Jul 19, 2017 3 min read

There was much more on the mind of Khalid Blount as he got into a three-point stance during spring football practices throughout March at Duquesne University. It wasn’t a worry about execution. It was a decision about leaving.

The 2015 Washington High School graduate had a good understanding of what needed to be done to get playing time on Saturdays, rotating on the Dukes’ defensive line in 10 games as a freshman.

Blount recorded five tackles – three solo – while taking up blockers and plugging holes from his tackle spot. He knew he could play, but wasn’t sure this was the place.

“When the thought of transferring came into my head, I was always telling myself it was something I didn’t want to do,” Blount remembered.

“I liked Duquesne,” he continued. “When I was on the football field, I was happy. Once I got away from football, I just wasn’t happy. As spring progressed, I had talked to my brothers, my family and God about it.”

Through those conversations, and a desire to move further away than the 25-minute drive home Blount made on many weekends, he finally decided to transfer to North Carolina Central University.

“I have always been fascinated with the possibility of living down south,” said Blount, whose father is former Steelers great Mel Blount. “I had the opportunity to do that and figured I might as well take the opportunity. I can’t complain about my time at Duquesne. Their coaches not only made me into a better football player but a better person.”

That fascination only grew deeper when Blount saw the success of North Carolina Central, which has shared at least at portion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship over the last three years, before winning it outright in 2016.

Blount remembers seeing the Eagles on television in the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl in the Georgia Dome to begin the 2016 college bowl season. The game, which began in 2015, matches the champion of the MEAC and the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

“Just to see them play on a stage and environment like that was awesome,” Blount remembers. “I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. Coming from a small school like Wash High, the most I’ve probably played in front of have been like three or four thousand. I just wanted to get out of my comfort zone.”

With fall camp beginning in two weeks for North Carolina Central, Blount will be allowed to practice but not play in any games for the Eagles in 2017. The 6-1, 320 pound lineman falls under an NCAA restriction that requires him to sit out an entire year – with the exception of practices and team activities – before competing in an actual game.

Blount will not lose a year of eligibility.

“It’s going to be rough,” Blount said about not being able to reap the rewards of practice. “It’s something that I have to just get over because it will all be worth it. Since I didn’t redshirt my freshman year at Duquesne, my biggest things – being that I’m not allowed to play in games – are becoming more cerebral and instinctive. It will also allow me time to get used to how they do things down here.”