The Duke basketball program has extended a scholarship offer to Jermaine Samuels, a 4-star small forward in the class of 2017.

Samuels is a 6’5″, 205-pound wing who attends The Rivers School in Weston, Mass. He was the subject of a feature by Matt Norlander of CBS Sports earlier this summer, which highlighted the attention Samuels had received from major college coaches during the AAU circuit with strong performances at Peach Jam and in Las Vegas for his Expressions Elite team.

Duke has offered @XEliteBasketbal & ESPN 100 SF Jermaine Samuels — Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) August 25, 2016



His strong play had put him on the radar of the Duke coaching staff, and apparently it was enough to convince them he was worthy of a scholarship offer in the 2017 class.

Samuels has recovered from a knee injury he suffered in December 2015 to prove he can still compete with the best players in his class and has a chance to be an impact player at the college level. Not surprisingly, he wants to model his game after Paul George, who is known as one of the best two-way players in the NBA and has recovered from his own devastating leg injury.

He’s listed in the 247Sports Composite as the No. 9 small forward and No. 44 overall player in the class of 2017.

Duke now enters the recruiting battle for Samuels, which also includes Villanova, Indiana, Kansas, and Georgetown. It’s expected that Samuels will schedule a visit to Duke in the near future.

It’s clear Mike Krzyzewski and his staff have now shifted their attention from USA Basketball and the Olympics back to the Blue Devils. Samuels is the second player to receive an offer from Duke this week, with 2017 4-star shooting guard Alex O’Connell being the other.