'18 KY DE Arak 'AJ' McDuffie

[BobbyMac]

WDE / SDE / DE
Louisville, KY
Trinity Catholic

Measurements:
Height: 6-5
Weight: 240

Rankings:

247 Comp: ..... 3 star ..... #36 WDE ..... #680 OA ..... .8566 rating
247: ............... 3 star ..... #23 WDE ..... #432 OA ...... 88 rating
Rivals: ............ 2 star
Scout: ............ 3 star ..... #64 WDE
ESPN: ............ NR

Offers:
Purdue
Syracuse
Louisville
WKU
Toledo
Marshall ................. Committed 2-5-18
Villanova
E Kentucky
Austin Peay
Howard

Media Links:

Twitter - @Obeyarak

https://www.hudl.com/profile/7752139/arak-aj-mcduffie

Highlights:

<iframe src='//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/7752139/59bd68949a9bef09e85646eb' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[BobbyMac]

Visiting for USC per his 247 timeline.

A kid named McDuffie who plays for a Catholic school nicknamed the Shamrocks. Good enough for me! Sign em up.

Posts from the 2018 Master List

Seems to be something going on w/ Arak McDuffie on the Irish Illustrated boards. He's a 6-6, 240lb DE from top ranked Louisville Trinity. 247 lists him as the #21 WDE but he's an SDE and playing like a 4* this season. Super productive this year, had 5 sacks against Warren Central in their big win two weekends ago. A lot of film available on him this season, against quality opposition.

Wiltfong was at the WC game raved about him and he picked up instant Toledo and Syracuse offers afterwards. With questions remaining at both DE spots this cycle, good to widen the net.

<iframe class="twofourseven-embed" style="max-width: 100%" frameborder="0" width="600" height="200" src="http://247sports.com/PlayerSport/Arak-McDuffie-at-Trinity-212995/Embed"></iframe><script async src="https://assets.247sports.com/Scripts/SkyNet/Shared/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Found the Wiltfong and Trieu write ups on AJ McDuffie

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Louisville Trinity 2018 DE Arak McDuffey has five sacks tonight and we are only in the third. 6-5, 235 sleeper no longer. No. 38 <a href="https://t.co/ewRWGb8vCG">pic.twitter.com/ewRWGb8vCG</a></p>— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) <a href="https://twitter.com/SWiltfong247/status/901247546118610944">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Louisville Trinity 2018 DE Arak McDuffie shines in win over Indianapolis Warren Central. News & notes from the game: <a href="https://t.co/AWrbSrHMKj">https://t.co/AWrbSrHMKj</a></p>— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) <a href="https://twitter.com/SWiltfong247/status/901293446115229697">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Louisville Trinity DE Arak McDuffie rising fast. Added two offers this week, has a visit to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisville?src=hash">#Louisville</a> coming up: <a href="https://t.co/DPThsA59Ez">https://t.co/DPThsA59Ez</a> <a href="https://t.co/doIhaUNk5z">pic.twitter.com/doIhaUNk5z</a></p>— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllenTrieu/status/902512313177124864">August 29, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

5 sacks vs. WC will do that. Visited OSU for the OU game.

Hard to block Trinity with borderline 5 star '19 WDE, Stephen Herron on the other side.

McDuffie had a few nice reps against WC's Justin Britt who will be a 4* OL/DT prospect next year. But once they switched Britt over to the left to block Herron, McDuffie wore out #78.

<iframe src='//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/7752139/59a182472351c51514caaa2b' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

He'll play WDE. Talking to some Trinity folk he was a skinny kid who added 30 pounds this summer. Think he'll play between 255-265 in college. Not a kid who will develop into a 280-290 pounder. More quickness than power.

You need to go look at this season's films on Hudl, there's 20 of them. He's more power than quick and that's not saying he's slow. He IS a good athlete, he's just not an Ossai / Anoma prototype WDE. His film vs WC is pretty amazing considering how easily he stands up and drives on their 270-285 lb OL's... one of which is 4* 285lb Justin Britt - a Top 150 player by Scout.

Wtih his frame, I'd put him at 270 soph year in any DI S&C. He put on 30lbs in a summer working out with a local guy.

I talked to people who know him well. He'll never become the size you suggest. And I've seen his film. He'll carry the same kind of weight as Trumbetti.

You got him up to 265 but he'll never become 270.

Trumbetti 6-4, 263. Sr in college.

McDuffie 6-5/6-6, 240. Sr in HS

We'll see.

Pretty impressive film. I'd certainly start dialogue, try to get him on campus, and go from there. I'm all 4 guys like this. You do this every cycle, your going to end up with some good ones. Just might take some time.

As has been stated over and over again you can control how much weight a kid puts on. I don't why everyone just assumes all guys are going to add 30-40 pounds of weight. Derrick Allen could easily hit 230 if you wanted him too but Balis plan for him is to keep his weight at 215. If they value McDuffie's quickness off the edge they can easily keep his weight at around 255-260. Hell Anthony Chickillo was built up to 280 pounds to play 3-4 DE at Miami. When the Steelers drafted him they remade his body and got him down to 260 to play 3-4 OLB. BTW he had two sacks Sunday playing 3-4 OLB.

Allen's a bad example, doesn't need to ad size to play his position.

Anthony Chickillo is a better one. Chickillo was a 6-3, 225 lb player in HS not a 6-6, 240 lb like McDuffie. To get Chickillo strong enough to play line in college, he put on a lot of weight to get there almost to 280 lb as you mentioned. The Steelers saw something else and took a mature, 6-3, 267 lb SDE and went to work on him but he already had 4 years in a major S&C program and it's year 3 of his pro career.

To get McDuffie up to college strength, he'll have to add mass and his 6-6 frame dictates there will be more mass needed to cover that frame. He's also shown a propensity to put weight on and as his larger frame is filled in, he's going to add more weight than a 6-3 player. It's hard keepin weight off some kids. Who would have thought Okundeji would ever be a 260 lb DE? He was a sub-220 pounder during the camp circuit before his Sr. year. He's closing in on 260.

As far as WDE vs SDE, that gets over blown. To me, his film shows a good athlete but not the burst the level of WDE ND should be targeting... Joseph Ossai, Azeez Ojulari, Jarell Cherry or current OLB - Adam Anderson. Those kinda guys. His film and size look a lot closer to Devin O'Rourke than the guys mentioned above.

 

[Bubbles]

awesome name

 

[BobbyMac]

Did someone here say McDuffie would not be getting an offer?

Wiltfong CB'd him to Purdue last week and a Louisville analyst CB'd him there yesterday.

 

[tko]

Brohm trying to stake claim to his high school.

 

[dwshade]

Did someone here say McDuffie would not be getting an offer?

Wiltfong CB'd him to Purdue last week and a Louisville analyst CB'd him there yesterday.

Yes, that's what II reported.

 

[BobbyMac]

Committed to Marshall.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Louisville Trinity 2018 DE Arak McDuffie commits to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Marshall?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Marshall</a>. Had 34 TFLs and 24.5 sacks as a senior for the powerhouse program. Pass rushers don't grow on trees and the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThunderingHerd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThunderingHerd</a> get a good one here: <a href="https://t.co/HMJsq2YLQB">https://t.co/HMJsq2YLQB</a> <a href="https://t.co/VdNJwO4kCC">https://t.co/VdNJwO4kCC</a></p>— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) <a href="https://twitter.com/SWiltfong247/status/960537880354611200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[dublinirish]

grades an issue here? marshall is generally known for taking punts on kids with such issues.