DeVontres Dukes recaps his Wolfpack official visit
Tampa (Fla.) Wharton High receiver DeVontres Dukes and his father made the lengthy drive this past weekend to make an official visit to NC State. The Dukes lived in the Fayetteville, N.C., region before moving to Tampa a couple of years ago.
The trip to the Triangle, which was being hit with a winter storm this past weekend, rekindled some of those memories of living in North Carolina.
“I loved it,” Dukes said about his visit. “There wasn’t really anything that stood out to me. The fans showed a ton of love. I can only imagine how the players felt waking around there on a daily basis. The campus was beautiful, especially when the snow hits it.
“I haven’t seen snow since 10th grade year before I moved.”
Dukes was hosted on his official visit by freshman quarterback Dylan Parham, an early enrollee from Southeast Raleigh High. Dukes also got to know recently-hired offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Eliah Drinkwitz.
“They really want my size and athleticism,” Dukes, 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, noted. “They were straightforward. The new offensive coordinator said he really liked me. He is more of a pass-then-run type coordinator. I fell in love in that. He just wants to put the ball in the receiver’s hands more often. As a receiver you can’t go wrong with that.”
Dukes, a one-time Central Florida commit, has also officially visited Marshall and South Florida. USF head coach Willie Taggart made an in-home visit with Dukes Monday evening.
With the trips and in-homes out of the way, Dukes will work towards a decision that he wants to make this week but will likely not formally announce until signing day.
“This whole week, that’s what me and my parents are going to be sitting down and talking about,” Dukes detailed. “That’s another reason I didn’t take my Jan. 29 visit. I didn’t want to go there, fall in love with that school and then decide between all the schools.
“I wanted to give myself some time to think about it, sleep on it, talk to my parents over and over about it and then try to make my final decision on Thursday, maybe Friday.”