Monday, June 30, 2025

Check It Out

It’s a quiet day on the news front so here’s a video someone tossed up a few days ago that gives an indication why Dartmouth’s Chris Corbo is one of the best – if not the best – tight ends in the FCS and a returning All-American:

Find the senior's bio HERE and a Draft Diamonds Q&A with him HERE.

Corbo’s receptions last year:


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EXTRA POINT

I read this morning that Gone with the Wind was first published on this day in 1936. A little research reveals that the first hard-cover edition was 1,037 pages. Yikes.


I went to see the film version of the book with Mrs. BGA once, and I thought that was interminable. I nodded off at least once during the movie and woke up two presidents later.

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Sunday, June 29, 2025

The List(s) So Far

OK, here we go. This is the list of commits who have gone public so far, but are still a year away from joining the Dartmouth program:

DB Tayegan Briskey, 6-1, 180, West Boca Raton HS/Florida

DB David Brown III, 6-1, 162, Cypress Woods HS/Texas

QB Jack Cannon, 6-2, 210, Holmdel HS/New Jersey 

DB/WR George Duggins, 6-3, 200, Mona Shores HS/ Michigan

RB/DB Jacob Henry, 5-11, 190, Maumelle HS/Arkansas

DL/TE Will Maloof, 6-5, 210, St. Peter's Prep/New Jersey

OL Brody McLeod, 6-4, 280, Ponte Vedra HS/Florida

OL Mikey McMahon, 6-4, 290, Bergen Catholic HS/New Jersey

OT Yuseph Mustafa, 6-4, 260, Dearborn HS/Michigan

OL Jake Namnum, 6-2, 292, St. Josephs Prep/Pennsylvania

OL Nick Schenkel, 6-4, 270, Liberty HS/Pennsylvania


And here’s the still incomplete list of players who will be arriving this August, arranged by position:


OFFENSE

Quarterback

Jaden Cummings, 6-0, 185, Summerville HS/South Carolina

Charlie Peters, 6-2, 210, Jesuit HS/Texas


Running Back

Myles Craddock, 55-11, 200, Phillips Exeter/Rhode Island

Immanuel Johnson, 5-10, 198, Hammond HS/South Carolina


Wide Receiver

Cameron Bates, 6-2, 190, Grayslake North HS/Grayslake, Illinois

Aiden Abercombie, 6-1, 173, Fort Worth Christian HS/Texas

Santino Cicarella 6-2, 175, University Liggett HS/Michigan

Andrew Smart, 6-3, 185, Arapahoe HS/Colorado


Tight End

John Bancone, 6-5, 220, Phillips Andover/New Jersey

Jason Bish, 6-4½, 220 Daniel HS/South Carolina

Corban Hall, 6-3, 224, Charlotte Christian/North Carolina

Mateusz Nycz, 6-5, 255, Marmion Academy/Illinois


Offensive Line

Paul Binder, 6-6, 280, Londonderry HS/New Hampshire

Yuseph Mustafa, 6-4, 260, Dearborn HS/Michigan

Hashem Saleh, Crestwood HS/Michigan


DEFENSE

Line

Peter Owolabi, 6-3, 272, Asheville School (N.C.)/Ottawa, Ont.

Ayomide Adeniyi, 6-3, 230, Oakland Mills HS/Maryland

Matisse Brosseau, 6-3, 225, Choate Rosemary Hall/Montreal, QC

Chris Chol, 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Proctor Adademy/Massachusetts


Linebacker

Charlie Prior, 6-3, 205, Loyola Academy/Illinois


Defensive Back

Matthew Boydell, 6-2, 200, Northern Highlands HS/New Jersey

Jackson Cheatham, 5-10, 165, Gilman School/Maryland

 Ethan Couvertiere, 6-2, 180, Bearen HS/Tennessee

Johnny Stephens, 6-1, 175, Berkshire School/Georgia

Colter Vela, 5-10, 170, North. Forsyth HS/Georgia


Green Alert Take: Neither list is official. For some reason, the list of this fall’s incoming players has yet to be released. That being the case, corrections and additions are not just welcomed, but encouraged. The list of rising high school seniors cannot be released until next spring.


