watching the Duke-Texas A&M bowl game, i couldn't help noticing all the White special teamers for the Blue Devils. then, as the commentators kept talking about the depth and explosiveness of the Duke running game (they have 4 tailblacks *™* with more than 50 carries this season), i became curious. so, i did a little digging …
it turns out that one of Duke's White special team demons has a similar resume to the 4 frequently-featured running blacks, with the exception of that one, most-important characteristic (of course). but, not only was the White athlete not recruited, he is not even a running back. nope, he is now a backup safety.
sophomore
Christian Conway won virtually every award possible during his high school career, being named the New York State Player of the Year, named to the state Super 11 team, honored as one of the Golden Dozen scholar athletes, twice being named 1st-Team All-State, setting all his school's major rushing and scoring records, leading them to a State Championship, and averaging over 200 yards rushing per game and over 10 yards per carry.
the results of all those accomplishments? he had to walk-on to a Division One school and is now buried on the depth chart at safety. "weird," huh?
what makes it even "weirder" is that the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Conway is virtually identical in both physical measurements and high school accomplishments … albeit without a profile on Rivals (or from any of the other "expert" recruiting "scouts") and without recruiters banging on his door … except for his skin color, that is.
but! surely the running blacks that get to carry the ball for Duke are so much bigger. right? and they're all so explosive! right?
uh, not exactly. when you bother to check out the actual numbers, the "real" athletes are virtually the same size and not exactly the most explosive players in the history of football. see below:
Shaquille Powell - sophomore, 5-foot-10, 205-pounds
- 90 career carries; 3 of 20 yards or more (1 for every 30 carries)
Powell got 28 carries as a freshman, with a long of 8, but he is considered "Duke's most elusive back."
Juwan Thompson - senior, 5-foot-11, 225-pounds
- 271 career carries; 5 of 20 yards or more (1 for every 54.2 carries)
Thomas is the "biggest" of Duke's tailblacks, and his longest career run is 34 yards.
Josh Snead - junior, 5-foot-9, 190-pounds
- 251 career carries; 7 of 20 yards or more (1 for every 35.9 carries)
- 144 total carries as a freshman and sophomore,; 3 of 20 yards or more
Snead has blazing speed (10.33 in the 100-meters), yet he didn't have a carry of longer than 27 yards until this year.
Jela Duncan - sophomore, 5-foot-10, 210-pounds
- 222 career carries; 5 of 20 yards or more (1 for every 44.4 carries)
Duncan carried the ball 113 times this season, with a long of 20 yards. He's not exactly a big-play threat.
so despite having a similar high school career to all the aforementioned black backs, after looking at their actual performances on the field of play, one wonders "Why is he a walk-on safety, and they are scholarship running backs?"
if you are aware of the Caste System, you know the answer.