After a Strong Finish in 2024, Rutgers WR Duff Poised for Big Season

Rutgers enters the 2025 college football season with measured expectations. Preseason darlings and playoff dark-horses in the summer of 2024, the Scarlet Knights will begin the 2025 season with little hype. The sentiment among college football preseason pundits is that the Knights will struggle mightily in 2025, facing three potential playoff teams—Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon —as well as a potential playoff sleeper in Illinois.

There is plenty of hype, though, in the Rutgers receiver room entering the fall. Impact transfer DT Sheffield hauled in 66 receptions last season for 822 yards and 11 touchdowns for North Texas. Junior Ian Strong caught 43 passes for 676 yards, nearly 16 years per reception, and five touchdowns in 2024 for the Knights.

Duff and Strong are no strangers, of course, the two fellow Long Islanders attending Saint Anthony's High School, also the former school of current Tight Ends Coach and former Knights defensive lineman Scott Vallone.

"We really started talking to each other when we got in high school. That's really when our bond took off," Strong said of Duff. "My senior year, I ended up taking him to high school every day. It was like a 45-minute drive. So I think that's where we got really tight."

Duff would graduate from Saint Anthony's as the all-time leader in catches, yards, and touchdowns, rising to the top-ranked player in New York's 2024 class. Rutgers was the first school to offer Duff, in 2022, ultimately leading to the talented receiver deciding to stay close to home and turning down offers from powerhouse programs such as Miami, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.

Duff spent the first half of his freshman season getting accustomed to the pace of play and learning to let the game slow down. After a zero-stat line against Wisconsin in game six, Duff had multiple catches in all seven remaining games, including 3 catches for 58 yards against Kansas State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

This fall, opposing coaches will be focused on stopping Sheffield and Strong, which should lead to more opportunities for Duff, who at 6'6" and 227 pounds, should provide senior QB Athan Kaliakmanis with a sure-handed, redzone target that can outleap defenders in scoring situations.

Duff spoke to the media recently and was asked about what he needed to work on this offseason.

"Just understanding the game. Letting it slow down for me," he said. "I always say it's just experience. Even from the beginning of the season, to the end of last year, I feel like a whole different person. So having that experience under my belt, I'm just excited for this season."

Don't be surprised, as the winds of November turn cold, to witness Duff heating up, the young receiver turning into one of the Knights' top offensive weapons.

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