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The Athletic has a story headlined AI is coming to the NFL, and it could transform the game that features former walk-on running back Ryan Paganetti ’14, whose Big Green career ended early because of injury. Paganetti, an economics major who interned with the Dallas Cowboys, was an analyst with the Philadelphia Eagles for six years and then spent three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, is now the “head coach research specialist,” for Pete Carroll with the Las Vegas Raiders. From The Athletic (LINK):

Ryan Paganetti got his job in part because of artificial intelligence. He was hired by Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll in March as the team’s “Head Coach Research Specialist,” but the job may be better understood as AI coordinator.


“I don’t think when I was hired the idea was, ‘This is our AI guy,’ but there is no doubt whatsoever that I am going to be using AI every single day,” he said. “And probably in increasingly larger amounts every month that goes by.”

Paganetti told The Athletic:

“I feel pretty confident saying some team is going to win a Super Bowl in the next few years utilizing AI at a very high rate, significantly higher than it has ever been used before. It’s really an opportunity to differentiate yourself from a team that might have a more talented roster or better coaches or whatnot. There is going to be more and more separation with teams that are bought in.”

And . . .

“There’s still an extreme level of secrecy. Even people who work in analytics have very little idea what people working in analytics for other teams do sometimes because it’s considered company secrets. We know what the scouts do on the other team: They scout. We know what the coaches do on the other teams: They coach. But when it comes to the actual contribution of the analytics department of another team, it’s really open-ended.”

And . . .

“With things like, ‘What play should you run against this look? What blitz should you run against this alignment?’ — those are areas where AI can really move the needle or come up with ideas that you might otherwise never have thought of.”

If you can’t access the story, the Trojans Wire has a piece that mentions Paganetti, and has a little of the same information HERE. 

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EXTRA POINT

It’s summer and ice cream stands are doing big business. So please tell me why, when the season is so short, one of the places we tried after dinner last night closed at 4 p.m., and that wasn’t a one-off? On a Saturday in the summer! I mean, seriously?


Isn’t it bad enough that our local drive-in theater didn’t open this summer?

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Saturday, June 28, 2025

Doubling Up

Dartmouth has added a couple more rising senior commits from Texas and Michigan:

David Brown III is a 6-foot-1, 162-pound nickel/corner from Cypress Woods High School in Cypress Woods, Texas. A first-team, all-district selection, he lists offers from Harvard, Yale, Montana State,  Chattanooga, Weber State, Navy, Nevada, Princeton, Lehigh, Southeast Missouri State, Minot State and Seton Hill.

George Duggins is a 6-3½, 200 wide receiver/defensive back from Mona Shores High School in Norton Shores, Mich. His offer sheet includes Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Western Michigan, Army, Youngstown and Grand Valley. He was chosen all-conference as a defensive back while Prep Red Zone listed him as the fourth-best DB in Michigan. He was third-team all-state in lacrosse.

The two additions bring the list of known commits coming out of their junior season to nine.

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Likely the only former Dartmouth football coach with Fulbright Scholar on his resumé, KiJuan Ware, who spent the 2004 and ’05 seasons on staff with the Big Green, has been named head football coach at Augsburg University in Minnesota. (LINK)

Ware left Hanover to coach at Georgetown and has a lengthy coaching history that includes a stop at Notre Dame and another at Miami University among others. Find his Dartmouth bio HERE. 

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EXTRA POINT

We joined several thousand others Thursday night at a free concert at Lake Morey Resort, about 20 miles north of the college. If you live in the Upper Valley or are visiting, the summer series includes free concerts on the golf course on Thursday nights featuring national acts like Trampled by Turtles, The Record Company and Morgan Evans among others. Find the full schedule and concert information HERE.


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Friday, June 27, 2025

And Another

Nick Schenkel is a 6-foot-4, 270-pound offensive lineman from Liberty High School and Bethlehem, Pa. He reports an offer from Brown as well as recruiting interest from Lehigh and Cornell among others.

