A day after making verbal commitment, Kiski Area’s Kuhn signs with Duquesne

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, December 19, 2018 | 7:36 PM

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Timing was everything for Troy Kuhn.

The Kiski Area senior made his official visit to Duquesne over the weekend, just days before the opening of the early signing period for Division I football recruits. And that visit, more than anything, solidified his decision to join the Dukes.

Kuhn, an offensive and defensive standout, signed with Duquesne on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, which runs through Friday.

“I was pretty excited,” said Kuhn, who made his verbal commitment on Twitter on Tuesday night. “I was pretty pumped when I first committed. And then signing, really just selling myself to them, got me pretty excited.”

The recruiting process started slowly for Kuhn, who will play defensive end at Duquesne, but picked up late in the season. Duquesne became the first school to offer him a scholarship in the latter half of October, and Robert Morris followed later that week. Kuhn picked up a third offer, from Slippery Rock, earlier this month.

He visited Duquesne for a football game earlier this fall and got a closer look at the campus and facilities on his official visit last weekend, and that sold him on the university.

“It was pretty cool because Duquesne is its own little part of Pittsburgh,” Kuhn said. “It’s not right there in the middle, it’s on the top of that hill. I liked it.”

Although recruitment became hectic late for Kuhn, he was glad to make his decision.

“It was just how I wanted it to be,” he said. “People wanted me, and I just wanted to experience what the actual recruiting process was like, and I got to experience it.”

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Kuhn was Kiski Area’s second-leading receiver, earning first-team all-conference honors in the Class 5A Northern Conference after catching 32 passes for 583 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 70 tackles and a team-high eight sacks while playing linebacker this fall, and will transition to defensive end at Duquesne.

He has both tight end and defensive end in his bloodlines. Older brother Shane played tight end and H-back at Youngstown State from 2014-17.

His other older brother, Chad, just completed his redshirt sophomore season as a defensive end at Slippery Rock, where he had 48 tackles and 7.5 sacks this season, including a school-record 4.5 sacks in a win over Millersville.

Although the pull to join Chad at Slippery Rock added some intrigue for Troy, ultimately he chose to forge his own path at Duquesne.

Kuhn will join a Duquesne program that in 2018 won the Northeast Conference championship and advanced to the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, recording its first ever FCS tournament in the process.

“I didn’t know if it was going to happen,” Kuhn said of the opportunity to play Division I football. “That’s obviously everyone’s dream; you want to play Division I football. I got the opportunity, and I’m going to see what it’s like.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Kiski School