The Pipers were defeated 7-41 by the Bethel Royals last Saturday, Oct. 10 and senior running back Austin Duncan had the quietest game in his collegiate career with only 17 rushing yards on 10 carries and 4 receiving yards on his only reception.

Duncan has been featured in the Piper backfield ever since he stepped on campus in 2012. In his first three years at Hamline, Duncan totaled just over 4,000 rushing and receiving yards and is all alone at the top of Hamline’s career touchdown, rushing yards, season rushing yards, and game rushing yards records.

Head Coach Chad Rogosheske has praise for his senior running back.

“He’s been such a consistent performer over the years as far as his reliability of being near 100 yards rushing in most games he plays in,” said Rogosheske. “I think his most impressive games are those where he has had to grind out tough yards against the top teams and defenses in our conference; and in those games he still finds a way to be extremely productive and that overall consistency is what sticks out in my mind.”

The senior running back from Louisiana has been playing football since he was five and running back since he was seven.

“At first, back in the day when I was young, I played quarterback but it was mostly like a running back because nobody else could hand the ball off and all I did was roll out left and roll out right,” said Duncan. “About seven I started playing running back and it went from there.”

Duncan led a running back committee in his first year with 868 net rushing yards. His performance jumped accordingly with the slight improvement in the performance of the Pipers offense his sophomore year and he utilized that upgrade as he led the MIAC with 1460 net rushing yards.

Philip Sherman, senior tight end and four-year starter much like Duncan, uses Duncan’s performances to further his own game.

“You just want to get better when you got a guy like that around, just want to be as good as him,” he said. “Duncan pushes you, he’s so good and he’s so passionate that you just want to be the same.”

Duncan has an extremely physical running style, one that is reminiscent of NFL running back Marshawn Lynch. Even his senior friends are still in awe of his playing ability.

“He’s just such a tough dude and it didn’t seem to matter how big the guy was he was going against,” said Sherman. “I’ve seen him shove 270-pound linemen on their ass. It doesn’t matter who Duncan’s going against, he’s going to put his head into them and they’re going to be hurt. You don’t hurt Duncan, he hurts you.”

With the much-improved Hamline offense this year, Duncan has not been needed to carry as big of an offensive load. So far, he has racked up 362 rushing yards in five games, putting him on pace for a rushing total closer to his first-year season and less prolific than his sophomore and junior seasons.

“I think we are now to the point where there’s places to go if teams are keying on him and we’re not able to get as much production out of him,” says Rogosheske. “His sophomore year, he had in the neighborhood of 350 touches for us, and that heavy involvement speaks to a lack of consistent other options to give the ball to. We still want him heavily involved in the gameplan; the difference is now that we are a little more diversified in the things we can do if we are not able to get him going.”

As a team captain and part of the football leadership team, Duncan takes his role with younger players seriously.

“It feels great to be a leader. It’s great having young guys look up to you, ask you for advice,” said Duncan. “Brendan Nachtrieb is a younger player I’ve taken under my wing. He’s a sophomore this year and I’m working to help coach him up and get him right for next year and get him ready to compete for the starting running back job next year.”

Rogosheske sees a bright future for Duncan, one that may or may not involve football. Duncan isn’t quite sure himself just yet, but he is interested in extending his career after college.

“I’d like to train some more,” Duncan said. “I hope to fulfill a dream of playing football at the next level, maybe not the NFL but Canadian football. I’m just not sure if I’m ready to give up football after this year.”

Duncan and the Pipers have five MIAC games remaining this year, with home games against Concordia and Augsburg coming on Saturday, Oct. 24 and Nov. 7, respectively.