It All Starts This Week

Here we go. Dorm check-in starts for Dartmouth players tomorrow morning at 8. There will be all kinds of informational meetings during the day, capped by a team meeting at 8:30 p.m.. Condititioning testing (I can almost see former players grimacing) starts at 6:30 Wednesday morning. Temperatures aren't supposed to hit 80 all week so it should be comfortable. (Or as comfortable as the first days of camp can be.)

Curious about the running part of the conditioning test? Players will make 16 runs of 110 yard by group. The required times:

• Offensive and defensive linemen: 19 seconds
• Linebackers, fullbacks, tight ends, kickers and punters: 17 seconds
• Quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs and defensive backs: 15 seconds

The testing includes a 45 second recovery time between each repetition

Preseason Practice Schedule
Wed., Aug. 23, 4-6:15 p.m.
Thu., Aug. 24, 4-6:15 p.m.
Fri., Aug. 25, 4-6:15 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 26, 4-6:15 p.m.
Sun., Aug. 27, 3:30-5:45 p.m.
Mon., Aug. 28, 4-6:15 p.m.
Tue., Aug. 29, 8:30-10:25 a.m.; 4-6:15 p.m.
Wed., Aug. 30, 4-6:15 p.m.
Thu., Aug. 31, 8:30-10:25 a.m.; 4-6:15 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 1, 4-6:15 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 2, 9-10:25 a.m.; 4-6:15 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 3, no practice
Mon., Sept. 4, 8:30-10:25 a.m.; 4-6:15 p.m.
Tue., Sept. 5, 4-6:15 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 6, 8:30-10:25 a.m.; 4-6:15 p.m.
Thu., Sept. 7, 4-6:15 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 8, 9:15-10:25 a.m.; 4-6:15 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 9, 10 a.m., mock game with officials
Sun., Sept. 10, no practice
Mon., Sept. 11, 4 p.m.; Colgate practice begins
Sat., Sept. 16, at Colgate

Following up on last week's link to the new Columbia uniforms, click here to see the Lions' new helmets along with the rest of the Ivy helmets. Scan down that page and there are nine iterations of the Columbia helmet. I'll take the one on the top right with the Lion silhouette. A little farther down the page are some Dartmouth helmets. Click on the left side of that page to check out what other schools have done with their helmet designs over the years. WARNING: This is a serious time-waster.

The Boston Globe has a nice piece about Harvard's new offensive coordinator Joel Lamb and defensive coordinator Kevin Doherty. Turns out, Lamb's father is head coach at Natick High in Massachusetts and Doherty's brother is head coach at Framingham. Natick and Framingham have a storied rivalry on Thanksgiving Day. Think there might be a little gentleman's bet on that game in the Harvard football office this year?

If you aren't all Harvarded out, here's a story on defensive tackle Mike Berg.

This columnist thinks San Francisco 49ers QB of the future Alex Smith is a bust. One reason offered: He was recruited by precious few schools, including a "handful of Ivy League schools."

Later this morning: A look at New Hampshire, the ninth in a series of Dartmouth opponent previews on Green Alert.