Duzey in High School
Duzey plays for Troy Athens High School in Troy Michigan. (Side note: Take a look at the Athens Redhawks logo and you'll see why Duzey was destined to play for the Hawkeyes.) The Redhawks were not very good last year, winning just 2 games. Duzey played all over the field his junior year. He mostly line up as a receiver, either in the slot or out wide, but played tight end/H-back on some downs as well. On defense he played safety. He was definitely the star of the team last year earning offensive player of the week, defensive player of the week, and "Big Stick" of the week multiple times as awarded by the team's coach on the Athens Football blog.
Stats:- Offense - 37 receptions, 535 yards, 6 TDs; 2 rushing TDs
- Defense - 2 interceptions
Video!The first thing that jumped out at me was ability to get yards after the catch. He uses his blocks well on the screen passes, as is able to make guys miss or just outrun them. I didn't see a ton of great routes (they were mostly screens or the "go deep" play) but he looks efficient catching the ball.
The article on Scout about Duzey's commitment says that the Iowa coaches don't want to use him as a traditional tight end, instead having him play more of a tight end/H-back/slot receiver combo. I don't think this is out of the ordinary for Iowa, though the tight ends are definitely asked to block a lot. But if you look at where Tony Moeaki lined up last year, he often shifted into more of an H-back position and when Iowa went 5-wide, Moeaki was usually in the slot.
I could also see Duzey moving over to defense. Michigan State tried using him as a defensive end in their camp. With 3 tight ends in this class too, it may be hard to have all 3 stay in that position.
Still, Duzey's a good pickup and if I ever make a Duzey/doozy pun on this blog, please shoot me.