bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
DURHAM -- Duke fans who were seeing stars on national signing day might not have thought all that much of the football class the Blue Devils secured Wednesday, but Coach David Cutcliffe sees it another way.
Cutcliffe called the rankings "fun" but said they aren't fundamental to his definition of success.
Scout.com, one of the three major recruiting Web sites, ranked Duke's class at No. 69 among the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision programs, the lowest among ACC schools.
"I really don't concern myself with that," Cutcliffe said. "I don't begrudge it, but I just don't think it's a science at all.
"Think about all the bad draft choices people make, and they can do anything they want to those guys to find out if they want them. Think about this: There was an argument as whether to take Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf."
Cutcliffe praised his class of 19 -- which officially doesn't include junior college transfer Cooper Helfet -- saying the Blue Devils got exactly what they needed.
First and foremost, they got speed and playmakers, with 10 members of the class posting a 40-yard-dash time of 4.5 or better, topped by the 4.4 of defensive back Quan Stevenson out of High Point.
"It's one of the fastest classes that I've ever been around," Cutcliffe said.
Cutcliffe said the Blue Devils also got bigger and stronger with a pair of players on both lines in the 300-pound range -- Laken Tomlinson and Takoby Cofield on offense; Steven Ingram and Will Bryant on defense -- and they also got prospects who could help their recently struggling pass rush -- Dezmond Johnson, Jamal Wallace and Jordan Ondijo.
They also got the two quarterbacks, Anthony Boone and Brandon Connette, they had targeted.
Cutcliffe and his staff certainly feel like they know what they're getting, not because of star ratings but because of their own homework. That's especially the case with the 13 commitments who participated in summer football camps at Duke.
"When you watch tape, that's one thing and that's what folks do to rate," Cutcliffe said. "What we do is we have a ton of guys in camp. The first thing we like to do is not pat them on the back and recruit them; we work them. I ask our coaches to work them like they're our own.
"I want to find out how they work, how they compete and whether they can take the way we coach because we're pretty intense."
Many of Duke's campers didn't have to travel very far. For the second consecutive season, the Blue Devils' class features nine in-state commitments. Duke's four classes before Cutcliffe's arrival had a total of 10 in-state players.
"We're just thrilled with those results," Cutcliffe said. "Looking across the state over the next few years, you're going to see more and more and more players at Duke out of the state of North Carolina for lots of reasons, but first and foremost because of the quality of the athletes and coaches.
"It's about relationships. I came over here as a very young, full-of-hair coach back in the early '80s and signed some good players and made some good friends. Fortunately, I'm not so old that all of those friends have retired."
The stress of signing day for many programs is enough to give coaches gray hair. There's rarely much drama at Duke on signing day, and that was the case again Wednesday, when all the players expected to sign faxed in their letters of intent.
In some ways, that made Wednesday's proceedings old news from Cutcliffe's perspective -- old news, but good news.
"Duke football got better today," he said. "We spent our morning, instead of just staring at the fax machine, by the fax machine evaluating 2011 and 2012 prospects on tape.
"We did about five hours of that this morning and really feel good about our recruiting -- and I'm not even talking about our 2010 recruiting."
NOTES -- Three of Duke's recruits already are enrolled in school and will take part in spring practice, which kicks off Feb. 15. In addition to Helfet, Connette and running back Josh Snead out of Smithfield are enrolled. ... Cutcliffe has moved wide receiver Johnny Williams to cornerback, suggesting that Williams eventually could contribute on both sides of the ball, and has moved tight end Kenny Anunkie to defensive end. ... Cutcliffe announced that the program has granted a scholarship to kicker Will Snyderwine, who hit 17 of 20 field goals and all 24 of his PATs in 2009.
