Duquesne football coach Jerry Schmitt has done well in landing top WPIAL quarterbacks in recent years. The trend continues with Alex Smith.
Smith, a senior at Keystone Oaks High School, is one of the best QBs in the WPIAL and has decided be a future Duquesne Dukes. Smith has made a verbal commitment to Duquesne.
Duquesne's starting quarterback is senior Dillon Buechel, a former star at Montour and the fifth-leading passer in WPIAL history with 6,899 yards. Buechel's backup at Duquesne is redshirt freshman Brett Brumaugh, a former South Fayette standout who holds the state record for passing yardage with 11,084.
Smith (6 feet 4, 195 pounds) threw for 2,027 yards last season and in two games this season has completed 34 of 51 for 525 yards.
"I've been thinking about this for a while," said Smith. "Duquesne was the first school to offer me and the first show to show interest in me. They had the jump on other people."
Duquesne offered Smith a scholarship shortly after last season. Smith also had scholarship offers from Robert Morris and Youngstown State. Smith thought about waiting to see if any bigger colleges came after him, but then decided to make the commitment to Duquesne.
"Me and my Dad talked about waiting to see if something bigger came along, but we weren't too sure if it would," said Smith. "All the bigger schools really had an opportunity to come see me throw this summer and see if they would have an interest. But they didn't so I decided to make my decision."