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Duke Ejiofor Appreciation Thread

Yeah. He could go either way which is better for his draft prospects.
 
I would dread losing Duke Ejiofor, Marquel Lee, Josh Banks and Brad Watson this offseason (if Ejiofor heads to the NFL).
 
Who is slated to replace Lee? He seems pretty important out there.
 
Deac94 said:
I would dread losing Duke Ejiofor, Marquel Lee, Josh Banks and Brad Watson this offseason (if Ejiofor heads to the NFL).
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It's like youth, enjoy it while you got it. If Zeek Rodney comes back, that would help a lot as far as losing Banks.
 
liveanddiedeac said:
It's like youth, enjoy it while you got it. If Zeek Rodney comes back, that would help a lot as far as losing Banks.
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It still frustrates me that we burned the redshirts on Lee and Watson. They mostly played special teams as freshmen.
 
bmoneydeac said:
Who is slated to replace Lee? He seems pretty important out there.
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Justin Strnad or Nate Mays or a true freshman. Jacquez Williams could put himself in the mix as well.

The staff could also choose to give Grant Dawson a fifth year.
 
Deac94 said:
It still frustrates me that we burned the redshirts on Lee and Watson. They mostly played special teams as freshmen.
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That's when I knew Grobe's departure was imminent. Made no sense to play Lee (Lee had 14 tackles played mostly on special teams as a frosh) or Watson as true frosh unless the coach knew there was no chance he was going to still be coaching in 3 years. Really selfish move on a team that was going no where.

Lee is very young for his class as he is still 20 (turns 21 during the season). He would be a beast next year.
 
Deac94 said:
I would dread losing Duke Ejiofor, Marquel Lee, Josh Banks and Brad Watson this offseason (if Ejiofor heads to the NFL).
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I never like to speculate this early in a (RS)Jr's career about going pro, but I've seen Ejiofor already ranked as high as the 8th best DE prospect if he went this year and has garnered attention from ProFootballFocus and ESPN as a player to watch.

That said, in order for his draft stock to be high enough for him to consider jumping early, I would imagine Wake has to go to a bowl or at least have games like last season against the big guys. He's also going to need the rest of the DL to get/stay healthy, otherwise he's gonna get a lot of double teams for the rest of the season.
 
TownieDeac said:
I never like to speculate this early in a (RS)Jr's career about going pro, but I've seen Ejiofor already ranked as high as the 8th best DE prospect if he went this year and has garnered attention from ProFootballFocus and ESPN as a player to watch.

That said, in order for his draft stock to be high enough for him to consider jumping early, I would imagine Wake has to go to a bowl or at least have games like last season against the big guys. He's also going to need the rest of the DL to get/stay healthy, otherwise he's gonna get a lot of double teams for the rest of the season.
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If he goes early and does well in the draft and/or NFL, then it will ultimately benefit the program more long term than him missing that cut and staying and extra year IMO. Just like playing true freshman, this would only help recruiting.
 
TownieDeac said:
I never like to speculate this early in a (RS)Jr's career about going pro, but I've seen Ejiofor already ranked as high as the 8th best DE prospect if he went this year and has garnered attention from ProFootballFocus and ESPN as a player to watch.

That said, in order for his draft stock to be high enough for him to consider jumping early, I would imagine Wake has to go to a bowl or at least have games like last season against the big guys. He's also going to need the rest of the DL to get/stay healthy, otherwise he's gonna get a lot of double teams for the rest of the season.
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When assessing talent for the draft, the NFL couldn't care less about whether WF is a bowl team or whether WF hangs with the big boys. If you can play, the NFL will find you. Agree that for the NFL to be have a strong interest Duke, he will need to play well against everyone, but whether the team plays well could not be more irrelevant. Case in point, our own Kevin Johnson, who went in the first round in the 2015 draft even though the team was horrible in 2014 (and 2013)
 
I think team success helps marginal draft talents like Bud Noel get higher on draft boards.
 
Pilchard said:
When assessing talent for the draft, the NFL couldn't care less about whether WF is a bowl team or whether WF hangs with the big boys. If you can play, the NFL will find you. Agree that for the NFL to be have a strong interest Duke, he will need to play well against everyone, but whether the team plays well could not be more irrelevant. Case in point, our own Kevin Johnson, who went in the first round in the 2015 draft even though the team was horrible in 2014 (and 2013)
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Good points. I think you overestimate a lot of NFL franchises, but I generally agree.

I also think KJ gets taken higher if he's on better Wake teams. Look at how many NFL busts come from big time programs and how many undrafted/late round guys come from smaller programs and tell me the NFL is perfect at drafting regardless of how good the programs are their draft picks come from.

That said, the NFL is already paying attention to Duke, no question about it.
 
Yeah, but plenty of busts come from smaller programs too and plenty of guys from big programs are late draftees or UDAs who wind up making the team and having an impact.
 
He'll move up a lot too after a handful of those guys go pro this year.

He will be a top 10 DE in the 2018 Draft, putting him around the 5th round as of right now.
 
Keep having games like this week and all will be taken care of. Just stay injury free and keep reaking havoc
 
This is one of the best things about a new college football season - the excitement over watching a player break out like Duke did on Saturday. Just awesome.
 
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