Shaun Dolac could soon approach a crossroads.
The University at Buffalo football team faces Liberty at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Bahamas Bowl, and this could be Dolac’s last game at UB.
UB linebacker Shaun Dolac has a decision to make: return to the Bulls, transfer or enter NFL draft? Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
Dolac, the Bulls’ consensus All-American linebacker, could return for his final year of eligibility. He could forgo his final season and declare for the NFL draft. Or he could use his final year of eligibility to transfer to a Power Four program – a potentially strategic and lucrative move, given the proliferation of Name, Image and Likeness opportunities.
Dolac made the trip to the tropics. If he has quietly decided to opt out of the Bahamas Bowl, we may have already seen him play his last game for the Bulls.
NFL scouts have visited practice, and UB football coach Pete Lembo said Dolac is the first player that comes up in conversations. He expects to have more of those conversations with NFL personnel, including coaches and management, after the Bahamas Bowl.
“I don’t think there’s any question he’s going to get a shot, and personally, I think that’s he’s exactly the type of guy that you want,” Lembo said. “If they’re allowed to have 53 on their active roster, to me, that 53rd guy should be somebody who’s going to contribute in a variety of ways, and I have every belief that Shaun could do that.”
Dolac faces a decision. But a series of choices, as well as a long list of teammates, coaches and teachers, have helped propel Dolac to becoming UB’s best defensive player since Khalil Mack in 2013.
Here is what a few of those people remember about Dolac, and what they see for his future.
The lacrosse coach
Jim Maisano felt an obvious absence when he started the 2019 school year in the West Seneca East district.For the first time in years, he didn’t have a student or get to coach an athlete whose last name was Dolac. Shaun Dolac, the youngest child of the family, had graduated from West Seneca East that spring, leaving a personal legacy.
West Seneca East’s Tyler Arndt, left, is congratulated on his goal by Shaun Dolac against Lake Shore during first half action. By Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Maisano had coached Dolac and his brothers in lacrosse at West Seneca East and coached Dolac’s sisters in field hockey. He remembers the first day the youngest Dolac walked into his kindergarten classroom at West Seneca East Elementary, wearing an ear-to-ear grin, his bus tag pinned to his clothes.
“That whole family, they’re athletic freaks of nature,” Maisano said. “But as a little kid, he was always confident in himself, but he was humble. He wasn’t a showboat. He was probably better than everyone else, but he was very humble. He didn’t pick on people. He didn’t rub it in people’s faces. When he won, he was always the same person.”
Maisano remembers the final weeks of Dolac’s senior year of high school, how Dolac evaluated his choices: Pursue football, even though he wasn’t recruited, or play lacrosse on a full scholarship at the University at Albany.
Dolac chose the hard route: Walk on at a Division I program and earn a scholarship, which he did at UB. Taking the hard way, he believes, created so many more choices for Dolac.
“Shaun doesn’t take the easy route,” Maisano said. “To see where he can come back to school or go pursue his NFL dream. If I had a bet, I’d say he’d work on making that NFL dream come true. But he will always have opportunities.”
The teammate
Red Murdock watched as Dolac diligently picked up scattered pieces of trash in the locker room at the end of the day and dropped them into a nearby trash can. To Murdock, it reflected Dolac’s character.“Even if he was a bench-warmer, he’d do that,” Murdock said. “The dude that he is, he’ll have a 17-tackle game with a pick, but also, he’s the last one out of the locker room and he’s cleaning up, picking up all the trash,” Murdock said. “Nobody asked him. It’s stuff like that that really made Shaun the person that he is.”
If Dolac leaves UB, Murdock, his linebacking partner, is the heir apparent to becoming UB’s leader. But Murdock can count the lessons he has learned from Dolac:
- Don’t put any limits on yourself.
- Don’t be afraid to take risks, whether it’s making a play on the field or making a life decision that has nothing to do with football.
- Be diligent in film study.
