Perry Simmons, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound offensive lineman from Sanderson commited to play football at Duke.
"I've been to a ton of camps and just felt the most comfortable at Duke. I really liked the coaching staff," Simmons said.
"The coaches are personable and assessable, but are very intense. They are really going to push me hard. I really believe that Duke is going to start winning a lot more games."
Simmons said he had been to camps at North Carolina, N.C. State, Furman, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Virginia. He had scholarship offers from Navy, ECU, Western Carolina and the Blue Devils.
"Duke tells me that Perry is their No. 1 offensive line prospect," said Sanderson coach Jason Tindal. "He is going to be the type of player that Duke can build around."
— Tim Stevens




J. Andrew Curliss covered state and local politics and government for The News & Observer for more than a decade before joining the investigative team in December 2008.
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