An Oregon football player punched a Boise State football player flush in the face.

A Florida football player attempted to gouge the eyes of a guy on Georgia's squad.

A Kentucky freshman basketball player -- one of the nation's finest recruits -- must repay expenses and sit out two games because, during high school, his AAU coach was also a certified agent.

Too often, this is what we see, these are the stories showed in what seems like a continual loop on ESPN and others devoted to the around-the-clock coverage of sports.

Want an escape from all that is wrong with NCAA "student-athletes"? Want a lesson in what this is all supposed to be about, a young person whose merits read like a blueprint for the NCAA core values and mission statement?

Take a trip to Duquesne University, walk into basketball practice or a study session in the library and introduce yourself to senior guard Jason Duty.

"The quintessential student-athlete," one of his accounting professors said.

"He embodies everything you'd ever want a student-athlete to embody; no one can represent this institution better," his coach said.

For his part, the 22-year-old with the wavy hair and a work ethic only exceeded by his modesty didn't have much to say about his accomplishments.

"I just know I have an obligation," Duty said. "An obligation to try my hardest in everything I do."

If trying his hardest means going from a guy who had no intentions on playing college basketball, to a walk-on, to a player who started all 34 games last year to now, a senior captain who has earned a scholarship, then, yes, Duty has tried his hardest.

If trying his hardest means majoring in accounting, maintaining a 3.71 grade point average even as a Division I athlete, doing an internship this summer with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and then getting a job offer from the firm with a start date upon graduation, then, yes, Duty has tried his hardest.

"In 16 years of coaching college basketball, I can't think of someone who has worked harder," Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said.

Take this past summer, when Duty landed that highly-sought-after internship at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Duty said his days often began with a workout and a weightlifting session before 6 a.m., then it was off for a full day at PriceWaterhouse's Downtown office.

"I don't know if he'd say it, but you have to think that this summer, for Jason, there was zero room for error," Everhart said. "Not with basketball or with PriceWaterhouse, but with both. Can you imagine that? He knew he needed to get better in basketball if he wanted to live up to the expectations he set for himself for his senior year and if he wanted to make this team better, that was the first thing.

"And then, he knew he was, in a sense, auditioning for a job for the rest of his life every day when he walked into that office. You talk about pressure for a college kid? That is someone who woke up every day and there was no room to make an excuse."

Excuses?

Not a chance for Duty, it isn't in his nature.

Not even in the most trying circumstances -- or when his body is screaming at him to just shut it down for a few hours and catch a little sleep.

Brian Nagle, an associate professor of accounting in Duquesne's A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration can attest to as much; he's seen it firsthand, a few times.

But Nagle remembers, most, the morning of this past March 19.

It served as "the morning after" for just about everyone with even a fleeting interest in Duquesne men's basketball. The night before, in Blacksburg, Va., the Dukes sustained a 116-108 double-overtime loss to Virginia Tech in a first-round NIT game, the first postseason appearance for Duquesne since 1994.

"I was drained from that game, just from watching that game, and I knew there would be one less student in class that day," said Nagle, who has taught Duty in two accounting classes. "As I was walking into class, I bumped into Jason in the hallway, who was on his way into class also. To me, that showed me everything someone needed to know about him. Every single person in that class knew where he was the night before, they knew he was at Virginia Tech, playing a very big game, up until very late."

Nagle said Duty explained to him that the team got back to Pittsburgh after 5 a.m. on a bus, he caught some quick sleep and then felt compelled to make it to the 9:25 a.m. class.

"And it wasn't the first time it happened," Nagle said. "He was there because there are no excuses with him; there is no easy way out. Could he have slept through the class and everyone have understood? Absolutely. Had he slept and missed class that day, and I don't want to speak for him, but I am certain he would have felt he was not capitalizing on an opportunity had he chose to sleep through the class. Jason is a constant reminder that you can excel in athletics, but that doesn't mean you have to fail to excel, really excel, in academics.

"Jason doesn't talk about what he does, he just does it."

And he does it masterfully.

His professor was dead on, though; Duty doesn't talk about it, he just goes out and does it. When asked, when even pressed, the Cranberry native and Vincentian Academy graduate wouldn't budge a bit, he wouldn't take credit.

Rather, Duty extolled all the credit for his successes externally.

"I've just been given a lot of great opportunities. I think that is what it has been; that has been the key," Duty said. "I've been given some great opportunities here; Duquesne made this happen for me."

• Game: Duquesne vs. Nicholls State

• When: 8 p.m. Friday

• Where: Palumbo Center

• Radio: KQV-AM (1410)

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