Four-star NSR football prospect to sign with Duke

Imagine you are playing in a high school football game on a chilly, fall Friday night. You are a defensive end. You have been preparing to hit somebody all week in practice. When the offensive huddle breaks, you notice the player lined up across from you is big — very big — at 6 feet 8 and 270 pounds.

National Scouting Report senior football prospect Robert Kraeling is the behemoth staring down at you.  You are about to do battle with a prototypical NCAA Division I offensive lineman.  What goes through your mind?  Exactly.

Recently named to the Georgia Sportswriters Association All-State 1-A Team for the second straight year, Kraeling was asked by his coaches to play on both sides of the ball for Prince Avenue Christian School in Bogart, Ga, a suburb of Athens.  At OT and DT, few opponents could counteract Kaeling’s size, strength and speed which made him an ESPN and Rivals.com 4-star and 3-star 24/7 Sports recruit.

“Robert has a good motor and is relentless on the field,” said Mike Ewing, NSR Area Director in North Georgia. “He is one of the hardest workers during practice and in the weight room.  He has the size, footwork, and strength to play offensive tackle at the highest level of college football.  And he’s a better kid than he is a football player.”

That hard work and relentlessness attracted several big-time college programs.  After receiving 20 FBS offers, including neighboring Georgia and national champion Alabama of the SEC, Kraeling committed to ACC member Duke.  He will sign with the Blue Devils during the football signing period in February.

Kraeling is one of five recruits from Georgia to select Duke.  “According to ESPN RecruitingNation, Duke’s 2016 class has more top recruits than the Blue Devils’ previous nine classes combined,” claimed an article on OnLine Athens.

Ewing said Kraeling’s popularity grew each year.

“It really started after Robert’s sophomore year,” Ewing said. “His sister attends Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., so he decided to go to their camp.  While there, Coach Pat Sullivan, the Heisman Trophy winner, offered Robert a full-ride, which no one really expected.  Then, when he started going to other camps, it really took off.  The first ACC school, N.C. State, made him an offer which was a big deal because instead of FCS schools being interested, now FBS schools started jumping in. Everyone started paying attention.”

Kraeling is also a standout student, sporting a 3.2 GPA. He plans to major in History with a minor in Music at Duke, one of the nation’s premier academic schools.

“You will find other players out there, but there is a difference between just being a player and actually playing the sport well,” Kraeling wrote in his personal message to college coaches. “Football is a sport of tremendous physical and mental strength and endurance. It is a very aggressive sport. It takes extreme effort and commitment with a gift for strategy to be successful. God has blessed me with all those successful qualities and I have worked very hard to earn my position. But most of all, you will find that I have character and heart, and that is lacking on many college teams.  I believe that I should never walk off that field with the feeling that ‘I could’ve done this’ or ‘I should’ve done that.’ You won’t be disappointed in the package I can bring to your team.”