Since David Cutcliffe took over as Duke’s head football coach eight years ago, the importance of social media in recruiting has grown significantly. What would have been a foreign concept a decade ago is now mainstream today, as coaches constantly reach out to prospects via Twitter.
While social media is almost always used in the process of winning over a recruit, Cutcliffe told The David Glenn Show on Wednesday that it can also be a valuable tool for ruling out potential targets.
“I like direct messaging (on Twitter) more than I do texting, where I’m following them and they’re following me,” the Blue Devil coach said. “If I follow a player — and we can start following them early — and they don’t follow me back, and I follow them again and they don’t follow me back, they just saved me a lot of time, energy and money traveling. There’s no reason to pursue them.”
Duke signed 21 players in its 2016 recruiting class. The group is ranked No. 34 nationally and No. 6 in the ACC according to 247Sports composite rankings.
During the conversation, Cutcliffe also discussed why he likes it when his committed players still play high school basketball and what it was like recruiting Peyton Manning in the ’90s. Click below to hear the full interview: