“The times they are a-changin’” -- Bob Dylan, circa 1964 but still relevant today, especially as it relates to one particular stop on the recruiting trail.
As you may or may not be aware, Duke football underwent a renaissance of sorts in 2014. In his sixth season with the football program, David Cutcliffe and his Blue Devils set a school record in 2013 for wins in a season with 10 and earned its first-ever Coastal division title. Duke played in its first-ever ACC championship game as well, and played in a bowl game in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the program’s 92-year history.
Apparently, that momentum has bled into the 2015 recruiting season as the Blue Devils Wednesday picked up a commitment from Tyler Petite. Petite is a four-star 2015 recruit, rated as the No. 13 tight end in the country. Normally tight end verbals don’t warrant a mention here. This one, however, is different.
You see, Petite hails from the state of California and had narrowed his choices down to Duke and USC. So, yes -- at least for now -- Petite opted for the Blue Devils over the Trojans and to play his college football clear on the other side of the country.
It should be noted, however, that the decision was far from a no-brainer.
“It was pretty much the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” Petite told Rivals.com. “I got home from USC and I wanted to take some time, just a week, to kind of get back to neutral almost. You’re always going to be high coming off that last visit, especially with it being one of my favorite schools.
“I sat down with my family going through the pros and cons and I couldn’t find any cons for either school. Everything about both I just loved. One day I was thinking USC. The next day it would be Duke. Even my family had no idea. We all just thought both would be a great fit,” Petite continued.
“Then I was just sitting in my room one day and I thought, ‘For the next four or five years, where would I be most comfortable?’ Duke just came to me. It’s so much like my high school and that stuck with me. I went to bed that night and when I woke up it was still Duke. Then I went to bed again, got up, and it was Duke. Finally I went to my dad and told him.”
Still, kudos to Cutcliffe and his his staff for pulling a significant commitment from USC’s own state. The task, though, will now be for the Blue Devils to hang on to the commitment until February of next year as first-year Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff will no doubt be looking to flip Petite over the next several months.
(Photo credit: Rivals.com)