Green Alert Take: Good thing a Dartmouth linebacker will graduate next spring before the new commit shows up because I can tell you there's at least one writer – me – who would struggle not to confuse the names of Nico Schwikal and Nick Schenkel. ;-)

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This is from something called NCAAF Nation:

Corbo, of course, is 6-foot-5, 245-pound Dartmouth senior Chris Corbo. He caught 32 passes for 315 yards and seven touchdowns last fall.

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The oddly named Underdog Dynasty site takes an expansive look at the 2025 Ancient Eight race in a story headlined, Which Ivy Team will Capture League’s Inaugural FCS Playoff Bid? The story suggests Harvard is the favorite, but includes this:

Harvard’s biggest threat this year could be a Dartmouth team that split the title with them each of the last two seasons. Ever since Sammy McCorkle took over for the late Buddy Teevens back in 2023, the Big Green have been right at the top alongside the Crimson but only one team can take that playoff spot and last year Harvard knocked Dartmouth from its brief stint in the Top 25 with a 31-27 win in Hanover. Can McCorkle’s team finally make the hurdle?

Check out the full story with previews of all eight teams HERE. 

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ScarletNation.com has a story headlined Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle shares insight on Spencer Brown's addition to Rutgers football that unfortunately is behind a 247Sports paywall. About all that is available to those of us who do not subscribe is the tease (LINK):

Rutgers football made a good hire in Spencer Brown, the new director of sports performance for the program. In an exclusive interview, Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle believes that Brown will bring an innovative approach to the strength and conditioning program.

Green Alert Take: I would expect that McCorkle raved not just about Brown's "innovative approach," but also his emphasis on helping players develop as men, because that's exactly what he did in Hanover.

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Flawed as they are, the Learfield Director's Cup Division I final standings offer a way to rank the competitive success of the nation's collegiate athletic programs. The Ivy League finished fifth in the overall standings behind (in order) the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12. Here's where the individual Ivy League schools placed:

32 Princeton

34 Harvard 

44 Cornell 

67 Yale

68 Penn 

81 Columbia 

90 Brown 

134 Dartmouth 

The top-10 schools nationally were 1. Texas, 2. USC, 3. Stanford, 4. North Carolina, 5. USC, 6. Tennessee, 7. Florida, 8. Ohio State, 9. Oklahoma and 10. Duke

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EXTRA POINT

After a few days of oppressive heat and humidity, Mother Nature has cut us a break. The high yesterday here on our hillside was 75.9 degrees and the low last night was a comfortable 51.6 degrees. I have to admit I could use a little moderation in our winter lows, but days like this make northern New England a delightful place to spend the summer.

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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Add One

The latest rising senior to publicly commit to Dartmouth hails from Arkansas:

Jacob Henry is a 5-foot-11, 190-pound running back/defensive back for Maumelle High School in Arkansas. His social media notes offers from Army, Navy, Air Force, Princeton, Yale and Cornell and includes this: "All State, 3X All Conference, Offensive MVP." 

From story after he transferred from Central Arkansas Christian prior to last season (LINK):

The junior was a tackling machine at CAC last fall. He totaled 187 stops and accumulated 800 return yards and five scores. The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder will bring some punch to the Hornets' defense which has been infused with other talented transfers.

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While the 2026 high school recruiting class is building, we're still waiting for the announcement of the players who will be arriving on campus in two months.

Green Alert Take: Every time I mention that we're still waiting for the names, I think of this.

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Several emailers in the past week or so have shared a tip about this book, written by one of today's most prolific authors and a former president. Here's the tease from Amazon (LINK)

The President of the United States is up for reelection. 

Her husband is on trial for murder.   

Is the First Gentleman a killer? 

A pair of brilliant investigative journalists set out to answer that burning question about the NFL star-turned-political spouse. 

Why post that here? Because it turns out the The First Gentleman in question is fictional former Dartmouth football player Cole Wright, who landed with the New England Patriots after college. And because several scenes in the book take place in Hanover.

