WATERVILLE — Simply put, Luke Duncklee is a football player.
The former Cony High School quarterback is three games into his senior season with the Colby College football team and so far he has done a little bit of everything for the Mules.
“He’s our starting wide receiver, he’s our starting punt returner and he’s been playing some defensive back as of the last two weeks,” Colby coach Jonathan Michaels said. “…You could put him at running back, you could put him at quarterback, you could put him at receiver and he’s going to step up to the challenge.”
The way Colby has utilized Duncklee this season is only fitting really, particularly given the way his football odyssey has played out since arriving in Waterville four years ago.
“It’s sort of been a roller coaster ride,” Duncklee said. “I came in as a quarterback (and then) switched to running back after a couple weeks when we had our starting tailback go down, so I got to play quite a bit freshman year as a running back. That offseason I switched to wide receiver.”
That roller coaster took a sharp dip in the first game of his sophomore year, a 41-7 loss at Williams College. Duncklee caught eight passes for 66 yards and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass in the game, but his season came to an end before the contest’s conclusion when he was lost to a broken leg.
He bounced back in a big way last season though, as he was by far the team’s leading receiver with 61 catches for 599 yards and six touchdowns.
This fall the Mules (0-3) are off to a tough start having been outscored 87-21 in three games, but Duncklee has been solid. He has caught 12 balls for 71 yards and rushed five times for 11 yards. Michaels said those numbers should go up, particularly after captain Zach Padula was lost for the year with a broken collar bone.
“We’ve got to be able to get him the ball a little bit more and certainly there’s a lot of things that going into that — especially when you’re playing receiver,” Michaels said. “We’re going to lean on him to run the ball and have some other plays to get him the ball in the air.”
When the Mules make the trip to Amherst Saturday for their 1 p.m. kickoff against the Lord Jeffs it will mark the halfway point of Duncklee’s final season in football, a fact that he is still coming to grips with.
“It’s kind of culmination of a long, long football career. It’s kind of surreal to think that I’m a senior in college now and it’s just about it,” Duncklee said. “I’ve been playing this game since I was in third grade. From day one I’ve been hooked. Really playing through high school I was mostly wanting to play baseball in college. My senior year of football happened, I had played my last game and I was just like there’s no way I can stop this now.
“It’s just sort of been my first love, I guess. It’s just something about it. It’s such a team game and there’s nothing really else like it. It’s always been a big part of my life.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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