Spring Football Kicks Off

Tom Bennewitz (left) and incumbent starter Josh Cohen work out under the watchful eye of coach Buddy Teevens in Monday's first spring drill. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Coach Teevens looks over the line as the Big Green goes through opening day of spring practice drills.

By Bruce Wood
www.biggreenalert.com

Hanover -- It was just the first day of spring practice, but Dartmouth's opening session under battleship gray skies Monday looked more as if it were held midway through preseason camp.

Big Green coach Buddy Teevens only grudgingly admitted as much.

"They are smart people and they retain well," Teevens said. "There was good focus.

"But," the second-year coach warned, "we want it perfect. We are going to hold them to a higher standard this year. All of them have been through it before because there are no confused freshmen running around. It was a good start, but it has to be better."

The session was the first of the 12 permitted in the spring. The team is scheduled to practice each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday between now and the Green-White scrimmage on May 6.

With the Memorial Field grass being replaced this summer by FieldTurf, Teevens had no qualms about letting his team chew up the stadium grass Monday and continue doing so over the next few weeks.

"We'd like to use the stadium as much as we can to give Blackman (practice) Fields a chance to be repaired," he said. "We'd like to go (in the stadium) as often as we can. The track program worked with us."

After starting in Leverone Fieldhouse while track wrapped up its practice, the Big Green (2-9 last year) moved outside and went through position drills. Among the coaches barking order was Cedric Calhoun, the replacement for James Jones, who left Dartmouth to join the staff at Kansas State.

Following the positional drills, quarterbacks Josh Cohen, Tom Bennewitz, Mike Fritz and Casey Frost worked with their receivers under Teevens' watchful eye while others went through their paces in front of their own position coaches.

"It was spirited, which was to be expected," Teevens said. "Attention to detail was not there, which was not totally unexpected first day out of the blocks. What we've told our guys is we will not accept anything less. It's not OK just to be OK. Do it the way you are supposed to."

Although Teevens was guarded in his overall comments, he had no trouble tossing bouquets at players who performed well including a 6-foot, 190-pound junior tailback with calves of steel who played on the defensive side a year ago.

"(One) of the guys that caught my eye was Julian Collins at the running back position," Teevens said. "He's got a little bit of shake. (He's) a good-sized guy. I think Alex Rapp at the tackle position showed a little bit more.

"On the defensive side the linebacking crew looked pretty decent. It was nice to see Joe Battaglia move around. In the secondary, John Manning showed some quicks."

Like Collins, offensive lineman Mike Shannon is being looked at in a new spot. After playing both a guard and tackle earlier in his career, the fifth-year senior took some turns snapping the ball Monday.

Speedster Brian Evans, who moved from the defensive side to wide receiver a year ago, impressed Teevens as "more fluid," this spring. Also catching the coach's eye: 6-6 sophomore rower-turned-wide receiver Zack Cable, who showed good hands in his first full-squad workout.

"He's been a plus," Teevens said. "He's still not completely aware of what we're doing across the board. He looks like a clone of (fifth-year senior) Ryan Fuselier, a big-bodied guy who can catch the ball up in the air. ... And then there's (6-5 junior) Brendan Holm. We've not seen him before but Brendan snatched the ball out of the air a little bit."

Once a quarterback and always a quarterback coach, Teevens offered his take on the signalcallers: "Bennewitz I thought did some nice things. Cohen had the yellow shirt on and is still hobbled a little bit with an ankle. Pitch and catch is important. Ball placement. We've got to put the ball on the money and we were somewhat erratic today."

NOTES Among those at practice Monday were outfielders/defensive backs Jason Blydell and Kyle Cavanaugh, who took advantage of an off-day from baseball to work out with the football team. Ironically, both missed most of last football season with injuries. ... Teevens is pleased by the development of junior fullback Bobby Calderwood, who has built himself back up to 220 solid pounds after struggling last year to adjust after a two-year Mormon mission. ...

Asked about who might assume a leadership role this year, Teevens stressed that he's looking for leaders across the board but especially in one area of the field. "We want guys to assert themselves on the offensive line in particular," he said. "Mike (Shannon) would be the guy people lean on because he's been around. Preston Copley's got to assume some. (Jared) Dowdakin. (Taylor) Layman, although it's tough with him being injured right now. (Ben) Goeke is another. ..."

The first blood of spring camp was spilled by defensive lineman Mike Rabil, who took a shot to the face and came to the sideline to have the trainers mop it up and send him back into battle. ...

The Dartmouth players sported new helmets featuring green masks in place of the black they've worn in recent years. On closer inspection, the white helmets (still sans striping) feature a mild glitter in the paint. ...

On a sad note, freshman linebacker Andrew Dete was back home in Marietta, Ga., with his family after his father, Leo, lost his battle with cancer. Teevens and freshman receivers Andrew Von Kuhn and Phillip Galligan were heading to Boston Monday night before flying to Georgia early Tuesday morning to attend services for Mr. Dete.