Tag: Jordan Waters

Former Duke RB Jordan Waters only picks up 25 rushing yards against the Blue Devils

The Duke defense faced former teammate Jordan Waters on Saturday and held him under 50 yards from scrimmage in a 29-19 win.

The Duke football team beat the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday, a 29-19 victory that gave the Blue Devils a second 2024 win over an in-state rival, but the most satisfying part of Week 11 might stem from the performance of running back Jordan Waters.

Waters led the Blue Devils with 819 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground in 2023, but after five seasons with the program, he transferred to Raleigh to spend his last year of eligibility with the Wolfpack.

The former Duke star entered Week 11 with 375 rushing yards, 98 receiving yards, and five total touchdowns for the season, but the best defense in the ACC didn’t let him replicate that pace on Saturday.

Waters finished with 25 rushing yards on 11 attempts, averaging 2.28 yards per carry with two runs longer than five yards and a single first-down conversion. He added two receptions for 17 yards, both in the fourth quarter with the Wolfpack trailing by two scores, to finish with just 42 yards from scrimmage on 13 touches.

That final output is Waters’ third-worst of the season. He only gained 14 yards against Syracuse and lost four yards against the Tennessee Volunteers in Week 2, but he touched the ball fewer than 10 times in both of those games.

How has former Duke running back Jordan Waters done with NC State so far?

With Duke football facing off against NC State on Saturday, we checked in on former Blue Devil Jordan Waters and his 2024 season thus far.

For the first five years of his career, running back Jordan Waters[/autotag] played for the Duke Blue Devils. However, ahead of his final year of eligibility, he entered the transfer portal and headed to in-state conference rival NC State.

Duke travels to Raleigh for a game against Waters and his new team in Week 11, so here’s a quick brief on how the former Blue Devil has done ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

Through the first nine games of his only season with the Wolfpack, Waters is finding some success. Across his 71 rushing attempts, he’s amassed 375 yards and four touchdowns and gained 98 more yards and another touchdown on nine receptions.

He’s also caught nine passes for 98 yards and one touchdown, but his most notable play of the season came against Stanford last week when he took a carry 94 yards to the house, the second-longest rush in program history.

However, a large portion of that production has come in two games. He picked up 124 yards against Western Carolina in Week 1 and 115 yards against Stanford last week, scoring two touchdowns in each game.

Across his other six appearances, Waters has just 136 yards on 46 attempts, including -4 yards on seven carries against the Tennessee Volunteers.

The best season of Waters’ career came with the Blue Devils in 2023 when he finished with 819 yards and 12 touchdowns on 153 attempts. He added nine passes for 139 yards, giving him 73.7 yards from scrimmage per game. He is currently averaging 59.1 per game this season, the second most of his career.

Now, Waters will face his former team this weekend as the Wolfpack hosts Duke. With six wins already, Duke is bowl-eligible. However, NC State still needs at least one more win to reach that mark for themselves.

Duke expected to add New Mexico State transfer running back Star Thomas, per Matt Zenitz

Duke looks to add final piece to the 2024 running back room after Tuesday reports of a potential transfer commitment.

Duke’s running backs are about to get another infusion of talent.

On Tuesday afternoon, Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reported that New Mexico State transfer running back Star Thomas was expected to transfer to Duke.

The transfer, who visited Duke’s campus on Tuesday according to Zenitz, will apparently pick the Blue Devils after a hard push by the Vanderbilt Commodores.

He entered the portal in April, and things have gone in several directions since then. Toward the end of the month, it was believed that new ACC member Cal was going to earn his commitment, but the Blue Devils found a new gear, got him on campus, surged ahead of Cal, and fought off advances from Vanderbilt, too.

Thomas accounted for 1,499 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns over two years at New Mexico State

Landing Thomas is huge for Duke. He’s a senior with tons of experience, giving Duke another veteran to pair with lead running back and fellow senior Jaquez Moore. Moore is the only significant returning running back after Jordan Waters opted for the transfer portal and transferred to NC State.

