Kiski Area’s Jack Dilts is headed to Duquesne

By: Greg Macafee
Monday, October 5, 2020 | 2:46 PM

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For the second time in two weeks, a Kiski Area football player committed to a Division I program.

On Monday afternoon, Kiski Area defensive end Jack Dilts announced his verbal commitment to Duquesne.

Committed! @CoachGribbin @CoachColemanDL @DuqFB @kiskifootball pic.twitter.com/1DWtg9EJvu

— Jack Dilts (@jack_dilts) October 5, 2020

Since announcing his first official offer from Penn on Feb. 8, Dilts received offers from Bucknell, Albany (where teammate Kenny Blake committed last week), Robert Morris and Akron.

Akron was his most recent offer July 4, just after the Cavaliers got back to the practice field. Duquesne originally offered Dilts on April 6 and for the big defensive end from it was the hometown type of feeling and being close to home that really sold him on going to Duquesne.

“I really liked that it was close to home, so my family will be able to come see me play,” said Dilts, who also has a younger brother on the Kiski Area football team. “I’m also going for business and Duquesne is a really good school for that, so it should give me a lot of opportunities in the future.”

As a junior last season, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound defensive end and tight end tallied 43 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and five pass deflections. Dilts said the coaches at Duquesne were big fans of the abilities he was able to display on the football field.

“They said they liked the way that I could go to the gap and just how I use my hands,” Dilts said.

Through three games this season, Dilts has seven tackles and also forced a few quarterback hurries, but just like any high school player, the talented two-way player who will play defense at the next level is still looking to improve his game and continue to bulk up.

“I think I could still work on my footwork a little bit after the season, but I also want to get bigger and stronger,” Dilts said.