The 2019 Duquesne Football Team

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The 2019 Duquesne University football team is going to consist of a lot of WPIAL football stars.

Brett Brumbaugh, a 2015 South Fayette graduate, will play his senior year of college football next year at Duquesne University. Next year, there is a chance that he will be the starting quarterback for the team. Brumbaugh was basically a living legend at South Fayette as he led the team to two WPIAL and PIAA football championships in his junior year (2013) and senior year (2014) of high school football. He is the PIAA all-time leader in passing yards with 11,084 as he was a 4 year starter on the team. Brumbaugh is also second all-time in the PIAA in passing touchdowns with 127.

Jacob Dixon, a 2016 Bethel Park graduate, will play his junior year of college football at Duqusene University in 2019. Dixon was almost a college volleyball player at Lewis University near Chicago. When Dixon was at Lewis University in his freshman year of college, he decided that he wanted to play college football at Duquesne and play the tight end position. So after spending a semester at Lewis University, Dixon decided to transfer to Duquesne and work out with team in preparation for the 2017 season. Technically, Dixon will be in his senior year of college, next year; but, according to Duquesne Dixon will be listed as a junior next year since he will be on the team for only his third season, not his fourth season. In Dixon's senior year of high school at Bethel Park in 2015, he was second on the team in receptions (32) and receiving yards (533).

Alex Smith, a 2017 Keystone Oaks graduate, had a phenomenal senior year of high school football in 2016 as he led the WPIAL in passing yards (3,061) was tied for first in passing touchdowns (34), led the WPIAL in passing completions (189) and did not even throw an interception. Smith will be a junior in 2019 and will compete with other Duquesne University, quarterback, Brett Brumbaugh, for the starting quarterback position in 2019.

Now, there is a linebacker for Duquesne University named Tom Jurkovec. It says in Jurkovec's bio that he will be a junior for the football team, next year and graduated from Pine-Richland High School in 2017. This has to make all of us think if Tom is related to Phil Jurkovec. Phil is currently a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame and won a WPIAL and PIAA football championship with Pine-Richland in 2017. Hey, Duquesne managed to get a Jurkovec.

Will Weber is a defensive back for Duquesne and will be a sophomore in 2019. Will knows what it takes to win games in football since he played for former West Allegheny football coach, Bob Palko. Weber won a WPIAL football championship for West Allegheny in 2017. That will be something that he will never forget in his life. Weber was very good in his time in West Allegheny as he also played running back. Weber would be able to run all over the football field on offense and cause turnovers on defense. One of the most memorable plays that Weber had in high school was in 2017 when he was under center and scored the game winning 2-point conversion against the North Hills in a 29-28 win.

Aidan Cain will play his sophomore year of football at Duquesene University in 2019. Cain graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School and did not play football in his sophomore and junior year of high school because he tore his ACL in his left knee, twice, during his freshman year. When Cain was cleared to play in his senior year, he went off. Cain recorded 101 receptions, 1,749 yards and 14 touchdowns. Cain was arguably the best wide receiver in the WPIAL in 2017. After Cain could not play in his sophomore and junior year, he must have realized that he was blessed to play the sport he loved again and he is going to do everything he can to be the best. His story was seriously remarkable. When Cain played against Pine-Richland in 2017, he recorded 25 receptions which was a PIAA record.

Other players from the WPIAL that currently play for Duquesne's football team are Brock Dieter (Norwin), Tyler Wallace (Beaver), Anthony Dellovade (West Allegheny), Zack Blystone (Washington High), Eric Neill (Central Valley), Dom Pocci (Chartiers Valley), Justin Baker (West Allegheny), Mark Weideman (Pine-Richland), Connor Brennan (Upper St. Clair), Errict Tedrow (Charleroi), Roman Macek (Montour) and others.

Duquesne is also going to get some star WPIAL football players that will be freshmen in 2019. Here's a list of some of the freshmen players that Duquesne recruited.

- Todd Hill (Steel Valley): Hill was a star running back and outside linebacker for the team. He was ranked 8th in the WPIAL in rushing yards (1,754), scored 30 touchdowns, 8 2-point conversions and recorded 10 receptions for 154 yards during the 2018 WPIAL football season. Hill is a 2x WPIAL champion and 1x PIAA champion in football.

-Jason Sweeney (Upper St. Clair): Sweeney was the starting quarterback for Upper St. Clair in 2018 and was known as a good linebacker. Sweeney was ranked 23rd in the WPIAL in passing yards (1,553) and threw 14 passing touchdowns. Sweeney knows what it is like to play on a good football team and for a good high school football coach in Jim Render.

-Connor Barrett (Chartiers Valley): Barrett was a big reason why the Colts could go down the field on offense, make plays on defense, win some games and score points. Barrett was arguably the best player on the Colts football team in 2018 as he rushed for 961 yards and scored 13 touchdowns. Barrett did not play against Moon on September 21st 2018 due to an injury. If Barrett would have played in that game, he might have recorded 1,000 rushing yards. It is unknown if Barrett will play running back or linebacker at Duquesne University. Barrett will be teammates with his high school football teammate, Dom Pocci.

-Ezekiel M. Daure (Keystone Oaks): Daure was simply a dawg in 2018 in his senior year of high school football. In 2018, Daure was ranked 13th in the WPIAL in rushing yards (1,546), recorded 31 touchdowns and recorded 23 receptions for 345 yards. The Keystone Oaks varsity football team had an overall record of 6-4 in 2018; but, if a couple plays happened differently, they could have had an overall record of 8-2 and make the WPIAL 3A football playoffs.

-AJ Ackerman (Elizabeth Forward): One of the reasons why Elizabeth Forward quarterback, Zachary Benedek, had time to throw the football while in the pocket was because Ackerman was being a good offensive linemen due to his ability to block opposing defenders.

Another good player that Duquesne recruited for their football team was star running back, Billy Lucas, who played his high school football for Cathedral Prep. Cathedral Prep is not in the WPIAL, it participates in District 10 in the PIAA. Lucas is also a 3x football 4A champion.

Duquesne's football record in 2018 was 9-4, so they are pretty good. Let me tell you that Duquesne University has a lot of football players from the WPIAL as we will see if they can keep playing good football in the future.