Duke basketball sends full court press for senior target

Duke basketball officially offered a Top-100 recruit. 

The Duke basketball coaching staff is not playing any games with its official offer to Class of 2021 recruit Jaylen Blakes.

In fact, the Blue Devils are putting on a full-court press as the offer was first reported by Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlogs on Monday night.

Mike Krzyzewski and his staff showed interest in the Blair Academy (N.J.) standout over the last two weeks, which finally came to a head over the weekend.

Blakes is listed as a 6-foot-2, 195-pound point guard who also holds offers from Boston College, UConn, DePaul, Georgetown, Georgia, Illinois, Iona, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Stanford, Virginia Tech, and Texas among others.

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Ranked as a four-star prospect by 247 Sports, Blakes is the No. 101 player in the Class of 2021, No. 16 point guard, and No. 3 player in the state of New Jersey, according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

Duke has seen three players enter the transfer portal (Jordan Goldwire, Jaemyn Brakefield, and Patrick Tape) and one officially declare for the 2021 NBA Draft (DJ Steward), which leaves a void on the roster for a backup point guard.

The Blue Devils currently have a three-man recruiting class of Paolo Banchero, Adrian Griffin Jr., and Trevor Keels.

In addition to Blakes, Duke also has an offer extended to Patrick Baldwin Jr., although it is unlikely for him to land in Durham with Milwaukee as the favorite considering his father is the head coach.

Duke basketball in excellent position to land the four-star guard

Jaylen Blakes told Zagoria that a decision will be coming “rather soon,” and the guard has already picked up two Crystal Ball predictions to land at Duke.

It should not come as a surprise to see Blakes land with the Blue Devils as Krzyzewski does not begin recruiting seniors in late March without a purpose and knowledge he can get a commitment.

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Duke currently has the No. 3 recruiting class in 2021, trailing only Michigan and Florida State, according to 247 Sports.

Jaylen Blakes would play a pivotal role behind Jeremy Roach in his freshman season, should he become a Blue Devil, and could be another multi-year guard in Durham.

Now it is just a waiting game to see when he will announce his decision.

PREDICTION: Jaylen Blakes commits to Duke