Macaluso enjoys official to Duke

Middletown South, N.J. linebacker Nick Macaluso took his third official visit of the season last weekend to Durham to check out Duke. The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder had a solid trip. What did he like about the Blue Devils?

"I was delayed two and half hours getting down there, but once I got there I liked the school a lot," he said. "All the players and coaches were great. I got there Friday night and on Saturday I took an academic tour and checked out their football stuff. At night, I hung out with my host Paul Thornton. He talked to me about the defense and the linebackers coach Sherrod.

"On Sunday, I had breakfast and got to talk to coach Roof. My conversation with him was fine. I told him I liked the visit a lot and he just told me about how the program is on the rise and stuff. I really liked that he believed in everyone. That was nice to see."

The three-star prospect rated his trip an eight or a nine.

"They are up there, but my decision is going to be hard," he said. "It's really hard to compare this trip with Northwestern and Rutgers. My decision is going to come down to my gut feeling."

Macaluso has one more visit scheduled for this weekend to Stanford.

"I just got accepted there and they offered me last week," he said. "I've never been out that way and I just want to go and put my feet on campus and see what it's like. I like Stanford a lot because they've got a great education and good football year in and year out, plus it's in California."

Last week the No. 39 inside linebacker in the country had an in-home visit from Northwestern. He's expecting an in-home from Stanford on Wednesday.