Tag: Nick Morris Jr.

The Athletic includes Duke linebacker Nick Morris Jr. on the Freaks List ahead of 2024

The Athletic dropped its annual Freaks List to celebrate the best athletes in college football this week, including Duke linebacker Nick Morris Jr.

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman released his 2024 edition of the Freaks List earlier this week, one of the more fun traditions in college football.

Each year, Feldman goes through data to find the most athletic players in the college game, and he found a spot on the list for Duke linebacker Nick Morris Jr.

Morris played all 13 games for the Blue Devils last season, finishing with 61 total tackles and two tackles for loss.

After only managing 21 tackles through the first eight games of the year, he racked up at least seven in each of the last four regular-season games. He tallied 11 against Wake Forest and a season-high 12 against Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale.

The defensive star’s production is one thing, but it’s his work in the weight room that earned him his spot on the Freaks List.

“The 6-3, 237-pound Morris topped out at 21.73 mph on the GPS, vertical-jumped 38 inches and broad-jumped 10-0 1/2,” Feldman wrote. “He benched 405 pounds and power cleaned 360.”

Morris finished 65th in the rankings, which included 101 players.

Newest Duke football commit from the same high school as linebacker Nick Morris Jr.

Elliott Schaper committed to the Blue Devils on Sunday night. He goes to Westlake High School, the former home of Blue Devil Nick Morris Jr.

Duke football’s newest commitment, three-star linebacker Elliott Schaper, will have at least one familiar face in the Duke locker room.

Schaper goes to Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. Blue Devils linebacker Nick Morris Jr. also attended Westlake for his senior season in 2020.

Morris, who will be a redshirt junior in 2024, played in all 13 of Duke’s games last season and racked up 61 total tackles, tied for the third-most on the team. After a slow start to the season, Morris compiled 38 tackles in Duke’s last four regular-season games, including 12 against Pittsburgh and 11 against Wake Forest.

He also recorded his first career sack against North Carolina and recovered a fumble against Connecticut.

Schaper, who would have been in eighth grade when Morris graduated from Westlake, shared a photo with the fellow Chaparral on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Schaper announced his commitment to the Blue Devils just 32 minutes later.

Schaper becomes head coach Manny Diaz’s 11th commit of the 2025 class.

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: