As of June 15, recruiting is underway for the class of 2025. Unsurprisingly, it was a busy day on the phone for Minisink Valley, New York's PJ Duke, the top recruit in the class. Duke received over 30 phone calls that day, and he estimates that he spent over 5 hours on the phone. In most states, June 15 falls a couple of weeks into summer break, but for Duke, June 15 brought a History final exam from 7:45 am til noon. After setting his phone to do-not-disturb and forcing phone calls to the back of his mind for four hours, Duke was finally able to talk with coaches.

PJ was excited to be recruited by so many of the nation's top programs even if the constant phone calls did become somewhat tedious by the end of the day. "I would be on the phone with one coach, and another one would call in the middle of our conversation." All the calls could have been difficult to keep track of, but Duke and his dad kept things organized on a large whiteboard in their home. After each conversation, PJ added that program to his board along with the name of the coach who called.

Nation's Top Recruit Keeping His Options Open

While Duke is keeping his options open at this point, he has narrowed his current list from the 30+ original programs on the whiteboard to 8-10 programs, but he did emphasize that he's keeping his options open.

Duke plans to continue getting to know the coaches and programs on his short list in order to decide where to take his official visits. Previously, recruits could only officially visit five Division I schools, but now they can visit as many schools as they want. Despite the rule change, Duke would still like to narrow his list to around 5 programs by the time he can take visits. After all, each visit takes time and requires travel that would take time away from his already busy training, competition, and school schedule. One advantage for Duke is that living in the Northeast has already allowed him to attend RTC workouts at programs like Cornell, Princeton, Rutgers, Lehigh, and Penn State.

Where Duke Fits At The Next Level

PJ believes he'll be a 157-pounder at the next level. He won Super 32 last fall at 138 lbs but was up to 150 lbs for Ironman less than two months later. Between October and December of last year, Duke beat #6 Vince Bouzakis, #6 Kollin Rath, #4 LaDarion Lockett, and #2 Will Henckel. Unfortunately, he missed the second half of his season due to an injury that required surgery and is still working through the recovery process.

PJ Duke's 21-8 major decision in the Super 32 finals

Unlock this video, live events, and more with a subscription!

Sign Up

Already a subscriber? Log In