Duquesne Dukes football sends 2 players to the NFL after first FCS playoff win

Duquesne football isn't known for producing talent capable of playing in the NFL, but that appears to be changing.

“Not only do they want to come here for a good education and to win football games,” head coach Jerry Schmitt said. “But they also want opportunity.”

The Dukes are coming off a season in which they won their first FCS playoff game and now two players are getting an opportunity to play in the NFL. Nehari Crawford is slight in stature, but is getting a chance to play in the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie minicamp this weekend.

“He’s got really good speed for a little guy,” Schmitt said. “That’s what sets him apart.”

Matt Fitzpatrick, a former walk-on, developed into a three-time all-conference player with the Dukes, and now is headed to Seattle to join the Seahawks.

“He’s uncharacteristically athletic for an offensive lineman,” Schmitt says. “I’ve seen him dunk a basketball.”

Getting a shot at rookie camp is an opportunity of a lifetime for Crawford and Fitzpatrick, but the odds of them sticking in the NFL are far greater than more traditional college football players. Not because they lack talent, but they have to battle where they come from, a smaller program, like Duquesne, that doesn’t have much cache.

“Over the years they have found great players in the NFL from smaller schools,” Schmitt says. “They (small school players) have to do a better evaluation but our guys work at it. They work just as hard.”

The childhood dream of reaching the NFL hasn’t been easy for Crawford and Fitzpatrick, but the long, hard road to where they are now has been in the works for years.

“Our guys have that dream but you can’t start when you’re a junior or senior,” Schmitt says. “You have to start when you’re a freshman preparing for that.”

Crawford and Fitzpatrick listened to that advice and now we’ll see what they can do with an opportunity.

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