RUSTON, La. - Not many football players are given the opportunity to develop their football careers under the watchful eye of a hall of fame quarterback, but for one senior Bulldog that quarterback is more than just a childhood idol, he's "Dad."

The football story began in a quiet neighborhood in Valdosta, Georgia where a young Dolan Dunigan tossed footballs into trashcans quickly gaining a passion for the sport that ran in the family. Standing alongside was Canadian Football League Hall of Famer, Louisiana Tech legend and Dolan's father, Matt Dunigan.

A retired CFL quarterback, Matt would work with Dolan every day outside the family home, teaching the eager quarterback everything he could absorb about the game of football. Dolan became a force in youth leagues mimicking his father's gritty style of lowering his shoulder to try and pick up the extra yard.

"That mindset is either in you, or it is not," Matt Dunigan said. "That is Dolan. He has the measurables I never had, with all of the intangibles that I did have. He has a lot of fight in him."

The mindset is clearly in Dolan, who never misses an opportunity for contact on the football field.

"The way I see it, that is the only way to play the game of football," Dolan said. "There is that drive to get the extra yard for your team or shake that guy and score a touchdown. It is how I was taught to play and how I will always play."

Even as the son of a hall of famer, there was never any extra pressure on Dolan to be a quarterback.

"I never wanted to be that overbearing parent," Matt said. "I always encouraged him to compete to the best of his abilities. They have to figure out if they want to put for the effort to continue to climb up the ladder. Katherine [Matt's wife and Dolan's mother] and I did not want to ever pressure our kids to do something they did not want to do."

For Dolan, the extra encouragement from his father was the difference maker that gave him the confidence to continue to push himself.

"He never pushed me like you would expect some professional athletes to do," Dolan said. "He just guided me and told me that I had an incredible arm. Part of being a quarterback is just believing in yourself. My dad gave me that belief in myself to be a quarterback. When I showed interest in doing that, he helped me whenever I asked. He did not go over the top trying to make me do that."

In 2004, as Dolan prepared to enter the sixth grade, Matt was hired on as the head coach and general manager of the Calgary Stampeders. The Dunigan family would call Canada home for the next seven years.

Entering middle school in Canada, Dolan was not known as the new kid, but as simply the foreigner.

"Sports was always my outlet," Dolan said. "It is how I have always made friends. It is how I made friends here and in past schools. They always got me to say stuff like 'y'all' and wanted to hear things like that. Now people want me to say 'aye' and classic Canadian things. It is a lose-lose situation."

After several injuries, Dolan was forced to trade in his football helmet for a bat and glove. Using the arm strength he had developed through football, Dolan took his talents to the pitchers' mound where he would go on to play travel ball for the Oakville Royals throughout high school.

The Canadian-based Royals would compete in tournaments across the northeast and southern part of the United States and Dolan was able to attract the eyes of scouts at schools throughout the U.S. Dolan would eventually settle on Northeast Texas Community College.

His career on the mound took a turn for the worse as Dolan was forced to have surgery on his labrum and rotator cuff in consecutive seasons. Showing his never quit attitude again, the Canadian attempted a transition from the mound to the outfield.

"I was never a great hitter at plate," Dolan said. "I always had a football mentality in baseball and it did not work. You cannot get so fired up. That was my downfall. If I struck out, I would get too mad at myself. In football if you make a bad play, you get 70 other plays to go smack the other guy."

With his baseball career winding down, Dolan looked for the next chapter and turned toward his education.

"If I was not going to go to the next level and play major league baseball, I wanted to go to a school that would give me a better education," Dolan said. "That is obviously Louisiana Tech. My family went here and I heard nothing but great things about the school. It was a really easy decision for me."

Dolan spent his first year in Ruston focused on academics and his future in kinesiology. However, it was not long before he set his eyes back on the football field. For Dolan, the decision was easy.

After consulting with doctors, Dolan was cleared to play. Dolan was set to follow in his father footsteps and on Sept. 5, just as his father did so many times before, he took the field at Joe Aillet Stadium as a member of the Louisiana Tech football team.

As a child, Dolan's first memory of Louisiana Tech was a baseball game where the Bulldogs played Grambling and the young quarterback snagged a foul ball in the softball parking lot across the street from J.C. Love Field. For Dolan, things seemed to have come full circle.

"It always makes me laugh when I park in the softball parking lot," Dolan said. "I was here 10 years ago and caught a foul ball. I never would have thought I would be going to school here and playing football."

While Dolan has followed in the steps of his father, it has not changed the way he looks at his father.

"My dad was a super star in my eyes and he still is," Dolan said. "I always heard stories from people when we came down to Louisiana Tech. Wherever we went, he always had people come up and introduce themselves. I was star struck by him and still am today."

The Dunigan legacy will continue to reign at Tech and for Dolan, he is now at the centerpiece for the family line that has brought so much success to Louisiana Tech.

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