Duke basketball recruiting target Dylan Harper is creating a buzz on social media.
The new age of covering recruiting has put social media in the forefront and Duke basketball target Dylan Harper might have mastered the craft of online trolling.
It was discovered on Monday that Harper deleted a series of pictures from his official visit to Rutgers off his Instagram and pinned his photos from his trips to Duke and Indiana to the top of his profile.
The Scarlet Knights have been considered the favorites to land Harper since the early summer and nothing much has changed regarding his recruitment over the last several months.
He named five finalists; Duke, Rutgers, Indiana, Kansas, and Auburn and each program was perceived to have some momentum with the New Jersey native at different points of his decision making process.
Dylan Harper, the #2 recruit in 2024, has deleted his Rutgers visit post. Rutgers was the presumed favorite in his recruitment.
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) November 28, 2023
He has also now pinned his Duke and Indiana visit posts👀 pic.twitter.com/rJ7Q37AMZG
The Don Bosco Prep (NJ) standout has also teased a potential commitment on a couple of occasions but his most recent public comments suggested that he would wait until after his high school season to make his decision official.
Rutgers was the home of his brother, Ron Harper Jr., for four years where he became one of the best players in the program’s history.
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Some have speculated on social media that Dylan Harper only deleted his photos in a Rutgers uniform so that he did not have a double post of Scarlet Knights on his feed — which is apparently frowned upon by teenagers these days — but would coincide with the most recent 247Sports Crystal Ball Prediction that was logged for his hometown program by Eric Bossi, the site’s National Basketball Director, with a confidence rating of seven.
Others are reading into it on the surface that it could mean he is no longer considering Rutgers and will decide between Duke and Indiana. Kansas or Auburn are not featured on his Instagram other than his initial post in which he highlighted his Top-5 schools.
Duke basketball still rolling on recruiting trail
Dylan Harper was the No. 1 player in the Class of 2024, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, until Cooper Flagg made his decision to reclassify into the 2024 class from 2025 and quickly became the unanimous top recruit.
Flagg eventually committed to Duke over UConn and pushed the Blue Devils to the top ranked class in the country along with 5-star prospects Isaiah Evans, Patrick Ngongba, and Kon Knueppel as well as 4-star recruit Darren Harris.
For the record, all five of Duke’s signees have multiple posts on Instagram of them wearing Blue Devil uniforms whether it be on a visit, commitment post, or reposting after signing their National Letter of Intent with the program.
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Rutgers currently has the No. 11 recruiting class in the nation, headlined by No. 3 overall recruit Ace Bailey.
Most reports said that the Blue Devils stopped pursing Harper in lieu of its other targets and remain involved with 5-star wing VJ Edgecombe.
It remains to be seen if the recent social media activity from Dylan Harper means anything of significance but he certainly knows how to generate buzz and a conversation around his future plans.