Like FSU and others, No. 16 Duke has fortified its roster with impact transfers

While an extremely experienced roster and the leadership of second-year head coach Mike Elko have received much of the credit for Duke’s emergence as a top-20 team this season, the Blue Devils also have bolstered their depth chart with several high-impact transfers.

Elko is not yet threatening Mike Norvell or Lane Kiffin for the title of Portal King, but he definitely has given his team a major boost by bringing in transfers with lots of experience and some from high-profile programs.

As many as seven starters expected to be in the lineup when No. 16 Duke takes on No. 4 Florida State this Saturday will be players who didn’t begin their careers in Durham. Five of those seven play on the defensive side of the ball, which has been the strength of this Blue Devils team.

All seven of these transfers are listed as graduate students on the Duke roster. Here’s a closer look at each and their experience.

Al Blades Jr., Duke’s leader in pass breakups with five, transferred in from Miami this past offseason. At Miami, he played in 49 games and started 15. Blades even had an interception in Miami’s lopsided win over Florida State in 2020. Out of high school, Blades was a four-star recruit out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale and was recruited by FSU.

The Blue Devils’ interception leader with two, Myles Jones, also transferred into Durham this offseason from Texas A&M. That gave Jones an opportunity to reunite with Elko, who previously served as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator.

Jones played in 49 games for Texas A&M, starting 21. In those 49 games, he had 124 tackles, six for loss, four interceptions, and 29 pass breakups. He was a four-star recruit in high school.

Defensive tackle Ja’Mion Franklin, who transferred in 2021 from Notre Dame, has essentially been in the starting lineup since he arrived and had a career day when the Blue Devils played his former team earlier this season. The 6-foot-2, 309-pound graduate student recorded five tackles and a sack in that game.

Linebacker Cam Dillon transferred in from Columbia, where he was second-team All Ivy League in 2021. Dillon transferred to Duke in 2022 and was a starter in seven games that season, finishing fourth on the team with 61 tackles. He has come off the bench for much of this season for Duke, but he started the N.C. State game and has 21 tackles on the year.

The Blue Devils also tapped into the Ivy League to pick up defensive end Anthony Nelson, who is part of a deep defensive line rotation and has seven tackles on the season. He also has two tackles for loss.

On offense, Duke’s starting right tackle is Jake Horbibrook, who transferred in from Stanford during the offseason. Hornibrook previously was a starter at Stanford and checks in at 6-foot-5, 300 pounds.

Starting center Scott Elliott transferred in this offseason from Harvard, where he received All-Ivy League honors. He is listed at 6-3 and 297 pounds.

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.

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