Joe Don Duncan walks out for the first day of Broncos training camp on Friday. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)
His given name is Joseph Donald Duncan.
“I am not a Joseph,” the Broncos fullback said with a smile on Sunday.
No. No, he’s not. Joe Don Duncan is a 6-foot-4, 270-pound brickhouse of a fullback, a position he’s playing for the first time. Joseph Donald is a family name. It changed with his father. And a movie.
“My dad told me he was quite the bad (dude) back in the day,” Duncan said. “So people started calling him Joe Don for the actor (Joe Don Baker) who played the main character (Buford Pusser) in ‘Walking Tall’^”
It wasn’t long before his son began answering to Joe Don. He grew up a star catcher and outfielder, but his path changed when he played tackle football for the fist time as a high school freshman at Notre Dame in Riverside, Calif.
“I loved it,” Duncan said.
The name captures attention. The story is worth following. Duncan began an unlikely journey to the Broncos after his prep career. Though he was recruited by junior colleges and small schools for baseball as an outfielder, Duncan chose football. He began at Sacramento State in 2008, tried defensive line at El Camino Community College in 2009-2010 and finished as a tight end at Dixie State University in Utah.
He started 20 games at Dixie, catching 135 passes for 1,994 yards. Though he had invites to postseason all-star games, he injured his foot on Nov. 14, 2013.
“Why do I remember the exact date? Because it’s the last time I played in a game,” Duncan said.
He earned an invite to a Colts rookie camp last year but nothing came of it. He elected to coach as a graduate assistant at Dixie, working with receivers. It allowed him to learn the game from a new perspective and work out regularly.
“I said I would give it a year and see if a team called or I would just keep coaching,” Duncan said. “I was sitting on my couch when the Broncos called.”
Duncan dominated in his tryout, landing a free agent contract. He’s faces long odds to make the team, but he is taking advantage of this opportunity.
“Joe Don, we were all waiting to see. And he hit somebody in the mouth today so we were happy about that,” running back C.J. Anderson said.
