Hawkeye Football: Duzey’s OK with long list of tight ends

Jake Duzey has played wide receiver for Troy (Mich.) Athens High School since he stepped onto the football field.

Why not? He's 6-foot-4, 225 pounds. At the MichiganPreps.com combine in March, Duzey ran a 4.49-second 40-yard dash, a 4.28-second 10-yard shuttle and marked a vertical leap at 33 inches.

In college, Duzey is looking at tight end. That's why last week he looked at the University Iowa and committed.

Iowa has an excellent track record with tight ends under Coach Kirk Ferentz, with eight making it into the NFL through draft or free agency.

Iowa uses a lot of double-tight end formations and it looks as though it plans to use more in the future. Duzey was the third tight end to commit for the 2011 recruiting class, joining Ohio's Ray Hamilton and Mount Pleasant's Henry Kreiger-Coble.

“I'm going to play tight end (at Iowa), but I'm not just going to block, I'm going to move around,” Duzey said. “I'm going to start working on blocking, but I'm still going to play some wide receiver and H-back this year.”

Duzey picked Iowa over Oregon. He had 10 other offers, including Purdue, Michigan State and Cincinnati. He's serious about playing with his hand on the ground. This fall, he'll move from safety/linebacker to defensive end.

“Yes, I know the NFL-Iowa tight end thing, and it's my dream to go to the NFL,” Duzey said, “but I was just looking for a place to work hard.”

In fall 2011, Iowa could have as many as 10 tight ends on scholarship. That's OK with Duzey.

“I talked to coaches about the two tight ends coming in with my class,” Duzey said. “I guess there are different plans for each of us.”

You might have noticed the proliferation of 7-on-7 football competitions on ESPN and other TV sports outlets this summer. It's a burgeoning world. SI.com's Andy Staples has a five-part series on what he termed “travel football.”

For Duzey, and a lot of prep athletes in the Midwest, the 7-on-7 circuit is a chunk of their summers. Duzey's Athens High School will participate in at least five 7-on-7 tournaments this summer.

“We're going to two tournaments and you'll play five games in a day, and maybe a championship game,” Duzey said. “Then we're going to a few that are just two other schools. So we'll just play both schools twice.”

Does it help your football skills?

“I think it helps me a lot,” Duzey said. “I also enjoy it. I enjoy the competition.”