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Who is Ben DiNucci of the Dallas Cowboys?

Barry Werner
·2 min read

The game was out of hand, with Dallas down 38-10, so Mike McCarthy mercifully pulled Andy Dalton for the final two minutes Monday and inserted Ben DiNucci at QB for the Cowboys.

Ben Who?

Ben DiNucci was the third-string QB for Dallas before Dak Prescott was lost for the season with the horrific ankle injury. DiNucci was drafted in the seventh round out of FCS power James Madison.

“He’s going to have a lot more opportunities than he’s had the whole time he’s been here combined just next week,” Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy said last week. “He needs to perform. He’s got to make sure his preparation is in tune. And there’s just some things you do from the second seat that goes on throughout the league. This is a big step. This is a big opportunity for Ben DiNucci.”

DiNucci became the first James Madison QB to take a snap, or few, in the NFL. The school’s social media team was quick to point this out.

So, who is Ben DiNucci?

Per The Washington Post:

The 6-foot-3, 209-pound DiNucci took a roundabout road to Harrisonburg, Va. He was the 2014 Gatorade Pennsylvania high school player of the year as a senior at Pine-Richland in Gibsonia, where he became the first player in state history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards in a season. After backing out of a verbal commitment to Penn, he signed with Pittsburgh and redshirted as a freshman. DiNucci backed up Nathan Peterman the following year and saw his first real action in 2017, appearing in 10 games and starting six.

After the season, during which he threw five touchdowns and five interceptions, DiNucci transferred, turning down scholarship offers elsewhere to enroll at JMU as a preferred walk-on with two years of eligibility remaining.

 

Overall, these were his numbers and accomplishments with JMU:

  • Tied 3rd – Completions (479)

  • 4th – Passing Yards (5,716)

  • 4th – Passing Touchdowns (45)

  • 6th – Pass Attempts (687)

  • 7th – Total Offense – 6,718

And now, he can say he took snaps as the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.