Football Recruiting Max Duggan visit, competition breakdown

Matt Jessen-Howard · Mar 28, 2018

Can confirm that top QB priority Max Duggan and his family will be on campus tomorrow for a two-day visit. He's said he wants to make a spring commitment, so although I'm not anticipating a commitment, I wouldn't entirely rule it out either.

The competition for Duggan is Notre Dame, Nebraska, Ohio State, Iowa, and TCU.

He's been a top priority, along with Bachmeier, throughout the recruiting cycle for Minnesota. He's been on campus several times and is close with Fleck. What Minnesota has going for them is their relationship with him and consistent and lengthy effort recruiting him. He's expressed that he'd be excited about his system fit at most places recruiting him.
Duggan grew up a Notre Dame fan, but unlike a lot of Irish fans, his family didn't, so it's my assumption that his fandom is a little different than the traditional persona of a segment of Notre Dame commits who had ND football engrained into them since birth. Remember, the weird situation with Duggan and Notre Dame is that Brian Kelly and the OC were not there on his visit (there may be context that I'm unaware of). UPDATE: Told that there are other QBs higher on Notre Dame's board, although they may still take him if he wanted to commit.
Nebraska is a local-ish option (but did not grow up a Husker fan) and has been in the conversation about his recruitment for a while. Duggan has curiously not visited Nebraska while Scott Frost has been the head coach, but I'm told it's likely that he'll visit for a spring practice and that he's "definitely a priority."
Ohio State was a somewhat recent offer and visit. Last I heard, the Buckeyes have thrown interest out to a lot of QBs and haven't really picked a top target, so it's kind of unknown if the offer is committable. Minnesota has certainly put in more work than Ohio State, but OSU obviously still attractive being a helmet school. Unless something has changed, I would be surprised if OSU is the pick.
I'm told it would be surprising if Iowa is his choice.
TCU was his most recent visit, and they have been recruiting him for a while. I'm honestly not entirely sure how that visit went or where TCU stands with him, but I certainly haven't heard TCU mentioned as much as Notre Dame or Nebraska recently or as much as Iowa months ago.

If you're looking for quotes, he has several recent articles linked to his profile. We haven't been able to get Duggan on the phone recently but Connor or I will try again tonight.

Bryan Driskell of BlueandGold, who I really respect (think Mark Schofield-level football mind!), wrote this scouting report on the four-star recently:

Duggan missed a chunk of his junior season, suffering two different injuries, and those injuries drag down his overall grade a bit. He’ll need to show he can stay healthy as a senior, and if he can his grade will go up a bit, because Duggan’s sophomore film was even more impressive than his junior film. Beyond the injuries, there is a lot to like about Duggan’s game. He has average size, but he’s a tough kid with a good frame who isn’t afraid to take or deliver punishment.

Duggan is a good athlete that shows above-average speed, impressive agility and he shows good vision on the designed runs that are called for him. He is listed as a pro-style quarterback, but Duggan is more of a dual-threat player, showing the ability to make plays with his legs on scrambles, with the read game and with designed runs. Duggan also throws the ball well on the move, which would fit well into the Notre Dame offense.

The Lewis Central quarterback shows good arm strength. He isn’t going to power the deeper outside throws at this point, but he can get the ball over the top, he can power the ball over the middle and he’s above average on the tougher outside throws down the field. He can get a bit robotic with his footwork and has to learn to play with a bit more touch at times, but Duggan shows good timing as a passer and his ball placement on downfield throws is good. Improving ball placement on intermediate throws could use a bit more refinement, but he has an idea of what he wants to do.

Matt Jessen-Howard · Mar 28, 2018