Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
At the line of scrimmage, Dunnigan has “a knack” for getting his hand on the football
11/1/2023 5:10:00 PM | Football
Entering MTSU’s open week, Dunnigan led all defensive linemen in the FBS in passes defended
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — When one opens up the weekly stat packet from the Conference USA office and thumbs their way over to page 14, many of the names in the top ten for "passes defended" immediately make sense.
Atop the list is standout LA Tech Bulldog cornerback Willie Roberts, who already has passed his total from a season ago with three games to play. A little further down is the Liberty secondary duo of cornerback Kobe Singleton and safety Brylan Green, both of whom are buoyed by at least four interceptions on the year. The first Blue Raider you'll find is also a corner, Tyrell Raby, whose 1.00 passes defended per game average ranks fifth.
But a little further down, tied for eighth, is not a shifty cornerback or an adventurous safety, but rather, a 6-foot-4, 256-pound defensive lineman who still has an in-game photo of his hand tapped like a club rotating on his GoBlueRaiders.com profile.
"Offenses kind of understand that type of players that we are as a defense," defensive end Quindarius Dunnigan explained, highlighting the quick passes and screens that have been the bread and butter of many offensive gameplans against the Blue Raiders this season. "We know how to get after the quarterback, so they try to take us out of the game ... The next best thing to make a play, if you can't get to the quarterback, is to knock the ball down on your way there."
Dunnigan has defended six passes on the season entering the final third of the year for Middle Tennessee, all of them coming on swats at the line. Entering the Blue Raiders' open week last week, those six PBUs ranked first among defensive linemen in all of FBS and were good enough to propel him into the top 10 of Conference USA among the best defensive backs in the league this year.
"I'd love to tell you that I taught him how to do that," defensive line coach Tommy West said. "We do work on it, but some guys kind of have a knack for it. What it tells you is he has great hand-eye coordination, and he sees the ball."
Dunnigan said the key to getting those swats at the line is reading the quarterback's eyes. Even those quarterbacks who are good at looking people off downfield will often still have eyes that can be read by defensive linemen closer to the ball, Dunnigan said.
"When it goes from eyes to ball, it's not a swat," Dunnigan said. "You've got to just shoot your hand out and hopefully you get the ball knocked down."
The pass breakups are just one of many areas where Dunnigan has made his mark for the Blue Raiders in 2023. His 6.5 tackles for loss through eight games leads all of his teammates, while his pair of quarterback hurries tie him for second on the team. And on a defensive line that has battled a slew of injuries this season, Dunnigan has started all but one game at right end, only missing a start against Liberty due to missing the first half against the Flames because of a targeting foul the previous week.
Quite a bit of growth for the Chattanooga, Tenn. native who came to MTSU with almost no experience in the trenches as a lineman. Playing for McCallie School as a prep athlete, Dunnigan was the middle linebacker in the Blue Tornado's 3-3 stack scheme.
"They put him in the middle because he was one of their best defenders and he could go to either side," West said. "Which is what I would do in high school, I'd put my best player at middle linebacker and let him go make plays."
While he had a knack for finding the ball, playing defensive end was a different matter entirely for Dunnigan, who redshirted his freshman season in 2019 and played sparingly as a redshirt freshman during the 2020 season.
The road to success would only grow longer in 2021, when a stress fracture in Dunnigan's lower spine was discovered. The injury took away Dunnigan's entire 2021 season and put the defensive end in a back brace for three months.
"It was a whole lot of core work, a lot of abs," Dunnigan said of his rehab. "Realizing that my ability to play football wasn't taken from me, God gave me the ability to keep going, that's what drove me."
Most Blue Raider fans probably remember Dunnigan best for his breakout performance at Colorado State in 2022. Using both his speed and strength, Dunnigan racked up 2.5 sacks, 3.5 TFLs and, yes, a pass breakup in his first career start, earning CUSA Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process. Now in 2023, Dunnigan has only continued to look the part of a defensive lineman as his frame has filled out. A product of his hard work in the weight room, West said.
"I think he is well respected because of his work ethic," West added. "And he's earned that respect. When they say that respect is earned, not given, he really has earned the respect of not only our D-Line room, but I think our whole defense."
Dunnigan knows the Blue Raiders will need more of his presence in the trenches, and more of those pass breakups, in the weeks to come. But with a long mountain to climb, he knows his team will have to take the road in front of them the way he became a defensive end in the first place: one step at a time.
"We know how many games we've got to win," Dunnigan said. "But right now, it's the next one. We've got to focus on the keys of this game and hopefully that will lead us to victory."
