Caleb Foster’s Return Means Another Chapter In A Great Redemption Story

Foster’s career has been a masterclass in overcoming adversity.

Caleb Foster will surely admit that his sophomore season didn’t go fully as planned.

Despite being a cog in one of Duke’s most successful teams, Foster’s role declined over the course of the year. The Blue Devils’ season arguably turned when Foster lost his starting role to Sion James, and while he transitioned into a sixth man role early on, he was surpassed by freshman Isaiah Evans in the rotation late in the ACC season. Conspicuously, he was the lone player not to play in a blowout victory in Cameron on Senior Night.

It would’ve been all too easy for Foster to check out on his teammates and put one foot in the transfer portal. Instead, he took the challenge to reclaim his role on the team head on. When Duke faced its first game pressure in weeks in Chapel Hill, Foster stepped up with 9 impactful minutes, particularly on the defensive end. In the NCAA Tournament, Foster reestablished himself as the Blue Devils’ sixth man, averaging more than 13 minutes per game an impacting the game beyond his contributions to the box score.

In a time in which cynicism about the state of college athletics is the default, Foster’s journey is a throwback to a bygone era—and Duke fans are lucky that the next chapter of that journey will be in Durham.

In his announcement on the Brotherhood Podcast, it became clear that Foster’s engagement with the team never wavered during the low points of his season. Neal Begovich raved about his attitude, even relaying that the Kon Kneuppel emphasized Foster’s resiliency as one of the major lesson’s he’ll take with him to the NBA. Foster himself recounted his efforts to motivate his roommate Khaman Maluach going into late-season contests against UNC—games in which Foster himself wasn’t assured to even see the floor.

Overcoming that adversity has been a hallmark of Foster’s entire career. He was notably snubbed from the McDonald’s All America game as a high school prospect. His freshman year was cut short by injury just when it appeared Foster was finding another gear. He lost his starting role this past season. But none of those roadblocks stopped Foster—they only served as motivation for his next evolution.

Now, Duke fans have the chance to see Foster fully evolved. He’s shown he can be a knockdown, albeit streaky, shooter as a Blue Devil. He’s shown he can use his length to attack the rim, although he’s often struggled to finish at it. He’s shown he can impact the game on the defensive end in spurts, but has yet to fully showcase those talents as a starter. With a full, healthy summer in Durham, there’s every reason to believe Foster will take the next step to translating those tantalizing glimpses of his potential onto the court in his junior season.

Duke has a history of guards taking a major leap between the sophomore and junior seasons, as recently as Tyrese Proctor this year but going back to Quinn Cook and Nolan Smith among others. If Foster follows in those footsteps, it’ll represent a key piece in the puzzle for the Blue Devils to once again compete for a National Championship. But perhaps more importantly, it’ll be the next chapter in an incredible individual redemption arc for a player who seems fully devoted to being a Duke Blue Devil.