Duke coach David Cutcliffe has had a huge June, getting verbal commitments from 11 prospects from the Class of 2015 since the start of the month.
Assuming all 11 high schoolers remain on board until signing day (no guarantee) and Cutcliffe doesn’t convince anyone else to come to Durham before end of day Monday (also no guarantee), how does Duke’s June boon rank among best recruiting months?
Using Scout.com’s commitment database, which has verbal commitment dates for prospects going back to the Class of 2003, we looked at the ACC’s best months. As it turns out, Duke’s June isn’t even the best month for Duke over that span and ranks tenth overall among current ACC teams.
|
Team |
Month |
No. of Verbals |
Highlights |
|
Louisville |
Jan. 2003 |
20 |
Amobi Okoye |
|
Virginia Tech |
July, 2006 |
17 |
Tyrod Taylor, Davon Morgan |
|
Pittsburgh |
Jan. 2011 |
16 |
Isaac Bennett |
|
Louisville |
Jan. 2004 |
15 |
Eric Wood, Brian Brohm |
|
Duke |
July, 2008 |
15 |
Ross Cockrell, Conner Vernon |
|
NC State |
June, 2013 |
15 |
B.J. Hill, Germaine Pratt |
|
Florida State |
Jan. 2004 |
13 |
Xavier Lee, Lawrence Timmons |
|
NC State |
Jan. 2005 |
13 |
Toney Baker |
|
NC State |
Jan. 2003 |
12 |
Derek Morris |
|
Duke |
June, 2014 |
11 |
|
Clearly, a sudden flood of recruits doesn’t guarantee an impactful group of college players. Looking at the average star-rating for the prospects, Duke’s current month ranks near the top in talent level.
|
Team |
Month |
Avg. Stars |
|
Florida State |
Jan. 2004 |
3.23 |
|
NC State |
June, 2013 |
3.00 |
|
Duke |
June, 2014 |
2.91 |
|
NC State |
Jan. 2003 |
2.83 |
|
NC State |
Jan. 2005 |
2.77 |
|
Virginia Tech |
July, 2006 |
2.65 |
|
Pittsburgh |
Jan. 2011 |
2.56 |
|
Louisville |
Jan. 2003 |
2.30 |
|
Louisville |
Jan. 2004 |
2.27 |
|
Duke |
July, 2008 |
2.27 |
Still, it’s worth keeping in mind that the three recruiting months that brought in the least projected talent were the Duke players that formed the core of last season’s Coastal Division champions, and two Louisville classes that each produced an NFL first-round pick.