 

The Devils have young names like Marquise Collins, Travis Bates, and Peyton Jones on the depth chart, too, but if they aren’t progressing in the manner they need to, Duke can ride Moore and Thomas as they build their offense around Texas transfer QB Maalik Murphy.

Duke one of the finalists to land New Mexico State RB Star Thomas

Duke continues to attack the transfer portal hard in search of more pieces for the 2024 season as they are a finalist for transfer RB Star Thomas.

Duke football is far from being done constructing its roster for the 2024 season. It seems they still have a ways to go.

Recently, Bruno Fina, an offensive tackle who played last season at UCLA, hit the transfer portal and came out on the other side as a Duke Blue Devil.

Duke is now looking to boost its running back room, it appears. On3’s Pete Nakos reported on Wednesday that Manny Diaz’s team is one of four finalists for New Mexico State transfer tailback Star Thomas.

Thomas was a second-team All-Conference USA selection this past season. He rushed for 633 yards in 2023 and added four rushing touchdowns. He also caught 22 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

Throughout his career, he’s tallied 1,171 yards and 9 TDs on the ground along with 351 receiving yards and five scores as a passing weapon.

Duke’s competition includes newly minted ACC foe California, a sleeper team to win the SEC in Ole Miss, and the Toledo Rockets.

Thomas would be a welcome addition to Duke’s running back room. Since Jordan Waters’ departure to the NC State Wolfpack, the Blue Devils have been searching for a more proven option alongside Jaquez Moore, and Thomas certainly fills that role.

 

Lane Kiffin and the Rebels feel like the team to beat, but with Duke making the list as a finalist, we’ll see how things shake out when the dust settles.

Projecting the five highest-rated Blue Devils in EA Sports’ College Football 25

With EA Sports College Football 25 on the horizon, here’s our ranking of who we think will be the five highest-rated Duke players in the game.

EA Sports has officially done it. They have successfully built the momentum for the latest installment in their beloved college football video game series. It’s been a long wait, but with the teaser trailer they dropped earlier in February and the confirmation early this week that every FBS team had opted in for the video game, it’s finally starting to feel real. The official reveal of the game will come in May.

According to ESPN, Thursday was also the first day that college football players could begin opting to participate in the video game. The report said players would receive $600 and a free game copy.With the momentum of this game hitting a fever pitch and the fact that we are getting closer to release, we decided to look at how Duke may look when the game is released.Without further ado, here’s a look at who we think will be the five highest-rated Blue Devils in the new game when it releases this summer.

Know your foe, Duke: Which Blue Devils could give Notre Dame problems

The Irish face off against a very good Duke team

For the second weekend in a row, [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] will face off against another ranked team in [autotag]Duke[/autotag].

We know it’s a big game, ESPN College GameDay will be in attendance, as the Irish hit the road for this contest. Not many expected the Blue Devils to be undefeated and ranked to face Notre Dame when the season started, but here were are.

Duke has been surprisingly good on defense, their most points given up this season has been 14 to, check notes, Northwestern. The Mildcats won’t have nearly the firepower that the Irish bring, but holding Clemson down in the season opener was impressive.

Here are five Blue Devils that could give Notre Dame problems on Saturday evening.

Duke statistical leaders through four games

Does anyone on this list worry you?

There are few programs college football fans are buying more stock in right now than Duke. Maybe the only program that has turned more heads is the Deion Sanders-led Colorado. ESPN decided that there’s enough interest in the Blue Devils that the next episode of “College GameDay” will be broadcast from Durham. For once, people on Duke’s campus are excited and not about men’s basketball.

It is there that Notre Dame will play this weekend coming off the toughest of losses to Ohio State. The Irish will be facing a team trying to prove it’s for real and belongs with the best of college football. Plus, a raucous crowd at Wallace Wade Stadium likely will be waiting for them. Only they will be able to put a damper on the celebratory mood.

Here are the players who have gotten it done for the Blue Devils so far and will look to continue to do so against the Irish: