Lehigh Football Nation

All WR Troy Pelleite r and OL Zach Duffy ever wanted was a shot at the NFL. After the NFL Draft concluded this past Saturday, they learned that they both would be getting a chance. Troy, whose name is plastered all over the Lehigh record books, was invited to minicamp with the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles.   And Zach Duffy, the fiery leader of the Mountain Hawk offensive line, was invited to minicamp with the Indianapolis Colts. Lehigh Nation is thrilled that these two great Mountain Hawk football players will get their shot to play in the NFL.

Many Patriot League football fans remember the 153rd meeting between Lehigh and Lafayette, one that ended happily for the Mountain Hawks. They might remember the MVP performance of QB Brad Mayes , or perhaps the halftime speech by OL Zach Duffy that seemed to spur the Mountain Hawks to victory. Or perhaps they might remember the spectacular single play of Mayes rolling right and finding WR Gatlin Casey in the end zone to give the Mountain Hawks a lead they didn't relinquish.  It was an incredible play by Mayes, who returns this upcoming year for his senior season, and Casey, who, having exhausted his eligibility at Lehigh, will be playing one more year at Middle Tennessee State. As great as those individual moments are, though, they are not my biggest takeaway of that game. Too many Lehigh people forget that Lehigh was down 31-21 at half, and that victory was no sure thing.  And they sometimes forget that so much of that victory came from the grinding of WR Troy Pe...

One of the more interesting aspects of covering Lehigh football for so long is the fact that you end up seeing future NFL players on their rise to the big show. In fact, two players who squared off against the Mountain Hawks in particular have an excellent chance of being drafted on Day 2 or Day 3 of the NFL draft. But those not the only Lehigh football opponents that will be hoping to get a phone call from an NFL team this Friday or Saturday. Though few Patriot League, Ivy League or even CAA players enter their football programs with the NFL as their main goal, every football player that matriculates to these schools still harbor the dream of dominating their league and as a result get an opportunity to pursue their NFL dream. And it is true that NFL scouts come to FCS football games to look for talent that might have been overlooked.  Many years ago I was in Hofstra's press box, watching the Pride take on New Hampshire, with NFL scouts from the Colts and Saints there to...

WR Lee Kurfis literally came out of nowhere last year on the Patriot League and national scene. Hard to believe now, but going into the 2013 season, he wasn't a member of the preseason all-Patriot League team, despite playing very well in several games his junior year when WR Ryan Spadola , now with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, was out with mono. Maybe it was the unorthodox style of running.  Or maybe it was because people forgot about his sneaky quickness to break for the ball.  But after Kurfis almost singlehandedly helped Lehigh overcome a three-score opening-game deficit to Central Connecticut State , Lehigh Nation certainly knew that Lee had the potential to be a great one in the annals of Lehigh history. Now of course, the rest of FCS Nation knows who Mr. Kurfis is, as he finished atop the FCS on average yards per game (122.8), 3rd in FCS in receptions per game (9.0), and finding his name on the ECAC All-Star Team, the AP FCS All-America team, Sports Network All-S...

During the football season, I've gotten in the writing habit of picking a "Sunday Word", and using it to describe what happened the previous week. I've been slack in getting this going this preseason, but the only possible word that can perfectly summarize this Lehigh football offseason is " pro ". The NCAA's big ad campaign for years now has been that "most athletes go 'pro' in something other than sports".  And for the great majority of Lehigh athletes, year-in and year-out, this is still true. But this offseason we've seen an unprecedented number of Lehigh athletes trying their hand at 'pro' ball - and Lehigh fans everywhere couldn't be more thrilled or excited.  There are a lot of "pro" adventures to follow for Lehigh fans right now, and it's damned exciting stuff.

It may be 21 days until the start of Lehigh's football season, but there's plenty of football on TV for Lehigh fans to get excited about tonight. For all the information you need on catching LB Billy Boyko, OG Will Rackley and WR Ryan Spadola this weekend, just check below the flip.

In the "Lehigh Football Alumni in the News" department, word of of Corpus Christi, Texas has former Lehigh QB Sedale Threatt '08 not only getting assigned a place at with Arena Football 2's Corpus Christi team, apparently he made such an impression that he was anointed the starter for the 2-8 Sharks this weekend : In a joint announcement from Vice President/General Manager Larry Linde and Head Coach Michael Trigg the Sharks have decided to go in a new direction at Quarterback. The team announced that they have released QB Gary Cooper and decided to go with Lehigh Rookie Sedale Threatt. “We have to start playing better and start taking care of the football”, said Trigg. “We have an obligation to our fans and sponsors to put players on the field that take responsibility for their actions, and that have a team concept. At this point Sedale represents that player”, Trigg added. New Sharks QB Threatt during Sharks Overtime, which airs on ESPN 1230, had this to say about t...