Former New Mexico State RB Star Thomas commits to Duke

Former New Mexico State running back Star Thomas has committed to Duke out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, he announced on social media on Wednesday. He will have at least one year of eligibility remaining.

The Louisiana native put up impressive numbers during his time with the Aggies, rushing for 1,173 yards and nine touchdowns over the past two seasons. Thomas was named second-team All-Conference USA in 2023 after rushing for 653 yards on 112 carries. He averaged 5.8 yards per rush and had four touchdowns on the year.

Thomas attended Homer High School in Homer, Louisiana prior to beginning his college career.

He spent one year at Coffeyville Community College before transferring to New Mexico State. During his one season at the community college, Star Thomas topped the 100-yard mark twice, while helping Coffeyville to the 2021 KJCCC Conference Championship.

From there he transferred to New Mexico State and was immediately a big part of the offense. As a sophomore in 2022, Star Thomas appeared in all 13 games. He led the Aggies in all-purpose yards that year with 669. As a sophomore, Thomas had 518 rushing yards and eight total touchdowns. He scored on the ground five times and added three receiving touchdowns.

Last season, Thomas had 853 all-purpose yards. In addition to putting up 653 yards on the ground, he added 22 catches for 200 yards and two scores. He also contributed as a kickoff returner this past season, returning kickoffs three times for 47 yards.

New Mexico State finished the 2023 season with an impressive 10-5 record, including a 31-10 victory at Auburn.

On3’s Matt Connolly contributed to this report.

Duke recently landed a defensive back transfer

Former Rice defensive back Tre’Shon Devones committed to Duke out of the NCAA transfer portal, he announced in late May.

The Blue Devils landed Devones over the likes of Colorado, SMU, Vanderbilt, Nebraska and Notre Dame, among other interested suitors.

After four injury-laden seasons at Rice, Devones broke out in 2024 with 11 passes defended and two interceptions to go with 45 total tackles while earning an 80.2 coverage grade by Pro Football Focus.

Devones played sparingly as a true freshman in 2019, appearing in eight games for the Owls while togging 15 total tackles and a forced fumble. Injuries would put a halt on his production, however, and the Texas native was only able to play in five games over the past two seasons.

Before enrolling at Rice, Devones was a three-star recruit in the 2019 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was the No. 1,255 overall recruit and No. 128 cornerback in his respective cycle.