Q&A: Blaine's Duke Anyanwu Talks About Upcoming Official Visit at Minnesota

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Blaine's Duke Anyanwu Talks About Upcoming Official Visit at Minnesota
By Chris Monter

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/127632?referrer_id=331171

Duke Anyanwu, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior quarterback/wide receiver/athlete from Blaine (MN) High, has received four scholarship offers and is hoping to add to that list. Anyanwu, who is also a standout basketball player, attended the Minnesota Under the Lights football camp in June and was at several Gopher home games versus Miami of Ohio and Iowa.

Anyanwu helped lead the Bengals to an 8-3 mark this year, losing to Anoka 27-22 in the Section 7AAAAA finals. He completed 115 of 161 passes for 925 yards and five scores. Anyanwu was even more effective as a runner as he carried the ball 199 times for 1130 yards with 18 touchdowns.

Anyanwu recently talked to GopherHole.com about the very latest on his recruitment in an exclusive interview.

GH: I had stopped by the Bloomington Jefferson Jamboree the other week to watch you, but you were on your official visit to South Dakota State. How did the visit go?

Duke Anyanwu: The official was really nice. I got to feel the team atmosphere in how they are doing things over there.

GH: Have you made plans for any other official visits yet?

Duke Anyanwu: I am going to take an official to Minnesota on the 13th of January. I have an official to the Air Force on the weekend of the 19th and an official to UNI on the weekend of the 6th.

GH: What are you hearing from the Gophers?

Duke Anyanwu: One of the coaches came and watched me play basketball a couple of weeks ago. They want to see what I can do at the H (back) position and hopefully, an offer will come soon.

GH: Is that something that would appeal to you playing that spot? Do you know much about that position? I know that you have played wide receiver in the past.

Duke Anyanwu: It is like a blocking tight end/receiver who can split outside and make plays outside as well. I am open to that. I am open to anything that helps the team win.

GH: How many offers are you up to right now?

Duke Anyanwu: I have four right now. Air Force, South Dakota State, Northern Iowa and North Dakota. Akron and NIU (Northern Illinois) are in intense talks about it right now

GH: Are you making to make any other visits besides those three? Would you take your fifth (the maximum) official visit?

Duke Anyanwu: I might take that fifth one depending on what NIU wants to do. There are in a bowl game still, so that couldn’t do full recruiting, so we’ll see how things go.

GH: Are you leaning any way yet or are you still pretty wide-open?

Duke Anyanwu: I am still pretty open. I’m not going to sway any way and I am closing my options up to other places.

GH: What position are the other schools looking at you playing in college?

Duke Anyanwu: What I am hearing from other schools is tight end, defensive end and outside linebacker and that is the main positions I ma hearing.

GH: Do you have a preference at all?

Duke Anyanwu: I love offense, but I am open to play defense.

GH: Have you ever played defense?

Duke Anyanwu: I have. Sophomore year, I played outside linebacker, so that was a good experience for me.

GH: What are you hoping to get out of the Minnesota visit? What are you hoping to learn?

Duke Anyanwu: Hopefully, I’ll get acquainted with some of the guys. A couple of good buddies of mine are going to the Gophers already like Maxx Williams, Philip Nelson and Mitch Leidner. I am good buddies with all those guys and hang out with them a bunch. Hopefully, I’ll get acquainted with the players who are already on the roster and hope to get the offer.

GH: Have you talked to them and have they tried to sway you at all?

Duke Anyanwu: Yeah, Mitch and all those guys, they do a pretty job with that, but at the end of the day, hopefully, I’ll get that offer and I’ll decide from there.
 

A little birdie told me this will work out well for us. And I'm the guy that almost never knows anything on recruits...
 

I think Duke gets an offer and I think he accepts it the day later. This isn't from any inside info, it just makes sense to me and I think he's the best player in the state w/o an offer.
 

id much rather bring in a couple dt's and maybe another saftey or wr... if he gets an offer i think its safe to assume we are out of options... i will say that i havent watched alot of film on him so i dont know that much about him... just not my ideal recuit for a scholly.... prefered walk on yes..
 

He may have been a back-up plan to Johnson from Osseo. I hope they offer him. We need athletes with football position versatility.
 


stuck_in_scony_go4_fan said:
id much rather bring in a couple dt's and maybe another saftey or wr... if he gets an offer i think its safe to assume we are out of options... i will say that i havent watched alot of film on him so i dont know that much about him... just not my ideal recuit for a scholly.... prefered walk on yes..
Click to expand...

I think we have about 4 more scholarships to give out and things can change a lot in just under four weeks.
 

My nephew played with Duke at Blaine. His response to my questions about him were:
1. Smartest guy on the team.
2. One of the nicest guys on the team.
3. Could play any position he wanted to and would've been the best at that position. Blaine has had some pretty good teams lately.
4. They played him where they thought he could make the most impact....and get the most touches.
5. Naturally strong, and could easily put on 20-30 pounds with a good weight program.

He sounds like a perfect Kill-type recruit to me.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think we have about 4 more scholarships to give out and things can change a lot in just under four weeks.
Click to expand...

We allegedly just offered KJ Maye yesterday.
 

He does look like he's got a big frame to add weight.
I think in other years he's probably a lock to get a schollie.
The staff sure seems to like recruiting Hbacks right now, makes you wonder if maybe a few of the Hback prospects are going to another position.
 




Ole said:
He does look like he's got a big frame to add weight.
I think in other years he's probably a lock to get a schollie.
The staff sure seems to like recruiting Hbacks right now, makes you wonder if maybe a few of the Hback prospects are going to another position.
Click to expand...

