Tyler Cherry didn’t watch much Duke football in 2022.
But like most fans of college football, the four-star quarterback from Center Grove (Ind.) High School spent part of his holiday break tuning into various bowl games.
He was especially intrigued by watching Duke roll past UCF, 30-13, in the Military Bowl in late December.
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“That put them to 9-4 on the season. I was like, ‘Wow. That’s a great turnaround,’” said Cherry, who grew up in Big Ten country. “Finding out that those were first-year coaches was really interesting, too. Once I learned that, I was like, ‘Man. They just flipped this whole program around.’”
Mike Elko and the Blue Devils were one of the great stories of college football in 2022, as the former Texas A&M defensive coordinator won ACC Coach of the Year honors and led Duke to nine wins for the first time since 2014. After winning a total of five games in 2020 and 2021, the Blue Devils became nationally relevant for the first time in nearly a decade.
Duke recruiting, 2015-2024
Cycle
| Class Rank
| Avg. Player Rating
| Top-500 Players
|
|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 27 | 86.84 | 3 |
2023 | 55 | 85.64 | 0 |
2022 | 51 | 86.07 | 1 |
2021 | 57 | 85.63 | 1 |
2020 | 62 | 85.05 | 0 |
2019 | 48 | 85.76 | 2 |
2018 | 63 | 85.74 | 1 |
2017 | 47 | 84.90 | 4 |
2016 | 33 | 86.04 | 9 |
2015 | 52 | 84.45 | 1 |
Now, that’s paying off on the recruiting trail.
Thanks to a recent run that included 15 commitments in June, Duke is on pace to sign a top-35 class for just the second time in the modern recruiting era. The group is headlined by Cherry and four-star cornerback Paul Mencke Jr. out of Texas.
Cherry picked the Blue Devils over a group of Big Ten suitors, including Penn State and Michigan State, after former Duke quarterback commit Hauss Hejny flipped to TCU in early April. Mencke had offers from Notre Dame, Washington and others. Both were drawn to Elko and what he’s building in Durham.
It also didn’t hurt that the Blue Devils seemingly pulled out all of the stops for the official visits.
“There’s a lot to do. When I went to South Bend, Indiana (to visit Notre Dame), we didn’t really do anything because there’s really nothing to do in South Bend, Indiana,” Mencke said, adding that, as a Texas native, he was struck by the greenery of North Carolina. “But when I went to Duke, we went go-karting, we went to a lake that was like 30 minutes away and that gives you a lot of things to do. … Make friends and fish and all that stuff.
“And I feel like (the Blue Devils) are underdogs. … We can change this whole dynamic of Duke.”
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Duke has not signed two blue-chip recruits in the same class since 2016. The Devils have two, Cherry and Mencke, and will certainly look to add more.
Mencke’s dad, Paul Mencke Sr., played football and basketball at Washington State. The younger Mencke had an offer from the Cougars and at one point thought he would commit to his father’s alma mater, before Washington State “went ghost,” he said, and essentially stopped communicating with him.
Elko, meanwhile, stayed in touch. And Mencke, who ranks No. 385 overall in the 247Sports Composite, appreciated that Duke believed in his potential early.
“That was the big thing, I’d say,” he said. “One coach, he transferred out, he’s at Buffalo now, coach (Robert) Wright, he really got me interested in Duke and made me feel like I belonged there and so that really sparked my interest first.”
Mencke said he is finished with the recruiting process and referenced what has now become a viral rant from Oklahoma coach Brent Venables about commitments.
A relevant message for today’s biggest story in college football recruiting. pic.twitter.com/wGK1RQx4fX
— The REF (@KREFsports) July 29, 2022
“(Venables) was like, ‘If you commit to me, why are you going on OVs with someone else?’” Mencke said. “He was like, ‘If you commit to this four-year marriage, why are you going to other places? That makes me feel uncertain about your loyalty and your trust,’ And I was like, ‘That makes complete sense.’
“Why would I go on different OVs when I’m committed somewhere fully?”
Cherry doesn’t have plans to check out other programs, either.
Duke coaches first started talking with him in February, he estimated, around the time they began to sense Hejny might not be so firm with his commitment. Hejny ended up decommitting in March, and that was when the Blue Devils “really started to prioritize me and put me as their No. 1 guy,” Cherry said.
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Cherry, ranked No. 426 overall nationally and the No. 30 quarterback, previously took unofficial visits to Pittsburgh, Illinois and a few other more high-profile programs that offered him, but he grew more intrigued by the Blue Devils once Hejny flipped. He had dinner with a few current players while on an unofficial visit during his spring break, and that catapulted Duke to the top of his list. Spending more time with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns also moved the needle.
“Me and coach Johns continued to build a great relationship even when they had a quarterback committed, which really stood out to me,” Cherry said. “Him willing to take the time to break down film or give me a call even when they already had their guy, that definitely meant a lot to me going through the recruiting process.
“I probably had the best relationship with coach Johns of any coach that recruited me and that meant a lot to me. It’s not about where you go, it’s the people that are there that make the place so special.”
And so Duke rolls on, as the Blue Devils are now in the final stages of wrapping up their class, which already includes 20 commitments.
What’s Elko’s pitch? Duke’s head coach seems to be letting his 2022 record speak for itself — and rightfully so.
“It’s great that you’ve got a coach that actually knows what he’s doing,” said edge rusher Kobe Smith, a three-star prospect from Chattanooga, Tenn., who committed June 21. “Usually, people talk about it but they don’t have any proof. He’s the opposite. He has proof, but he doesn’t really talk about it. I love it.”
(Photo courtesy of Tyler Cherry)
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