NC State Football

NC State Redshirt Freshman Running Back Duke Scott is a Freak of Nature

Published

4 months ago

July 28, 2025

Matthew Bradham

NC State Redshirt Freshman Running Back Duke Scott is a Freak of Nature.

Recently, NC State released its top performers from their summer workout program.

Scott proved to be one of the fastest and strongest players on the team.

Duke’s 375 pound power clean was tops on the team, his 4.35 40-yard dash was the 2nd fastest, and his back squat of 550 pounds was the 5th best.

That combination of speed and power is one of the reasons that Doeren has been raving about Scott’s potential since he arrived on campus last year.

He’s really consistent. He’s ahead of the curve mentally. He’s a really strong runner, hard to tackle, and he catches the ball better than we saw in high school. He’s a really good receiver out of the backfield so far, too. He’s a quick learner, and he’s very consistent. For a young guy to come in and be the same guy in practice everyday is hard. It’s just a different pace of everything. He’s done a really nice job integrating into the needs and the wants of what the coaches have for those guys in that position room.

Last year Doeren mentioned that if the Wolfpack didn’t have the duo of Hollywood Smothers and Kendrick Raphael, Scott would have seen the field as a true freshman, citing that he would have been a contributor from day 1 at other schools.

Last week at the ACC Kickoff, Doeren stated that Scott has “emerged” this offseason.

NC State got a commitment from Scott after an injury plagued Junior season, in which he only played in 5 games. Scott was only a 3-Star prospect when he committed, but after a lights out Senior season, ON3 bumped him up to a 4-Star prospect, ranking him as the 284th ranked overall player nationally in the 2024 recruiting class. In his final season at Stockbridge High School (Stockbridge, Georgia), Scott exploded for 2,450 rushing yards and 40 touchdowns, earning 4A all-state consensus offensive player of the year honors.

After redshirting last season, it looks like Scott will be an impact player behind Hollywood Smothers in 2025.