Ex-Hampton lineman Dawson Dietz named 1st-team all-PAC in debut season at W&J

Because Hampton’s Dawson Dietz was a sophomore first-year starter at Washington & Jefferson, opposing quarterbacks and running backs probably didn’t know too much about him.

So he introduced himself.

After playing only two games as a freshman on a senior-stacked depth chart, the 6-foot, 245-pound defensive tackle burst onto the scene this season as a dominant force in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

“He makes himself very difficult to block,” W&J defensive coordinator Vince Luvara said.

Indeed, the 2021 Hampton graduate spent much of his sophomore season in the opposing team’s backfield.

Dietz ranked first in the PAC and seventh in NCAA Division III in tackles for loss with 23.5. He was second in the conference — and top-20 in the nation — in sacks (11) and fourth in tackles (83) despite manning an interior defensive line position for coach Mike Sirianni’s Presidents.

Dietz helped lead W&J to a 9-2 record, the program’s 39th consecutive winning season, and earned first-team all-PAC honors in voting by the league’s coaches. Dietz was one of only three underclassmen on the 27-player all-PAC first team.

“I was really excited,” Dietz said. “It was my first year playing college football. It was a great season. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Everything was just awesome.”

Dietz enjoyed his best performance in the season finale, a 35-18 win over visiting Hobart on Nov. 19 in the 2022 ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl. He wracked up a season-high 11 tackles, along with 2.5 tackles for loss. He even blocked a punt and recovered the loose ball downfield, being credited with the strangest statistic of his career, a 38-yard punt return.

Dietz doesn’t play on the special team, but W&J was in a “punt safe” formation with its first-team defense still on the field.

“I’m usually really tired at that point, and I can’t rush,” Dietz admitted. “But it was a quick three-and-out. So I thought, ‘I might as well rush.’ I got up close and I thought I might as well stick an arm out. It hit off my arm, and I was shocked.”

Dietz had four tackles for loss in a 66-14 victory over Allegheny on Oct. 1 and 3.5 TFLs in a 17-14 win at Westminster on Oct. 8. He had at least one sack in nine of the Presidents’ 11 games and was named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Month in October.

“Dawson is an extremely hard worker,” Luvara said. “He’s strong. He’s quick off the ball. He has a great football IQ and instinct.

“He was really good as a freshman; we just had a lot of seniors last year. But we knew he was going to be a really good player when he was a freshman.”

A first-team all-Greater Allegheny Conference selection as a senior at Hampton, Dietz said his most memorable game was a 31-14 victory over visiting Grove City on Nov. 5. The victory gave Dietz bragging rights at Thanksgiving dinner. His father, Marty, played football at Grove City in the late 1980s and his twin sisters, Haley and Hannah, played softball there.

“I had a pretty good game, and it was just really fun beating my dad’s alma mater,” Dietz said. “He talked about how hard it was to root against his alma mater.”

For all of his eye-opening stats this season, Dietz admits his 83 tackles — while effectively playing nose tackle — were the most surprising.

“That one kind of shocked me,” he said. “I remember the first game, I was like, ‘Wow. I got seven or eight tackles.’ It kept happening the rest of the year. I don’t really know how to explain that. Every time I’d come through the gap, I’d see the ball and at least get in on a tackle.”