- Bring a positive attitude, every single day.
- Pick up after yourself.
The fellow walk-on
Ja’Marcus Ingram was a graduate transfer with the UB football team in August 2021. He remembers watching the moment Dolac learned he had earned a scholarship.
UB linebacker Shaun Dolac is known for never taking the easy route. He was a walk-on who has become a consensus All-American. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Seeing Dolac earn a scholarship resonated with Ingram, now a cornerback with the Buffalo Bills. Ingram originally was a walk-on at Utah State, then joined the Bulls as a graduate transfer after two years at Texas Tech.
He innately understood Dolac’s climb.
“Getting that scholarship – you fight so hard to get it, and when you get it, it’s a breath of fresh air,” Ingram said. “You cannot be as tense. And he’s still working hard. That shows you the resilience he has.”
It also further cultivated Ingram’s desire to achieve. Ingram signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in May 2022 after a rookie minicamp tryout.
Ingram’s only year with the Bulls was Dolac’s second year in the program. Ingram saw in Dolac a linebacker who played with what he called “great instincts,” intelligence and an “it” factor. It could be confidence, the ability to succeed, charisma or the way the best separates itself from the best.
“I see him getting drafted and playing in the National Football League for a long time,” Ingram said. “Outside of football, I know he’ll have a great career in any field that he’s in, because of the type of work ethic and mindset that he has, and his approach to life. I see great things in his future.”
Another Western New Yorker
Joe Andreessen graduated from Lancaster in 2018, a year before Dolac graduated from West Seneca East, and they never played each other in high school football. But in Andreessen’s four years at Bryant, a Football Championship Subdivision program, he kept an eye on football in Western New York and saw how Dolac posted eye-popping numbers at UB.Then, Andreessen joined the Bulls as a graduate transfer in December 2022 and became Dolac’s teammate.
“He had a really good high school year the year after I left, and I saw that he was making a lot of noise in high school,” said Andreessen, now a rookie linebacker with the Bills. “When I went to UB, he was coming off a really good year.
“I didn’t know him personally, but having that prior connection to Western New York was definitely nice, and definitely helped.”
Dolac became a role model of sorts for Andreessen. Andreessen had a matter of weeks to learn UB’s playbook, meet new teammates and prepare for spring practice – and for the possibility of turning pro after his final year of college.
Dolac, with three years under his belt at UB, became a prototype. Even after Dolac sustained a high left ankle sprain that sidelined him for the final eight games of 2023, Andreesen saw how Dolac continued to lead.
“If I’d asked him anything, he’d always help me,” Andreessen said.
So, in a way, Dolac helped Andreessen achieve his goal of reaching the NFL.
The leader and advocate
James Patterson noticed the new linebacker in the room, a quiet, unassuming yet intense freshman who had walked onto the UB football team. Dolac, Patterson realized, had this need to learn everything about college football.Then he saw Dolac on the football field. Patterson, then a junior linebacker with the Bulls, immediately began pestering his coaches, including former UB linebackers coach Andy McCollum, to give Dolac playing time.
“I went to all the coaches and said, ‘Put Dolac next to me! If we want to be a great team, put him on the field,’ ” recalled Patterson, a former UB captain and Dolac’s teammate from 2020-22. “The only coach who listened was Andy McCollum.”
Still, Patterson saw how Dolac applied himself on special teams, an area where many players first prove themselves. Then, in the fall of 2021, Patterson and McCollum had a conversation, and shared the same question: Why wasn’t Dolac on scholarship?
“But his story was his story, and he made it the best he could,” Patterson said.
Patterson saw the hours, time and work Dolac put in to create better habits. Patterson now works at UB in its student academic success program, and Dolac still reaches out to him, to ask about certain opponents.
“He is just a guy who is not going to be satisfied,” Patterson said. “He’s always finding ways to get better, to challenge himself and challenge the people around him, by example.”