finished the season with 1,102 passing yards, three touchdown passes, and three interceptions. He also had a 58% completion percentage.

When Leonard was last fully healthy, as a sophomore in 2022, he threw for 2,967 yards, 20 touchdowns, and just six picks across 13 games. He completed 64% of his passes that year and averaged 7.6 yards per attempt.

This past March, he underwent a second surgery on his ankle after his transfer to Notre Dame. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said he would miss the next few weeks but could participate in some spring ball in some capacity.

Can former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard be a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL draft?

Former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard, who transferred to Notre Dame this offseason, showed up in the top 10 of The Draft Wire’s early 2025 NFL mock draft.

There’s always a draft riser at the quarterback position every year. 12 months ago, people would have thought you were crazy if you said LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels would be a top-two pick.

Who will it be in 2025? Well, The Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy thinks it might be former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard.

Popejoy released a way-too-early 2025 NFL mock draft on Sunday, and he slotted Leonard in as the ninth pick to the Las Vegas Raiders.

The former Blue Devils passer transferred to Notre Dame this offseason after three seasons in Durham. He threw for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore and led Duke to a 4-0 start as a junior before an ankle injury derailed his season.

Leonard was Popejoy’s second quarterback off the board behind Texas A&M’s Conner Weigman. The old Duke signal-caller went above names like Texas’s Quinn Ewers, Georgia’s Carson Beck, and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.

New York Giants invite Duke safety Jeremiah Lewis to minicamp

Duke safety Jeremiah Lewis will head to the Big Apple for a chance to work with the New York Giants after a minicamp invite.

The New York Giants extended a minicamp invite to Duke safety Jeremiah Lewis on Sunday.

Lewis spent five years with the Blue Devils starting in 2018. He played in 38 games across his first four collegiate seasons, making 84 tackles and grabbing four interceptions over that time. He broke up 10 passes and picked off two passes during the 2020 season, tying him for first in the conference with 12 passes defended.

Lewis transferred to Northwestern for the 2022 season, making 70 tackles in 12 games, but he came back to the Blue Devils for his final year. Across 11 games as a graduate student this past season, Lewis had 52 tackles, four of which resulted in a loss, and two more interceptions.

The defensive back finished his collegiate career with 206 tackles, six interceptions, and 21 pass breakups.

Lewis becomes the third Duke player invited to a rookie minicamp alongside punter Porter Wilson and offensive lineman Jake Hornibrook.

Duke offensive lineman Jake Hornibrook headed to minicamp in Indianapolis

Former Duke lineman Jake Hornibrook will get the chance to compete for a roster spot on the Indianapolis Colts after an invite to the team’s rookie minicamp.

Duke offensive lineman Jake Hornibrook received an invite to the Indianapolis Colts rookie minicamp on Sunday.

The invite guarantees that Hornibrook is at least under consideration for a spot on the team.

The 6-foot-5 Pennsylvania native spent four years with Stanford before transferring to Duke as a graduate student in 2023. He started every regular-season game along the right side of the offensive line, both at tackle and guard. Across his five-year career, Hornibrook played in 48 games and started 35 times.

Alongside first-round pick Graham Barton and fifth-round pick Jacob Monk, the Blue Devils offensive line gave up 17 sacks on the year, the third-fewest in the ACC. Duke also averaged 4.85 yards per carry on the ground, the fifth-highest mark in the conference.

Hornibrook becomes the second Duke player invited to a team’s rookie minicamp. Punter Porter Wilson got the invitation from Green Bay on Saturday night.