Harlan: Duquesne gaining popularity with WPIAL recruits

With only 23, the number of FBS recruits from the WPIAL was lower than usual this year. But with FCS schools heavily recruiting here, more than three dozen others still joined Division I football.

Duquesne can be credited for boosting that number. The Dukes signed eight WPIAL recruits from this 2015 class with some recognizable names among them.

“The last couple years for us and our level, (the WPIAL) has been very deep in talent,” said Duquesne coach Jerry Schmitt, whose Dukes compete in FCS (formerly I-AA). “We've run into a situation sometimes where we have to choose.

“It's hard because there are some guys who are interested in Duquesne and want to stay in Pittsburgh, and we just don't have enough scholarship money.”

With other WPIAL recruits already finding success there, the Dukes have gained favor with a number of local stars. Schmitt received a signed letter of intent Wednesday from the state's all-time leading passer, South Fayette quarterback Brett Brumbaugh.

But Schmitt also landed a 4,000-yard rusher (P.J. Fulmore), one of the top receivers in Class AAAA (Dre Gastion) and a Central Catholic tailback who could prove to be a steal (Riley Redman).

“I'm ecstatic about some of the local guys we were able to get,” Schmitt said.

“(The WPIAL) has been really good to us the past couple of years.”

Also in the last couple of years, Schmitt's staff has become more ambitious with whom they target. It can hold its own recruiting with other FBS teams, he said.

Now their idea is to lure an occasional Western Pennsylvania recruit away from the low-level FCS schools in the Mid-American.

“We think that way,” Schmitt said. “It started last year when we had a couple kids here choose us over MAC schools for one reason or another: location, close to home, academics, a chance to play earlier. And the fact we've been in the hunt for championships the last four years and won two of them.

“We feel we have been able to compete for a few guys in that arena.”

Duquesne has awarded football scholarships since only 2008.

The team has the equivalent of around 35, Schmitt said, with some divided between more than one recruit. The 2014 roster had 29 players with WPIAL or City League roots.

Brumbaugh joins Montour graduate Dillon Buechel, a junior next fall, at quarterback.

“We've got a pretty good quarterback playing for us right now,” Schmitt said of Buechel. “We think they're very similar.

Chris Harlan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.