Duke Is Now After Philly’s Amile Jefferson
Words. Patrick Cassidy
For a college coaching staff that has been putting in serious time (many times years of pursuit) on a local recruit, pretty much the absolute worst news that they can ever receive is that Duke is suddenly interested in that same player. Coach K and Co. are among the handful of programs that can usually afford to sit back while other school spend time and resources recruiting players and then swoop in to take who they want down the stretch. And that may be the case with Philly star forward Amile Jefferson (Friends Central).
Alex Schwartz of NBE is reporting that Duke is now in hot pursuit of one of 2012′s top unsigned players.
Schwartz says that Coach K (as well as Villanova’s Jay Wright) was in attendance Tuesday night at Jefferson’s game against Westtown.
From Schwartz’s post and post-game interview with Amile:
At this point, Jefferson said he is still considering Villanova, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Connecticut, Kentucky, Temple and Duke.
“They got in touch with me and my father,” Jefferson said of Duke. “They had been looking [at me during my] . . . sophomore year . . . The school speaks for itself.”
Jefferson said that the Blue Devils have indeed offered him a scholarship. On whether he will visit the Tobacco Road campus, he remarked, “We haven’t decided yet.”
The City of Brotherly Love star has previously tripped to Durham, N.C., so he does have some familiarity with the Duke campus already.
“It means a lot,” Jefferson said of Krzyzewski coming out to his game. “He’s a great guy, he’s the best at what he does.”
Although Jefferson does not have a timetable for a commitment, he could start to make some headway towards a choice in the near future.
“I’m still taking my time, [but I may want to] make one soon, so I need to sit down with my father,” Jefferson said.
Not good news for Nova, Temple, and everyone else previously in the mix.
Watch this to see what all the fuss is about – Amile is 6-7, can dribble, pass and has back-to-the-basket dropstep moves for days:
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WOLFPACK IN THE HOUSE! Can you smell the popcorn popping?
Duke or NC State… Hope Amile Jefferson represents Philly bball in the ACC.
At State, Jefferson could play with ballers Rodney Purvis, CJ Leslie, Tyler Lewis, TJ Warren, Tyler Harris.
With Duke, Amile Jefferson, Rasheed Sulaimon, Tony Parker would make a solid recruiting class to play alongside the likes of Quinn Cook, Josh Hairston, Alex Murphy, Andre Dawkins, and Tyler Thorton.
time will tell…