Outside of Pirsig every recruit could end up at a different position. That is the versatility Kill and staff want.
 

Ole said:
He does look like he's got a big frame to add weight.
I think in other years he's probably a lock to get a schollie.
The staff sure seems to like recruiting Hbacks right now, makes you wonder if maybe a few of the Hback prospects are going to another position.
Click to expand...

i hate this quote... in other years he a lock to get a schollie.... if hes good enough to get a schollie in other years hes good enough to get one this year and i would of assumed it would have been offered long before a month before signing day.... especially since he can play just about anywhere on the feild... at least thats what everyone is saying.. i dont get all this mn homerism for our kids and them getting a schollie...

maybe he is a diamond in the rough and i hope i am wrong. and i dont mean to come across as a troll as i just want the gophers to put the best team possible on the field i just think there are other, much bigger needs that this team needs to fix
 

GophersInIowa said:
Anyone know anything about him? He's listed as an athlete. WR?
Click to expand...

Every DB Kill has recruited has been tall (5'11"+), so it would seem that if they want Maye (5'9") they are looking at him as another Marcus Jones scatback/KR/PR type.
 



stuck_in_scony_go4_fan said:
i hate this quote... in other years he a lock to get a schollie.... if hes good enough to get a schollie in other years hes good enough to get one this year and i would of assumed it would have been offered long before a month before signing day.... especially since he can play just about anywhere on the feild... at least thats what everyone is saying.. i dont get all this mn homerism for our kids and them getting a schollie...

maybe he is a diamond in the rough and i hope i am wrong. and i dont mean to come across as a troll as i just want the gophers to put the best team possible on the field i just think there are other, much bigger needs that this team needs to fix
Click to expand...

You keep posting this over and over. What do you not understand about simple supply and demand? In some years, we have 3 or 4 in-state kids worthy of offers. In some years (like this year), we may have 13 or 14. The problem is that the skills, abilities, positions, etc. of those kids aren't necessarily congruent with our needs. It's really not difficult to understand.
 

when i look at the offer lists of these kids its all sdsu, ndsu, northern iowa, and the occasional mac school or academy offers.. not exactly what i would call B10 tallent.. and i get you strike it rich every now and then with a decker.. these kids who everyone says deserves a schollie have never played against div1 recruits where as the kids from tx cal and fla have... week in and week out... like i said if he gets an offer i will gladly eat some crow if he turns out to be a solid player for the gophers, and i hope every recruit we bring in does.

it just seems to me that these kids are the last resorts for the staff and they are only getting offers because we are being shot down or out recruted by other schools... that doesnt mean these kids are b10 calliber players..
 

There are plenty of MN kids who only have other offers from MAC schools who end up with Gopher offers. In most years, he would have been offered by now, furthermore there are TONS of kids who don't get offered until January. We have 5-10 guys from last years class who weren't offered until after Christmas, and a few of them have been pretty good for us.

The fact that a kid hasn't been offered yet (from anywhere, MN or outstate), really does not mean he isn't good enough for an offer.
Additionally, in a year when your state has considerable more talent than other years, you're going to not be able to offer all the kids you would have in other years.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
There are plenty of MN kids who only have other offers from MAC schools who end up with Gopher offers. In most years, he would have been offered by now, furthermore there are TONS of kids who don't get offered until January. We have 5-10 guys from last years class who weren't offered until after Christmas, and a few of them have been pretty good for us.

The fact that a kid hasn't been offered yet (from anywhere, MN or outstate), really does not mean he isn't good enough for an offer.
Additionally, in a year when your state has considerable more talent than other years, you're going to not be able to offer all the kids you would have in other years.
Click to expand...

+1. Well Said.
 


stuck_in_scony_go4_fan said:
when i look at the offer lists of these kids its all sdsu, ndsu, northern iowa, and the occasional mac school or academy offers.. not exactly what i would call B10 tallent.. and i get you strike it rich every now and then with a decker.. these kids who everyone says deserves a schollie have never played against div1 recruits where as the kids from tx cal and fla have... week in and week out... like i said if he gets an offer i will gladly eat some crow if he turns out to be a solid player for the gophers, and i hope every recruit we bring in does.

it just seems to me that these kids are the last resorts for the staff and they are only getting offers because we are being shot down or out recruted by other schools... that doesnt mean these kids are b10 calliber players..
Click to expand...

Well you should at least admit he played at the highest level of football in MN. Blaine is a perennial power with an absolute stud athlete who will be qb next year (was backup to Duke this year). So Duke was good enough to start on a top 10 team in the state. I worry more about kids who play outstate at the little schools. They can look great against the towns of 200 but be completely outclassed come a big school like us. I'd like to see him in a MN uniform, but we're at the point where we still need to trust the coaches. 2-3 years from now is when we can start second guessing if we still suck.
 

Sparlimb said:
Well you should at least admit he played at the highest level of football in MN. Blaine is a perennial power with an absolute stud athlete who will be qb next year (was backup to Duke this year). So Duke was good enough to start on a top 10 team in the state. I worry more about kids who play outstate at the little schools. They can look great against the towns of 200 but be completely outclassed come a big school like us. I'd like to see him in a MN uniform, but we're at the point where we still need to trust the coaches. 2-3 years from now is when we can start second guessing if we still suck.
Click to expand...

For once, you actually made a post that was correct and didn't completely suck. Good job. Keep it up.
 


He seems to fit the mold that Kill is looking for, he's an athlete, they'd just need to find a place for him. I wouldn't be opposed to it.
 

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