by ASHLEY DAVIS
Sports Editor

Dominique McDuffie was a 10th grader at Red Bank High School in Chattanooga, Tenn. when Appalachian State

University started their December football tradition seven miles down the road at W. Max Finley Stadium, three years ago.

Yet, McDuffie, a freshman defensive back, is not intimidated by the previous successes of Appalachian football, or the Southern Conference rivalry he grew up in.

Freshman defensive back Dominique McDuffie makes one of his four tackles against junior running back Charles Scott at Louisiana State University. Photo by Adam Dixon

Instead he’s pummeling through games, hoping to earn his own right to a national championship ring.

“All I knew when I came up here was, we’re going to try to win another one,” McDuffie said.

McDuffie’s approach is appropriate considering Appalachian’s opening game in Baton Rouge, was also McDuffie’s first time as a starter in a Mountaineer uniform.

“[McDuffie] has performed extremely well especially down there at LSU,” defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach John Wiley said. “…You go into that arena as your first ball game and you show no fear and you’re ready to play. I mean he’s still got some things he’s got to work on. But barring injury or no work ethic, he’ll definitely be out there at [James Madison University].”

McDuffie weighs in at 195-pounds, and is 6-foot-2-inches tall, what Wiley said he considered a big kid to be a defensive back.

“He’s a big kid that’s athletic though, usually you don’t find that except in smaller guys. That’s his first tremendous asset,” Wiley said. “[McDuffie’s] second is he has an understanding of the game far beyond his experience and that’s what’s making him extremely coachable. He understands the mistakes he makes, he understands why and he understands how to get those corrected.”

Fortunately for McDuffie, there are a number of veterans on the team ready to mentor.

Defensive backs senior Leonard Love and junior Cortez Gilbert are two teammates that McDuffie has been watching and learning from, he said.

“I’m trying to teach him that you can’t just have the talent on the field, you have to have talent off of the field as well,” Love said.

“Like in the film room you have to be a student of the game and study it, and you get better.”

So far McDuffie is laying a solid foundation, starting the first two games of the season, taking a total of seven tackles, five solos and two assisted.

Meanwhile Love leads the team with 16 tackles, followed by teammates D.J. Smith and Jacque Roman with 15 each.

Love said he believes McDuffie has what it takes to become one of the best defensive backs Appalachian has ever seen, though.

“I’m seeing a lot of capabilities, a guy that likes to work, he has a ton of talent and just doesn’t realize how much talent he has,” Love said. “And it’s good to watch him and to be able to tutor him into being a great athlete.”

That’s not to say McDuffie doesn’t have areas that need improvement though.

“[McDuffie] has this tendency to let a guy get a step behind him and rely too much on catching speed,” Wiley said. “That’s going to bite him somewhere down the road if we don’t get it fixed.”

McDuffie agrees.

“You can always get better. This week I’m just working on not getting beat deep and improving my tackling,” McDuffie said. “[JMU] is going to want some get-backs from last year’s game, so we’re going to go out there and prove to them that we’re the better team.”

McDuffie said he loved the game of football because of it’s intensity, which was coincidentally the one trait he said he thought he brought to Appalachian’s backfield.

The team will be tested facing James Madison Saturday in Harrisonburg, Va.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Show/Hide comments