The Edgewater-to-Duquesne pipeline is officially a trend.

Nick Collins Jr., a defensive back from Edgewater High School in Orlando, has committed to Duquesne as part of the Dukes’ 2026 class. He’s the third commit for Duquesne so far and the second from Edgewater this cycle, joining athlete Damien Moore Jr. The Eagles went 10-2 in 2024 and are quickly becoming a familiar name in Pittsburgh recruiting circles- at least, for anyone following Duquesne’s recruiting for the class of 2026. We were already familiar with the school after 2025 Edgewater linebacker Deven Thomas also chose Duquesne.

“Duquesne was the right place to pick because they’re a winning program and the connection I’ve built with Coach Mick,” Collins said. “Duquesne has had a lot of success recently in the NEC and coming from a winning program like Edgewater in Orlando, that’s huge. Also, the relationship I have with Coach Mick is amazing. He’s a great coach and someone I look forward to being around and building my connection with more when I’m up at Duquesne.”

Collins got the offer from Coach Mick- that’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Mickey Jacobs- during a spring visit the DC made to Edgewater.

“The day I got offered, Coach Mick was down in Florida at my school watching us practice and I wasn’t even expecting to get an offer that day to be totally honest,” Collins said. “After the practice, he pulled me aside and we were having a good conversation and towards the end is when he told me he was going to give me an offer. It was just a great surprise that day and I’m just blessed to have been good enough to get the offer.”

Despite the growing Florida connection, Collins said Duquesne wasn’t really on his radar until recently.

“To be totally honest, I didn’t [know much about the program],” he said. “I had knew about Duquesne from people that had grew up in Pittsburgh when they were younger but other than that I didn’t know much.”

Pipelines aren’t something that’s automatic or traditional. Ultimately, recruiting is still about relationships, especially in the NEC and similar leagues. I think sometimes that there’s a misconception that coaches at the high school level push their athletes towards preferred schools. While a high school coach is probably pretty likely to keep their athletes away from a school that they’ve had a poor experience with, there’s not really a push toward certain schools. In this case, it was all about the relationship between the player and prospective coach.

That’s the way recruiting always has been. And in the absence of millions of dollars, that’s how it still is.

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