Kyle Dugger has a hard time articulating exactly what was going through his head during those 2014 fall nights in Hickory, N.C.



Dugger had already been passed over by every Division 1 football program in the country. He took one of the two Division 2 offers he received and landed at Lenoir Rhyne University. As Division 2 programs go, Lenoir Rhyne was loaded, so Dugger had to redshirt his first year on campus. That meant when the Bears traveled for road games, Dugger stayed behind.



Aaron Brock, who was an assistant on the football staff and now works in the athletic department, recalled that the team never expected to have much luck tracking down non-travel players on Saturday nights after returning from a road trip. Dugger was the exception.



“We would have a road game and we would come home on the bus at 10:30 on a Saturday night and Kyle was in the weight room by himself,” Brock said. “His focus on his long-range goals, it was a little bit...