McKeesport coach Matt Miller has trouble deciding whether Courtney Dunn was a better offensive or defensive lineman this season.
“You know what, I really don’t know because he was really good at both,” Miller said. “We counted on him to stop the run and then we would run over top of him on the offensive line.”
It’s that versatility that earned Dunn the Bill Fralic Memorial Award.
This is the fifth year of the award, which goes to the top senior initerior lineman in the WPIAL. It is named after the legendary lineman from Penn Hills High School and Pitt who also was a star in the NFL. Dunn, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound offensive guard and defensive end, was announced as this year’s winner at a breakfast Saturday morning at the Longue Vue Club in Verona.
Congratulations to Courtney Dunn (McKeesport, 4A) on being the 5th Annual Bill Fralic Award winner! pic.twitter.com/zBdaAPjd2U
— Bill Fralic Memorial Award (@BillFralicAward) December 2, 2023
“I think he’ll maybe be a defensive player in college, but he was really good for us on both sides of the ball,” Miller said.
The award is picked by a committee after considering nominations from coaches. There were six finalists for the award, one for every WPIAL classification. The other finalists were North Allegheny’s Cameron Chmura, Pine-Richland’s Ryan Cory, West Mifflin’s Rico Steele, Steel Valley’s Mike Crist and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s Cam Branch.
Cory is a University of Wisconsin recruit, Chmura a Marshall recruit and Steele a Bowling Green recruit. Dunn hasn’t made a college decision. He has a few offers from FCS schools, and Miller believes he is underrecruited.
“I don’t know what won [the committee] over,” Miller said. “Maybe it was all the splash plays he had.”
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: December 2, 2023, 9:44 p.m.
Updated: December 2, 2023, 9:50 p.m.