Bixby uncommitted 2024 OL Brody Duffel brings same aggressive approach to recruiting as on-field performance
MOORE, OKLAHOMA - When speaking to Brody Duffel, it is easy to forget what he can do on the football field.
Despite standing 6-foot-6, the Bixby High offensive tackle gives off the vibe of a high school chemistry teacher who has won several student's favorite teacher awards.
But when you see Duffel on the field manhandling charging linebackers, striking defensive ends with deliberate body-flinching blows, you quickly realize he is a different person on the gridiron.
“I wanted to be the baddest man on the field,” said Duffel, moments after the Spartans improved to 5-0 Thursday night after shutting out Southmoore, 66-0. “I want to physically inflict myself onto the other people in the field, show my dominance and kind of secure my spot as the top dog.”
Yet, for two years, the calls Duffel had been waiting on never came. Despite being a starting offensive tackle on back-to-back state title-winning teams, his cell phone had been completely cold when it came to college recruiting.
When the 2022 season ended, Duffel vowed to make some changes. He went into the offseason with a mindset to change the direction his football career was headed.
Much in the same way he plays the game, he became the aggressor.
Duffel added 30 to 35 pounds of weight during the offseason and came back for his senior campaign weighing 265 pounds.
“And the biggest part of it was for recruiting. I have the good frame, I have all the tape out, I go to all the camps, I play my game play well,” Duffel said. “But the biggest thing that coaches see is, oh, I weighed 240.
"Now they see I'm weighing 265, 270. It helps a lot with recruiting, but that was my biggest focus, putting on good weight.”
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Bixby head coach Loren Montgomery said Duffel’s new size, combined with his aggressive nature, has made him an even more impressive force on the Spartans' line.
“That's the biggest thing, he's gotten so much stronger this year and he's gotten more physical,” Montgomery said. “He's always been technical. He's got a lot of starts under his belt. He's a three-year starter.
"But now that he's 265 instead of 235, it makes a big difference. He’s moving people.”
Bixby offensive tackle Brody Duffel (left) blocks a Southmoore player during the Spartans' 66-0 win on Sept. 28, 2023.
Duffel started to see immediate dividends to his increased size. Before he even played a game at his new weights, college coaches took notice.
“I came into this off-season with zero offers and then I want to say in late January after I started putting on some weight, I got a phone call from UNLV and it rolled from there,” Duffel said. “It was like a domino effect. I think I picked up five or six offers within a week.”
Yet, it is the first offer from UNLV that remains the most important and memorable.
“I wasn't really expecting. I was going to dinner at Raising Canes with some friends and I just happened to be in the truck and (UNLV offensive line) Coach (Vance) Vice, he was like, ‘Hey, can I shoot you a call real quick?’ And I was like, absolutely. I thought we were just going to talk,” Duffel recounted.
“I thought he was going to invite me out to a camp or something like that, or a visit. So we're talking and he kind of ended the call off with, ‘We want to offer you a full scholarship to come play for us.’”
The full impact of what Vice was saying took a moment to soak for Duffel. When he rejoined his friends inside the restaurant and they asked what took him so long, he was still flabbergasted.
“It was surreal. I was just floored,” Duffel said. “I was stunned for a second because growing up, that's been my dream to play college football. And it finally came true that I got that opportunity.
"So I waited and then I went and called my parents and they were ecstatic, too. So it was a quick dinner and I got home and we all celebrated, went out to dinner the next night. It was a great time.”
Duffel currently has 16 total offers from various programs around the country. They include Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth, Eastern Michigan, Memphis, University of Tulsa, Penn and each of the three armed forces academies (Army, Navy, Air Force).
His unofficial top three schools are UNLV, Tulsa and Memphis. However, he is nowhere near deciding on where he will be going as he continues to weigh his short and long-term options.
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Duffel's only visits have been to Oklahoma State, Tulsa and Oklahoma in June.
“The biggest thing for me is I want to feel at home. I want to feel somewhere where I'm going to enjoy my life for the next four to 40 years,” Duffel said. “I could go somewhere, get my good degree. My dream is to hopefully make it to the league. But that's a slim chance.
"I'm going to work my hardest and I'm going to do everything I can to get there, but if I don't, then I'm going to get that good degree and my connections will be wherever I go to school."
Regardless of whether it is UNLV or somewhere else.
"If I go to somewhere like Las Vegas, chances are I'll probably be living around there because my connections will be there," Duffel said. "I want to find somewhere that feels like home somewhere.
"I'll enjoy myself, play some good ball and ultimately better myself.”
When describing the journey he has been on, Duffel used the word "surreal" a few times.
To go from no offers to where he is now, it seems as good a word as any.
“I am extremely blessed, that's for sure,” Duffel said.
