The following is an excerpt from Thursday's extensive feature on Patriots second-round pick Kyle Dugger.
Dugger was clearly at a different level than the majority of Division II players he was going against.
Perhaps no one knows this better than current Lenoir-Rhyne quarterback Grayson Willingham.
"Bar none, the best talent I have seen at D-II, even though he was on my team," he said. "He did a lot of different things for us. I think my first year he was a DB, he was a corner for us and then he moved to free safety and then he played in the box a little bit. As a lot of people know, he is very versatile and he can do a lot of different stuff.
"The amount of ground that he can cover — we would do good-on-good when I was the starter and he would play in the middle of the field and if I didn't do a good job on my part looking him off, being on time, he was going to pick it. That was how it was. He was definitely the best athlete that I have seen at this level."
Dugger played in just one game in 2016 after suffering a torn meniscus in practice, but returned in full force in 2017.
In 10 games, he recorded 87 tackles and was named to the Second-Team All-Conference team at the end of the year. He was named First-Team All-South Atlantic Conference as a red-shirt junior in 2018 and then despite only playing in seven games due to a finger injury last year, Dugger earned the Cliff Harris Award, which is given to the best defensive player in D-II.
Not only did he excel as a safety playing all over the field, he was an exceptional punt returner.
As a red-shirt junior he averaged 17.2 yards per return and returned two for touchdowns, and then as a red-shirt senior he had 12 returns for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
While he only totaled four touchdowns his last two years, according to Willingham it should have been even more.
"He took back tons of punt returns and like half of them got called back, honestly," he said. "The first couple of years he had like two or three in game, it was stupid stuff. He got a couple called back. … He kind of just glides. He's really fast, but he gains a lot of ground and is really a smooth runner."
Even though he was one of, if not the best player in Lenoir-Rhyne's history, it was hard to know by the way he acted.
"You never would know," Willingham said. "He's just a humble guy and always good about talking with everybody. He was quiet early on, but I could really see him develop as a leader as I got older and I had the privilege of being a captain with him last year (Dugger was also captain as a junior). That was good to see his leadership style. Definitely a humble guy. You can tell he's just a grinder and has a chip on his shoulder."
Despite playing at the Division II level, Dugger was invited to the Senior Bowl, and that ultimately was huge when it came to his future in the NFL.
