At 19 years old, White House native and football phenom, Caleb Dorris, would have considered himself fortunate to receive just one Division 1 offer, let alone several. 

After the dust from the college recruitment process had settled, Caleb walked away with a total of 18 offers from colleges and universities, ultimately choosing the Blue Devils of Duke University as his next team. 

Born and raised in White House, Caleb grew up playing Junior Pro football and spent his freshman and sophomore years playing tight end for White House High School. After transferring before his junior year, Caleb ended his high school career at Ensworth School in Nashville, a move that challenged him academically as well as physically.

“I love White House football, and I have always loved the small-town culture of White House, so it was a difficult choice to make, but Ensworth helped prepare me academically for Duke, and it’s a powerhouse in terms of football,” said Caleb.

The college recruiting process moved slowly for Caleb, at least initially. With a mind for marketing, Caleb created a Twitter account and began posting highlights from games to the page. 

“I followed as many coaches as I could, just trying to get my name out there,” he recalled.

While developing an increasingly prominent profile, Caleb received his first D1 offer from Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) on October 9, 2021. Unaware that the offer from EKU had arrived early in the process, Caleb became concerned as months wore on without additional offers. 

“I thought, how did I go from getting a D1 offer to having no schools reaching out to me? I was upset, but I kept working and playing football and trying to get better. Come February, I was averaging two offers a week,” Caleb said.

By the end of the recruiting season, Caleb had amassed 18 offers from schools including: Duke, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Fordham, Bucknell, and West Point.

While visiting Duke University, all the pieces fell into place. Not only was Caleb extremely impressed with the coaching staff and the program in general, Mike Elko, the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils, pointed out that their transfer numbers were much lower than other schools. “The first thing they said was, ‘hey, our culture is what we’re known for and our players stay.’” 

In addition to exhibiting stellar retention numbers, Caleb knew that Mike Elko was an extremely impressive coach, having guided the Blue Devils to eight regular season wins, as well as a second-place finish in the Coastal Division in his first year. 

“College football is a business, and so you're looking at their coaches and program and you're asking yourself, would I fit in? Could I imagine myself here?” 

Caleb made the decision to accept Duke’s offer while on his official visit to the campus, informing his parents while they were still in their hotel room. “I said, ‘I think I want to go here,’ and they said, ‘Well, let’s go tell Coach Elko.’”

A few weeks ago, Caleb joined his new teammates in North Carolina for training. 

“The funny thing about football and summer workouts is that you bond so much with your teammates because you go through difficult times together,” Caleb said. “Being a freshman and having twenty other freshmen come in with you who have no idea what to expect…you get thrown into the weight room, you get thrown into practice, and all this stuff is obviously at a very difficult level. I feel like we all immediately bonded.”

Caleb is currently an offensive lineman for Duke although he spent his years at White House High School making a name for himself as a tight end. The year he transferred to Ensworth, there was a mix up on his first day of practice. 

“I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. They broke into position groups, and I didn't know where the tight ends were, so I walked over and stood with the offensive lineman. After that day, I became a lineman.” 

Despite the initial confusion, Caleb feels the change was serendipitous. “Becoming a lineman just meant taking away one aspect of a tight end and emphasizing the part that I love, which is blocking.”

A forward-thinker who is as intelligent as he is talented on the field, Caleb has always been methodical about decision-making. True to form, he is already thinking a few steps ahead regarding his future after graduation.

Regardless of where the future may lead him, it’s very clear that Caleb’s small-town roots and football-loving family are where his heart is. 

“My entire family is full of football fans. They love to watch football, and so growing up and hanging out at family barbecues, that’s what we’d all do. I loved it when they would come watch me play, and now the idea that I could possibly be playing on the same screen that we all watched back then… it’s crazy to me. I can’t believe it.”

The city of White House will be watching and cheering you on too, Caleb. Go get ‘em!