Lenoir-Rhyne S Kyle Dugger remains a prospect to watch with Senior Bowl performance
“You got anything planned for January 25th?”
Kyle Dugger was standing in front of the entire Lenoir-Rhyne football team as it prepared for practice when he was asked by head coach Drew Concic for his availability months in advance.
Dugger couldn’t think of anything planned for that date.
His coach then revealed that Dugger had been invited to play in the 2020 Senior Bowl. His teammates swarmed him, jumping up and down and yelling.
There are a lot of big football programs represented this week in Mobile, Ala. LSU, Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State. It’s a big opportunity for players to show what they can do in front of scouts, coaches and general managers from almost all 32 NFL teams.
But it is an especially big deal to players like Dugger, the only Division II athlete participating. The competition Dugger went against in college wasn’t as high as many of the other prospects. But he took full advantage of the chance to showcase his skills.
The safety improved his NFL stock, with almost everyone impressed with the work he put in at the practices. He made many lists of the top players of the week.
Teams already knew he has potential. Dugger was visited in Hickory, N.C. this season by over 90 NFL scouts and at least one representative from all 32 teams, including Panthers general manager Marty Hurney, per NFL.com
Despite that attention, the Senior Bowl experience was still a lot to digest for Dugger.
“It’s been fast, but it’s been fun. A really good experience with everything on and off the field, a bunch of new stuff for me,” Dugger said. “I didn’t really have too many expectations (coming in), I just wanted to do my part out of the whole thing. I didn’t want it to be like where I look back like, if I hadn’t done (as much as I can).”
At six feet and 217 pounds, Dugger prefers to play strong safety, although it was rumored that some NFL teams were also hoping for a chance to see him play a hybrid linebacker position. He was largely used as a safety in Senior Bowl practice and showed great coverage abilities — including a nice interception on day two, in addition to being a threat as a punt returner, which will help him in the NFL.
Dugger’s Senior Bowl performance comes off a season in which, despite playing only seven games due to injury, he won the Cliff Harris Award, given to the nation’s small college defensive player of the year.
In his career at Lenoir-Rhyne he had 237 tackles, 10 interceptions, 36 pass break-ups, 6 forced fumbles, 6 fumble recoveries and two blocked kicks to go along with six punt return touchdowns. In addition to dealing with injury this past year, Dugger was forced to take a redshirt year in 2016 due to a meniscus injury.
But he said NFL teams aren’t concerned about his injuries.
“Just a lot of keep growing,” Dugger said of NFL teams’ message to him. “A lot of them know my situation, a lot of them I met with earlier in the year, so they know there’s still a lot of rust coming off of that. There’s a lot I can improve on, just coming from today, but they are just telling me to bury my head.”
How did a defensive player who could fit in a variety of NFL schemes and positions end up at a D-II school? He was barely recruited out of Fayetteville, Georgia’s Whitewater High School because he wasn’t a full-time starter until his senior year. Dugger was undersized at the time and the only scholarship program that showed interest was Lenoir-Rhyne.
With the success he had at the school after the opportunity it gave him, Dugger said it’s nice to help Lenoir-Rhyne get publicity.
“Without them I would be at home possibly or there’s no telling what I’d be doing right now,” Dugerr said. “I might not be playing football, so it’s definitely good to give them some recognition.”
Only eight Lenoir-Rhyne players have been selected in the NFL draft, the last being DE John Milem in the fifth round by the 49ers in 2000. Dugger will be the ninth. And all the talk about being from a small school and his ability to keep up with top talent? That’s just motivation.
“I pay attention to it in a good way, I kind of use it as fuel,” Dugger said. “There’s a chip on my shoulder.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 9:50 AM.
