Iowa football: Former Hawkeye Jake Duzey signs with the AAF

Former Iowa football tight end Jake Duzey has signed on with the start up football league the Alliance of American Football to play for Birmingham.

Jake Duzey, the former Hawkeye, hasn’t played football since his senior year in 2015, but in an attempt to revive his career, he has signed on with the Birmingham Iron of the new Alliance of American Football League. After his career ended with the Iowa football program, Duzey didn’t receive many calls to take the next step in his football career, and since that time, he has been patiently awaiting an opportunity to come knocking. Unfortunately for Duzey, this is in large part because of the back-to-back injuries he suffered late in his Iowa career.

Duzey’s Iowa football career started off strong. After a quiet freshman year where he caught three balls for 16 yards, Duzey began making a name for himself in his sophomore season. Against #4 Ohio State, he could not be contained hauling in six catches for 138 yards and one touchdown leading the Hawks in receiving.

He broke out in a big way his junior year, finishing third on the team in catches and receiving yards with 36 catches for 392 yards and 3 touchdowns. This also happened to be the best mark in the entire Big Ten.

Unfortunately, the rising star in the Iowa football program suffered a torn patellar tendon in the last week of spring practice before his senior season. He tried to rush back but didn’t look like himself and in Rose Bowl walk through, Duzey injured the same knee effectively ending his career with the Iowa football team.

Without tape from his senior year and injury concerns lingering, Duzey’s draft stock plummeted.

The former Hawkeye continued to work towards his goal of playing the NFL by working a few odd jobs while training for a comeback that wouldn’t come. He even worked out at Iowa’s pro day last year and posted pretty solid numbers that generated a minicamp tryout with the Indianapolis Colts that would ultimately not materialize.

His last known job  (according to twitter) was as a Financial Advisor for One Life Advisory, but with this fantastic news coming yesterday, it looks like Duzey is finally getting his shot to play professional football for the new league.

The Alliance of American Football is set to kickoff their first game on February 9, 2019 with an eight team league that includes quite a few notable names such as former NFL head coaches Brad Childress, Mike Singletary and Steve Spurrier and former college standouts such as Colorado State QB Garrett Grayson and Alabama QB Blake Sims.

We will keep you posted on Dear Old Gold if any other former Hawkeyes sign on to the league in addition to keeping you informed on how well Jake Duzey performs in his first professional action.