Duquesne University Football has been picked to finish second in the NEC’s Preseason Poll marking the 11th straight year the Dukes have been picked either first or second. Seven players have also earned NEC preseason all-league honors.
These players include Cyrus Holder, Bill O’Malley, Jake Dixon, Vincent Lumia, Leandro DeBrito, kicker Brian Bruzdewica, and quarterback Joe Mischler.
Picked first is the NEC’s preseason poll for the 2021 season is Sacred Heart with four first-place votes. The Pioneers finished third in the NEC last season with a record of 4-3. Of course, last season was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and many teams did not play a full schedule.
Duquense and Central Connecticut both received an equal amount of votes and have tied for second place in the preseason poll. However, the Dukes garnered two first-place voted and Central Connecticut only received one.
Below are the full rankings with the amount of first-place votes in parenthesis.
2021 NEC Football Preseason Coaches Poll
- Sacred Heart (4)
- Duquesne (2), Central Connecticut (1)
- Bryant
- Saint Francis
- Long Island
- Wagner
The Dukes open up their season on Sept. 4th at 8:00 pm on the road against Texas Christian University, airing on ESPN+. Duquense is set to play a minimum of two games on ESPN3 this upcoming season as well.