Atop the list is standout LA Tech Bulldog cornerback Willie Roberts, who already has passed his total from a season ago with three games to play. A little further down is the Liberty secondary duo of cornerback Kobe Singleton and safety Brylan Green, both of whom are buoyed by at least four interceptions on the year. The first Blue Raider you'll find is also a corner, Tyrell Raby, whose 1.00 passes defended per game average ranks fifth.
But a little further down, tied for eighth, is not a shifty cornerback or an adventurous safety, but rather, a 6-foot-4, 256-pound defensive lineman who still has an in-game photo of his hand tapped like a club rotating on his GoBlueRaiders.com profile.
It's a swat party🏝️@QuindariusDunn1 has 6 passes defended this year and is currently leading all defensive linemen in the country❗️#BLUEnited | #EATT pic.twitter.com/fISip1Zbk2
— Middle Tennessee Football Recruiting (@MTFB_Recruiting) October 26, 2023
"Offenses kind of understand that type of players that we are as a defense," defensive end Quindarius Dunnigan explained, highlighting the quick passes and screens that have been the bread and butter of many offensive gameplans against the Blue Raiders this season. "We know how to get after the quarterback, so they try to take us out of the game ... The next best thing to make a play, if you can't get to the quarterback, is to knock the ball down on your way there."
Dunnigan has defended six passes on the season entering the final third of the year for Middle Tennessee, all of them coming on swats at the line. Entering the Blue Raiders' open week last week, those six PBUs ranked first among defensive linemen in all of FBS and were good enough to propel him into the top 10 of Conference USA among the best defensive backs in the league this year.
"I'd love to tell you that I taught him how to do that," defensive line coach Tommy West said. "We do work on it, but some guys kind of have a knack for it. What it tells you is he has great hand-eye coordination, and he sees the ball."
Dunnigan said the key to getting those swats at the line is reading the quarterback's eyes. Even those quarterbacks who are good at looking people off downfield will often still have eyes that can be read by defensive linemen closer to the ball, Dunnigan said.
"When it goes from eyes to ball, it's not a swat," Dunnigan said. "You've got to just shoot your hand out and hopefully you get the ball knocked down."
The pass breakups are just one of many areas where Dunnigan has made his mark for the Blue Raiders in 2023. His 6.5 tackles for loss through eight games leads all of his teammates, while his pair of quarterback hurries tie him for second on the team. And on a defensive line that has battled a slew of injuries this season, Dunnigan has started all but one game at right end, only missing a start against Liberty due to missing the first half against the Flames because of a targeting foul the previous week.
Quite a bit of growth for the Chattanooga, Tenn. native who came to MTSU with almost no experience in the trenches as a lineman. Playing for McCallie School as a prep athlete, Dunnigan was the middle linebacker in the Blue Tornado's 3-3 stack scheme.
"They put him in the middle because he was one of their best defenders and he could go to either side," West said. "Which is what I would do in high school, I'd put my best player at middle linebacker and let him go make plays."
While he had a knack for finding the ball, playing defensive end was a different matter entirely for Dunnigan, who redshirted his freshman season in 2019 and played sparingly as a redshirt freshman during the 2020 season.
The road to success would only grow longer in 2021, when a stress fracture in Dunnigan's lower spine was discovered. The injury took away Dunnigan's entire 2021 season and put the defensive end in a back brace for three months.
"It was a whole lot of core work, a lot of abs," Dunnigan said of his rehab. "Realizing that my ability to play football wasn't taken from me, God gave me the ability to keep going, that's what drove me."
Most Blue Raider fans probably remember Dunnigan best for his breakout performance at Colorado State in 2022. Using both his speed and strength, Dunnigan racked up 2.5 sacks, 3.5 TFLs and, yes, a pass breakup in his first career start, earning CUSA Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process. Now in 2023, Dunnigan has only continued to look the part of a defensive lineman as his frame has filled out. A product of his hard work in the weight room, West said.
"I think he is well respected because of his work ethic," West added. "And he's earned that respect. When they say that respect is earned, not given, he really has earned the respect of not only our D-Line room, but I think our whole defense."
Dunnigan knows the Blue Raiders will need more of his presence in the trenches, and more of those pass breakups, in the weeks to come. But with a long mountain to climb, he knows his team will have to take the road in front of them the way he became a defensive end in the first place: one step at a time.
"We know how many games we've got to win," Dunnigan said. "But right now, it's the next one. We've got to focus on the keys of this game and hopefully that will lead us to victory."
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