IN PURSUIT OF PAYTON : Plymouth State College’s Joe Dudek Is Just a Touchdown Run Away From Matching the NCAA Career Record

National recognition doesn’t come easy playing for Plymouth State College, unless you do what Joe Dudek is about to do.

With 65 touchdowns, Dudek is just one shy of matching Walter Payton’s NCAA record.

He will go for it Saturday when the Panthers play Bridgewater (Mass.) State.

With three games left, he also has a shot at Wilbert Montgomery’s overall collegiate record of 70, set at an NAIA school (Abilene Christian).

“I can’t say I’m not excited about it,” Dudek says. “When it comes, I’ll celebrate with the team.”

His parents and friends from Quincy, Mass., his hometown, will be coming to see the game, and that along with the sudden publicity is making it a pressure week, but Dudek is enjoying the attention.

“I’m having the time of my life up here,” the senior tailback said Tuesday. “I have no regrets about going to school here. I’ve had more press recognition here than I ever would have gotten at a big school.”

But his 4,727 yards rushing, an NCAA Division 3 record as is his 65 touchdowns, still don’t answer questions about how good he really is. He probably won’t get that chance unless he gets into a postseason all-star game or until a National Football League team drafts him in the spring and he goes up against the big school players in summer training camp.

“Scouts have talked to me and say I have the tools, but I have to gain 10 or 15 pounds,” said Dudek, who weighed 168 as a freshman and is up to 190 on a 6-foot 1-inch frame. He also must improve his speed.

“He could really blossom in the pros with a team that can give him a chance,” Coach Jay Cottone said. “Coming from a small college hurts him a bit. Any kid from a Division 3 school is a question mark.”

Payton came from Jackson State, a school with a football reputation, and was the fourth player drafted overall in 1975 by the Chicago Bears. He went on to break the NFL all-time rushing record last year.

Montgomery did what Dudek will try to do. He was drafted in the sixth round in 1977 and became a star for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cottone thinks Dudek has the instinct, vision, balance, power and shiftiness to impress the pros, if they give him a chance in training camp.

Harry Buffington, director of NFL Scouting Inc., a service employed by 19 pro teams, said his service had looked at Dudek four times, an indication that the scouts think highly of him, and that he is “going to be well looked at” by NFL teams.

Reports from last spring projected Dudek as a fourth-, fifth- or sixth-round draft pick, “maybe higher if his production is up this year,” Buffington said.

After averaging 122 yards a game and scoring 17 touchdowns as a freshman, Dudek improved his production to 135 yards and 16 touchdowns as a sophomore and last year ran for 138 yards a game and a record-tying 21 scores. He was selected for the Associated Press All-New England team.

This season, while breaking the NCAA Division 3 rushing record of 4,631 yards set by Rich Kowalski of Hobart, Dudek has run for 812 yards and 11 touchdowns, or 116 yards a game.

Overall, he has led the Panthers to 32 victories in 37 games and has averaged 6.7 yards a carry.