I haven't read The First Gentleman, so I had a little fun and asked ChatGPT about the character's Big Green career. Here's what AI produced:

At Dartmouth, Cole was a standout player on the college football team. His talent on the field was significant enough to launch him into a brief professional career.

Then ChatGPT offered this:

If you want more insight into his Dartmouth years, football stats, or how his college relationship with Maddy influences the plot later,  just let me know!

While I'm not sure I'm going to pick the book up, I decided to avoid the spoiler but still allow AI to give me the fictional player's stats. Here's what it offered:

His college performance earned him a shot in the NFL, signing as a tight end with the New England Patriots.

If you’re looking to build a realistic stat profile for him (e.g., imagining his college performance), we could reference typical tight-end stats from Dartmouth during that era. For example, Dartmouth tight ends often earned anywhere from 30–50 receptions, 400–600 receiving yards, and 3–7 touchdowns per season—though these are general ranges, not Wright’s specific (fictional) numbers.

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The NCAA Division I Council has approved annual 12-game schedules in the FCS starting in 2026. (LINK)

Green Alert Take: Will the opportunity to play at least eight more games over the course of a career – almost a full Ivy League season – be another incentive for potential Ivy recruits to look elsewhere? Or will the Ivy League at least add that elusive 11th game? Time will tell.

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EXTRA POINT

Saw this earlier today and it puts the year in perspective. If you made a circular 365-day calendar with Christmas at the top, yesterday would have been exactly at the bottom. That's right. June 25 was that halfway point between the last Christmas and the next.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Yup

From FCS specialist Craig Haley of The Analyst:


Haley writes:
Week 10: Dartmouth at Harvard (Nov. 1)
Nine of the last 11 games between these rivals have been decided by seven or fewer points. They’ve been a part of three-team shares of the Ivy League title in each of the last two seasons, and this year’s champion will receive the first playoff bid in league history. Three More Games (Yeah, a Huge Week): Norfolk State vs. Delaware State in Philadelphia (Oct. 30); Jackson State at Florida A&M; and Tarleton State at Abilene Christian.

The only other Ivy League game that gets a mention (in the Three More Games category) is hardly a surprise: Harvard at Yale in Week 13.

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Jonathan DiBiaso, whose career as a Dartmouth quarterback was sidetracked by injury and who ended up graduating from Tufts, get a nice mention from national recruiting guru Mike Farrell:

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Former Dartmouth corner Jordan Washington won't be the only former Ivy Leaguer on the Stanford roster this fall. Standout Yale receiver David Pantellis and former Bulldogs defensive back Breylan Thompson will also be with the Cardinal this fall. Still another Ivy product playing at The Farm is former Yale defensive lineman Clay Patterson, who had two tackles in four games at Stanford last fall. (LINK)

Moving on from Stanford is tailback Ryan Butler, who transferred to Palo Alto after running for 501 yards and 11 touchdowns as a Princeton freshman in 2022. He entered the portal this winter after running for 104 yards in two seasons with the Cardinal.

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From the NCAA (LINK):

The Division I Council introduced a proposal that, if adopted in October, would change sports betting rules to permit student-athletes and staff members to bet on professional sports and refocus the Association's enforcement efforts on college sports betting and behaviors that directly impact game integrity. If adopted, the change will be implemented only if Divisions II and III also vote to allow betting on pro sports. 

Green Alert Take: Slippery slope. 

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EXTRA POINT

Per a National Weather Service report out of Lebanon Municipal Airport, the temperature topped out yesterday at 98.1 degrees with a heat index of 107. Our indoor-outdoor thermometer show the high here yesterday was 94.2. The good news is that the temperature on our Vermont hillside 29 miles (as the crow flies) from the airport dropped about 15 degrees in less than two hours after a storm blew through late yesterday afternoon. No one was happier about that than Griffin the Wonder Dog, who has spent much of the past two days in our much-cooler basement.

