IN THEIR WORDS: OL Duffie 110 percent committed to K-State
As part of his trip to cover Kansas State’s road contest in Austin, Derek Young of KStateOnline.com also made his way to Houston to check out Wildcat commits John Holcombe and Christian Duffie live in action.
The Summer Creek duo impressed greatly during their battle with Sterling, and the team was victorious 26-24 thanks to kicker Craig Myron. Duffie knows it wasn’t a pretty win for his squad, but his confidence was not lacking.
“It was very shaky there at the end,” he said of last Friday’s finish. “I knew we could do it. I had no doubt in our kicker, Craig Myron. We had 100 percent faith in him.”
Duffie was overpowering defensive linemen all night, rarely getting beat. It helped that he had a significant size advantage, blocking guys that were often at least 100 pounds lighter than him. He shared his thoughts on that and the level of competition he typically faces.
“Not at all,” he clarified on whether or not he had that type of advantage week in and week out. “That doesn’t happen in District 21, 6A in the state of Texas. Tonight was an exception. Definitely the other schools, like North Shore, have huge guys that I have to block.”
“Today, I was able to throw around smaller guys a little bit,” Duffie added. “I don’t usually have that kind of success, because they’re bigger guys at other schools we play. It’s tempered a little bit because of that, but I get them most of the time.”
At KSO, we already ran a story on his teammate, and fellow Kansas State commit, John Holcombe. The Wildcat quarterback pledge evaluated himself and explained to us what his strengths and weaknesses were. Duffie did the same following the dramatic win last Friday night.
“I’m much better in run-blocking right now,” he admitted. “I’m 300 pounds, and I can move people. I’m still working on the passing game. I definitely need to work on my pass blocking. I can get beat sometimes by the quicker edge rushers.”
Quite frankly, I saw that as well. When Duffie did lose a battle during the game, it was a quicker player just beating him around the edge. He held his own though for the most part though because he is athletic for his size, and very nimble as well.
Duffie just lacks the real length to fend off some of the twitchier ends. That is why I think he projects to the interior of the offensive line at the next level despite being a right tackle for Summer Creek right now.
He shared the same sentiment.
“I don’t know if I’ll play on the inside at Kansas State or not,” Duffie noted. “We haven’t really sat down and discussed that in detail just yet. I’m guessing I’ll be on the inside. I think I might be more comfortable there.”
As for his loyalty and commitment to the Wildcats, he was pretty clear about where that stood.
“I’m 100 percent committed to Kansas State,” Duffie said. “Actually, I’m 110 percent committed. I’m still being recruited by other schools. I talk to some others. Some have asked me to come visit for games but I tell them ‘nah’ and that I’m all in with Kansas State. I pretty much tell them to keep it moving.”