Kyle Dugger was highly touted as a Division II prospect entering the 2020 NFL Draft.
And taking a small-school safety with the team’s first overall pick just screamed Bill Belichick ahead of his first season without quarterback Tom Brady. Naturally, the New England Patriots jumped all over Dugger with the 37th overall pick.
The legendary coach has been known to make stars out of undrafted free agents or guys from less-known schools. The list will continue with a player that didn’t even start full-time on his high school football in Georgia until his senior year.
And starting only sometimes during his junior campaign was tough in such a crucial year for recruiting.
Per a profile by NFL Network’s Chase Goodbread, Dugger was undersized at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, and hadn’t yet grown into his outrageously large arms. The fact that he came from a tall, athletic family (with a 6-foot-6 brother) is what helped convince Lenoir-Rhyne to offer him.
“You could go down the street and get a bigger corner with a lot of the same skills, and most of these college coaches can’t afford to take a chance on a guy with the potential to get bigger,” Rashad Muhyee, Dugger’s position coach in high school said, per NFL Network. “There’s no more five-year plan. It’s a business. You’ve got two recruiting classes to win, and that’s it.”
By his senior year, Dugger bulked up to 6-foot-1 and 218 points, and demanded the attention of scouts from all 32 teams.
Now, he’s has the Patriots taking a gamble on him.
