Stanford football has landed a commitment from 2026 3-star athlete Jack Duckworth out of Rockwall High School in Rockwall, Texas. Duckworth is listed as a wide receiver by Rivals, but he is indeed slated to play cornerback on The Farm. Hence the “athlete” designation.
Duckworth was previously committed to Arkansas before decommitting on May 13th. After taking an official visit to Stanford the weekend of May 30th, he decided he liked what he saw and made his pledge to the Cardinal official. Colorado State, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, and Wisconsin were other programs that offered him while TCU was showing interest.
Listed at 6’1”, 165 pounds, Duckworth has good height for a corner back. Ideally, he’ll add a bit more weight but being slender and thin isn’t bad for a corner given the need to be agile and fast. It’s a little hard to know how good of a corner he projects to be from his 5.5 Rivals rating given he was rated as a receiver, but hopefully for Stanford the switch to corner makes him a more appealing prospect than his Rivals rating would make one think.
Upon watching his tape, it’s clear that Duckworth has good hands and is comfortable catching balls. Having a wide receiver background is always good for cornerbacks because getting interceptions is a big part of the job. On top of being able to catch, being a wide receiver also helps cornerbacks get a good feel for what receivers like to do and Duckworth certainly seems like a guy who has a good feel for the game in that respect.
On top of being a cornerback and wide receiver in high school, Duckworth also has some experience returning kicks. So, that’s another area where he could possibly be of service. Adding a guy to the roster who is comfortable in the return game is always a plus.
Even though he’s not rated very high, the fact that he was previously committed to Arkansas is a good sign. Arkansas wouldn’t have been recruiting him in the first place if they didn’t think he had some talent. Even though things didn’t work out with the Razorbacks, just the fact that he was on their radar at all speaks well of Duckworth given they are a solid SEC program.
Overall, Jack Duckworth seems to have some legit upside at the cornerback spot. Stanford cornerbacks coach Paul Williams loves to develop and mold players, so it’ll be fun to see how Duckworth grows under his wing.
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