Duke’s top-ranked 2022 recruiting class adds another 5-star. Mark Mitchell commits
Duke’s hold on the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class has grown tighter.
The Blue Devils added another five-star player, Mark Mitchell, to their standout Class of 2022 group on Friday.
The 6-8, 205-pound Mitchell, who plays at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, committed to Duke during a ceremony streamed live on CBSSportsHQ.
He previously listed Duke among three finalists that also included UCLA and Missouri.
Surrounded by family with hats from the three schools on a table in front of him, Mitchell unzipped his jacket to show a Duke shirt while saying he would join the Blue Devils.
“Next year I’ll be joining the brotherhood of Duke University,” Mitchell said amid cheers.
Mitchell is the fourth five-star player in Duke’s 2022 class, which is the first group of recruits to pledge their future knowing Jon Scheyer, not the retiring Mike Krzyzewski, will be their head coach.
In November’s early signing period, the Blue Devils signed 7-1 center Dereck Lively, 6-6 forward Dariq Whitehead and 6-11 forward Kyle Filipowski. All are rated among the top 10 players the class and are five-star recruits. The Blue Devils also signed a four-star player, shooting guard Jaden Schutt, who is rated No. 55 in the class by 247sports.com.
“I think the relationships I’ve built inside the program, me and coach Scheyer, we talk every day,” Mitchell said. “He’s gotten to know me as a person. Talking with Kyle and Dereck and Dariq and Jaden, just getting to know them as people and going on visits with them. These are people I want to be around and I think we can do some special things together.”
Duke now has four of the top 15 players in the class, according to the 247sports composite rankings: Lively (1), Whitehead (4), Filipowski (7) and Mitchell (15).
Mitchell made all five of his official visits last June, with stops at UCLA (June 6), Missouri (June 12), Kansas (June 16), Oklahoma State (June 19) and Duke (June 28). Mitchell returned to Durham on an unofficial visit for Countdown to Craziness Oct. 15, where he, Lively and Whitehead joined the Cameron Crazies student section during the Blue-White Scrimmage at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“It was a tough decision,” Mitchell said. “I went back and forth for a long time. But I think I just followed my heart and it just absolutely led me to be a Blue Devil.”
Though Scheyer will be a first-time head coach next year, Mitchell already believes the former Duke team captain will keep the Blue Devils as solid as they’ve been under Krzyzewski for the last 41 years.
“He’s won a national championship before,” Mitchell said. “He’s been an all-American player. I know he knows what he’s talking about. He’s been behind Coach K for many years. I think he’s ready to step into this new journey ahead of him and I think he’ll be great at it.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Duke’s top-ranked 2022 recruiting class adds another 5-star. Mark Mitchell commits."