Duke sends quartet of seniors to NFL Combine
Four players who committed to David Cutcliffe, signed with Mike Elko and finished their Duke careers playing under Manny Diaz are headed to the NFL Combine.
Vincent Anthony Jr., Brian Parker II, Chandler Rivers and Wesley Williams were all invited to the NFL Combine. The league released the full list of 319 prospects on Wednesday. The Combine takes place from Feb. 23-March 2 in Indianapolis.
All four former Blue Devils wrapped up their four-year careers this past season. Anthony and Rivers were out of eligibility; Parker and Williams redshirted in 2022 but chose to forego their final seasons.
The quartet has helped Duke to 35 wins in the past four seasons. There’s an ACC championship and three bowl victories — Military Bowl in ’22, Birmingham Bowl in ’23 and Sun Bowl in ’25 — to show for their time at Duke.
Cutcliffe’s resignation was announced on the day after the 2021 season ended — long after most players in the recruiting class had committed. Elko was introduced two days before National Signing Day in Dec. 2021. And each of Anthony, Parker, Rivers and Williams stayed through the coaching change from Elko to Diaz.
Anthony, a Durham native, was the highest-ranked player in recruiting rankings for the Class of 2022. Here’s the full list of Duke’s Class of 2022 recruits.
Duke was one of two ACC teams that did not have a player drafted last year. Based on four invites to the Combine, that’s unlikely to be the case again.
Duke’s Class of 2022 also included center Matt Craycraft and tight end Jeremiah Hasley, both of them returning starters for next season’s team.
Also on the NFL Combine invite list is former Blue Devils defensive tackle Gary Smith III. He played at Duke in 2020 and ’21, and then transferred to UCLA for the past four seasons.
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