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Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Check It Out

Stanford football posted this yesterday about former Dartmouth corner Jordan Washington:

How much confidence do you place in a commentator who sees Dartmouth football finishing 6-6 at worst, and 10-2 at best . . . when the Big Green plays a 10-game schedule? And no, he's not figuring in two games in the FCS tournament because 6-6 would mean five wins in the regular season and a 1-1 mark in the playoffs and no five-win team is going to the postseason.
  

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EXTRA POINT

Like most of you, I am neither a genius or an idiot, but I was a little bit of both Sunday when I went to the Travelers golf championship.


Knowing That Certain Nittany Lion ’16 was going to walk my feet off trying to see every player and every hole, I made sure to pack a nice pair of newish, low-cut socks to lessen the chance of blisters. Here’s the idiot part. I couldn’t find 'em when I needed 'em. Somehow, some way, I managed to misplace them, and would have to walk the course all day without socks.


Here’s the genius part. Choosing comfort over style, I had chosen to wear my hiking shoes on the course. Fortunately, they are trail runners, not the sturdy leather boots that may come to mind. Even more fortunately, I have hiked in them nearly every day since I bought them, and they are well worn in.


The bottom line: Although I was determined not to complain and keep walking the course with a smile when blisters started to form, they never did. To the credit of the shoes, despite walking maybe seven or eight hilly miles with the temperature in the mid-90s and high humidity, my feet were no worse for the wear at the end of the day than they would have been if I’d worn socks.


Here’s the kicker. When TCNL’16 and I got back to the park & ride where I’d left my car, I grabbed the bag and cooler and extra hat I’d transferred to his car at 4:45 that morning. I was about to head off when TCNL’16 directed my attention to the ground. There were the missing socks, which had fallen out of my  spare hat. All I could do was laugh.


The hiking shoes were back on my feet this morning when I beat the impending 95-degree heat by going up the mountain at the crack of dawn. As you probably know, I’ve gone up to the peak just about every possible day in the five-plus years we’ve lived here, and today I saw something I’d never seen before. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but those are wilted flowers whose stalks had been placed into holes drilled in cutoff stumps of small trees. There were a number of them at the peak. I know there have been weddings up there before, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the flowers were from. Come to think of it, a wedding on a mountaintop sounds kind of . . . familiar. ;-)


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Monday, June 23, 2025

Fore!

Golf was the weekend theme . . .

On Saturday the Dartmouth football program hosted its annual Friends of Football Golf Outing. Although the extremely unfortunate closing of the college’s Hanover Country Club forced the event to be moved to Montcalm Golf Club in nearby Enfield, N.H. several years ago, the fundraiser drew another enthusiastic crowd. Here are photos posted on the football program’s social media channels: 

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EXTRA POINT

Little did I know what would come of it when I first brought That Certain Nittany Lion ’16 to the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn. It’s a start-of-summer staple for him now, and when the buddy he usually goes with couldn’t make it this year I filled in. I left the house at 4 a.m., met him at 4:45 and got home last night around 11:30 p.m. It was a long day, but a good day in Connecticut that began with almost three hours sitting in the car because of a weather delay, and finished with Upper Valley native Keegan Bradley, the pride of Woodstock, Vt., winning  dramatically on the 18th hole. Here’s the view we had as the leaders headed to the 18th green after we put in about 17,000 steps around the course:



When I was at the local daily I was sent to a course in Vermont to do a story about a fundraiser being held by Keegan’s aunt, Pat Bradley, an LPGA Hall-of-Famer. With young Keegan playing with her I wanted to add a little color to the story so I spoke briefly with him. In a squeaky voice he told me when he grew up he was going to "play on the PGA Tour.”


Yeah sure, kid, I thought.You and every other kid from around here with a mismatched bag of sticks.


Except, of course, I thought wrong – and he was right. Bradley has gone on to win eight PGA Tour events – including the 2011 PGA Championship – and was greeted yesterday with chants of "USA, USA" and “Captain Keegan” in honor of his role leading the American Ryder Cup team.

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