Duke Snags No. 1 Junior Landen O’Neil, Adds Fourth 5-Star ’28

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Leading up to Saturday's massive announcement, momentum had been slowly building for the Blue Devils.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>First came No. 6 junior PJ Kennedy, a dynamic Culver (Ind.) attackman who had apparently favored Duke from the jump but received no shortage of attractive offers before officially announcing his intentions to kickstart the Blue Devils' class on Sept. 14.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then came Team 91 LSM Casey Gilchrist, Prep Lacrosse's No. 12 junior and yet another Long Island native in a long line of them to join the Duke roster. Gilchrist plays his high school ball at Massapequa, just a 15-minute drive from the hometowns of much of the Blue Devils' staff.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When the top two midfielders in the class narrowed their final two choices to Duke and Virginia, there was plenty of optimism that the Blue Devils would land at least one of them — and plenty of buzz that perhaps they'd even snag both.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the 21st, Christian Brothers (N.J.) and Leading Edge midfielder Danny Varone announced that he would be taking his talents to Durham, solidifying what felt like one of the most seamless fits of the entire '28 cycle. The nation's No. 5 junior has always looked the part of a future Blue Devil midfielder.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A day later, Jupiter (Fla.) face-off specialist Luke Druhot joined the fray. After all, if you're going to stockpile offensive weapons, you need someone to get them the ball, and the South's No. 14 prospect looks primed to do just that.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Saturday around 5:00 p.m. ET, the Blue Devils officially landed the class's best player, returning to the talent-laden ISL with No. 1 recruit [player_tooltip player_id='168588' first='Landen' last='O'Neil']. This big-bodied left-handed attackman racked up 62 goals and 57 assists and earned MVP honors for the conference champions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The youngest recruit in the Top 100, O'Neil fought through a lower-body injury for much of the summer, but firmly established himself as the No. 1 player in the class during the spring against older competition. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"He's just different in that he's a Power 4 linebacker playing lacrosse — he's Will Yeatman with Chad Palumbo's skill set," <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/09/five-star-28s-oneil-tyler-hristoforatos-headline-the-top-100/">said one Division I coach prior to Prep Lacrosse's rankings release</a>. "He can operate in multiple areas of the field. He's a plug-and-play guy who is the centerpiece as soon as he gets somewhere."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Though O'Neil is well-known for his prowess as a linebacker on the football field and was recently given three stars by On3, the current plan is for him to play only lacrosse for the Blue Devils. In the hours leading up to his announcement, he told Prep Lacrosse that "football was not a huge factor at all," while later confirming that he made visits to Richmond, Michigan, Notre Dame, and North Carolina, in addition to his campus visit to Duke.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>According to multiple sources, O'Neil went through a "lacrosse-first" recruiting process, making a multitude of weekday visits to avoid conflicts with his Tabor football games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's no surprise that Duke became an attractive destination for attack recruits, considering the program didn't take an attackman in the 2027 class, while its midfield additions were more defensive-minded. That was a theme throughout the Blue Devils' class, leaving an obvious need for offensive firepower.<br><br>Mission accomplished. <br><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->