Recruiting rivals: BC-Duke
Justin Rowland
EagleAction.com Recruiting Analyst
Talk about it in The Eagles Nest
EagleAction.com is taking an in-depth look at some of BC's current recruiting rivalries.
Rather than focus on just one or two players, let's take a look at the bigger picture. We're talking about the dynamics at work behind the scenes, why certain recruiting rivalries exist, and what the forecast and ramifications are for both programs.
We'll start off with a new recruiting rival of late for the Eagles: Duke.
Duke will dabble in New England but they won't zero in on any region too heavily.
History
Duke has always recruited more nationally than most ACC schools. That's a common strategy of private institutions ranging from Stanford to Northwestern and Vanderbilt, and it doesn't always speak to the success (or lack of success) that program is having. The same is true of BC to some extent, although as a Jesuit institution the dynamics are a bit different.
The Blue Devils and Eagles rarely went head-to-head for recruits in the past. With BC targeting Ohio and New England, traditionally, the paths of the two programs rarely crossed. BC traditionally recruited a higher-caliber of player given the relative success of the two programs.
But with Steve Addazio haven't to right the ship after years of on-field difficulty and with David Cutcliffe bringing Duke football to heights not seen since Steve Spurrier roamed the sidelines in Durham, the two programs are butting heads more often.
The battle lines
Duke is having success recruiting all over the place. Their position in-state is stronger than ever, but North Carolina isn't a place BC has had much success, aside from Harold Landry - nor have they made that state an integral part of their recruiting strategy, besides a willingness to selectively target players here or there.
They're having success in Georgia, too, and that's a state that BC does target. But the Eagles and Blue Devils' recruiting battles have been infrequent in the Peach State, too.
Both programs target Florida players, but that's not where the battle lines really are, either. Boston College continues to target New Jersey, as does Duke, and both programs target Ohio - Duke to a greater degree than before, BC perhaps more selectively than before.
The BC-Duke battle line has formed principally in New England, which is both good and bad for Boston College. It's good because the Eagles have the proximity angle working in their favor. It's easier to get those kids to visit Chestnut Hill, they're more likely to have grown up liking BC, and that's something families like, too.
On the other hand it's a negative because New England is more essential to BC's success than Duke's. The Blue Devils can afford to lose a few New England recruiting battles. Whatever they get is a bonus. For Boston College, losing a few New England battles makes it more of a necessity to pull off some big recruiting wins elsewhere. In short, you've got to bat a higher average locally than anywhere else, so Duke camping out in BC's backyard is certainly not a welcomed development.
The emergence of Penn State as a recruiting power in the region once again and the fact of programs like Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame lingering around when they identify top talents makes it essential that BC take care of business against Duke in order to bring home the kind of Massachusetts, Connecticut and even New Jersey/Pennsylvania players that they need to in order to compete for conference championships. Fortunately, Rutgers and Syracuse haven't really hurt BC so much and the Eagles have been able to win their share of recruiting fights against those programs.
Case studies
Even if one doesn't believe there's cause for "concern," working under the assumption that there are only so many schools that will land Top 20 classes, and the rest is about evaluating three stars better than your opponents, then one must concede that Duke has changed the landscape in the world of New England recruiting.
Four-star linebacker Koby Quansah and three-star athlete Jacob Morgenstern have given Duke a strong football in Connecticut's Class of 2016. Both players were targeted by BC, but it's also worth noting that BC wasn't waiting around for either player. They're more than happy with Ethan Tucky and Max Richardson at linebacker, and given the fact that they struggled to find room for Tucky, they wouldn't have had room for Quansah. And while Morgenstern would have been a 'take' at one point, there were more than enough options for BC this year, especially with limited scholarships, and they didn't wait around for him, either.
Players like Myles Hudzick, Brittain Brown, Mark Gilbert and others committed to Duke have or claimed BC offers but committed early enough that they weren't really losses for BC.
Conversely, BC has had their share of recruiting successes against the Blue Devils.
Down in Georgia this year three-star linebacker Max Richardson committed to BC in spite of having a Duke offer.
And it's also true that there are some players in New England that are obvious BC leans that Duke is probably not going to recruit for that very reason. So really, Duke's recruiting success and clout in New England is tougher to quantify than you might think. They aren't going to "play up" their recruitment of players in the region unless they know they have a good shot with them.
Last year BC had success recruiting against Duke in Florida, winning over both Jimmy Martin and Mehdi El Attrach.
Long-term forecast
Anytime a new program shows up in your backyard as a major recruiting player it's a factor that has to be considered. It requires more investment in local recruiting. Not necessarily negative recruiting, but your assistant coaches have to be prepared to sell your program and to make relevant comparisons when it's called for.
BC will always have certain innate advantages against Duke recruiting in New England, which is where the programs are really going toe to toe. It could be that David Cutcliffe is poised to get his share in New England for the foreseeable future, but sustaining momentum and a high level of recruiting success at Duke is not easy. Beyond that, Duke is also frequently targeting many other places including some more locally - North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and elsewhere.
So Duke is not a long-term worry so much as a (likely) shorter-term nuisance. Their presence in New England means that BC's staff will have to be diligent in identifying players that seem to be leaning that direction and cutting their losses, moving on to other targets that want to be at BC. Or if the player is essential to the class, it means being ready to buckle in for a long fight and maybe even continuing to recruit players that commit to Duke early.
Ideally BC could take the fight more locally and start to poach some recruits in Duke's backyard to reverse the field, so to speak, but right now North Carolina is not one of BC's most important pipeline states.
Short term keep an eye on Blake Gallagher's recruitment as he likes both Duke and BC a lot. Duke has offered four-star receiver Tarik Black and three-star linebacker Ben Mason of Connecticut as well from the Class of 2017.
Justin Rowland
EagleAction.com Recruiting Analyst
Talk about it in The Eagles Nest
EagleAction.com is taking an in-depth look at some of BC's current recruiting rivalries.
Rather than focus on just one or two players, let's take a look at the bigger picture. We're talking about the dynamics at work behind the scenes, why certain recruiting rivalries exist, and what the forecast and ramifications are for both programs.
We'll start off with a new recruiting rival of late for the Eagles: Duke.
Duke will dabble in New England but they won't zero in on any region too heavily.
History
Duke has always recruited more nationally than most ACC schools. That's a common strategy of private institutions ranging from Stanford to Northwestern and Vanderbilt, and it doesn't always speak to the success (or lack of success) that program is having. The same is true of BC to some extent, although as a Jesuit institution the dynamics are a bit different.
The Blue Devils and Eagles rarely went head-to-head for recruits in the past. With BC targeting Ohio and New England, traditionally, the paths of the two programs rarely crossed. BC traditionally recruited a higher-caliber of player given the relative success of the two programs.
But with Steve Addazio haven't to right the ship after years of on-field difficulty and with David Cutcliffe bringing Duke football to heights not seen since Steve Spurrier roamed the sidelines in Durham, the two programs are butting heads more often.
The battle lines
Duke is having success recruiting all over the place. Their position in-state is stronger than ever, but North Carolina isn't a place BC has had much success, aside from Harold Landry - nor have they made that state an integral part of their recruiting strategy, besides a willingness to selectively target players here or there.
They're having success in Georgia, too, and that's a state that BC does target. But the Eagles and Blue Devils' recruiting battles have been infrequent in the Peach State, too.
Both programs target Florida players, but that's not where the battle lines really are, either. Boston College continues to target New Jersey, as does Duke, and both programs target Ohio - Duke to a greater degree than before, BC perhaps more selectively than before.
The BC-Duke battle line has formed principally in New England, which is both good and bad for Boston College. It's good because the Eagles have the proximity angle working in their favor. It's easier to get those kids to visit Chestnut Hill, they're more likely to have grown up liking BC, and that's something families like, too.
On the other hand it's a negative because New England is more essential to BC's success than Duke's. The Blue Devils can afford to lose a few New England recruiting battles. Whatever they get is a bonus. For Boston College, losing a few New England battles makes it more of a necessity to pull off some big recruiting wins elsewhere. In short, you've got to bat a higher average locally than anywhere else, so Duke camping out in BC's backyard is certainly not a welcomed development.
The emergence of Penn State as a recruiting power in the region once again and the fact of programs like Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame lingering around when they identify top talents makes it essential that BC take care of business against Duke in order to bring home the kind of Massachusetts, Connecticut and even New Jersey/Pennsylvania players that they need to in order to compete for conference championships. Fortunately, Rutgers and Syracuse haven't really hurt BC so much and the Eagles have been able to win their share of recruiting fights against those programs.
Case studies
Even if one doesn't believe there's cause for "concern," working under the assumption that there are only so many schools that will land Top 20 classes, and the rest is about evaluating three stars better than your opponents, then one must concede that Duke has changed the landscape in the world of New England recruiting.
Four-star linebacker Koby Quansah and three-star athlete Jacob Morgenstern have given Duke a strong football in Connecticut's Class of 2016. Both players were targeted by BC, but it's also worth noting that BC wasn't waiting around for either player. They're more than happy with Ethan Tucky and Max Richardson at linebacker, and given the fact that they struggled to find room for Tucky, they wouldn't have had room for Quansah. And while Morgenstern would have been a 'take' at one point, there were more than enough options for BC this year, especially with limited scholarships, and they didn't wait around for him, either.
Players like Myles Hudzick, Brittain Brown, Mark Gilbert and others committed to Duke have or claimed BC offers but committed early enough that they weren't really losses for BC.
Conversely, BC has had their share of recruiting successes against the Blue Devils.
Down in Georgia this year three-star linebacker Max Richardson committed to BC in spite of having a Duke offer.
And it's also true that there are some players in New England that are obvious BC leans that Duke is probably not going to recruit for that very reason. So really, Duke's recruiting success and clout in New England is tougher to quantify than you might think. They aren't going to "play up" their recruitment of players in the region unless they know they have a good shot with them.
Last year BC had success recruiting against Duke in Florida, winning over both Jimmy Martin and Mehdi El Attrach.
Long-term forecast
Anytime a new program shows up in your backyard as a major recruiting player it's a factor that has to be considered. It requires more investment in local recruiting. Not necessarily negative recruiting, but your assistant coaches have to be prepared to sell your program and to make relevant comparisons when it's called for.
BC will always have certain innate advantages against Duke recruiting in New England, which is where the programs are really going toe to toe. It could be that David Cutcliffe is poised to get his share in New England for the foreseeable future, but sustaining momentum and a high level of recruiting success at Duke is not easy. Beyond that, Duke is also frequently targeting many other places including some more locally - North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and elsewhere.
So Duke is not a long-term worry so much as a (likely) shorter-term nuisance. Their presence in New England means that BC's staff will have to be diligent in identifying players that seem to be leaning that direction and cutting their losses, moving on to other targets that want to be at BC. Or if the player is essential to the class, it means being ready to buckle in for a long fight and maybe even continuing to recruit players that commit to Duke early.
Ideally BC could take the fight more locally and start to poach some recruits in Duke's backyard to reverse the field, so to speak, but right now North Carolina is not one of BC's most important pipeline states.
Short term keep an eye on Blake Gallagher's recruitment as he likes both Duke and BC a lot. Duke has offered four-star receiver Tarik Black and three-star linebacker Ben Mason of Connecticut as well from the Class of 2017.
