Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Another O-Lineman (And Brother) Headed This Way

Dartmouth has received a second commitment from a brother of a current player. After visiting over the weekend and watching the Big Green pummel Cornell, Zach Wodka of Buffalo Grove, Ill., made a verbal commitment to join the Dartmouth program. Zach is the younger brother of promising freshman offensive lineman Alex Wodka.

Zach Wodka stands a little over 6-foot-3 and currently weighs 265, about 10 pounds lighter than his older brother. He started his senior year at Buffalo Grove as a left tackle before playing the final seven games at center. A good athlete, he has played basketball in the past but is expecting to spend this winter adding 10-15 pounds of muscle in anticipation of playing offensive guard or center for the Big Green.

The earlier brother of a current player to commit to Dartmouth was Brad Dornak of Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. He is the brother of sophomore defensive back Brad Dornak. A running back in high school, Brad expects to play wide receiver for the Big Green.

The Daily Pennsylvanian wrapup of the weekend includes a look at the offensive fireworks in the Dartmouth-Cornell game. The story says:
... senior quarterback Tom Bennewitz and the Big Green had an explosive day of their own. That's what happens when the Cornell defense comes to town.
The Cornell Sun has a follow story on sophomore Stephen Liuzza, who put up big numbers Saturday against Dartmouth after stepping in as the emergency quarterback. Liuzza explained:
"(Head coach Jim Knowles) told me before the game just in case Nate goes down and we need a spark that they’re going to put me in there and do a few plays. It’s stuff we ran before because I was a quarterback pretty much all of the spring. So it wasn’t really anything new.”
The Ivy League website has its weekend preview up. The Dartmouth-Brown piece can been found here.

Back on the subject of offensive explosiveness, Pat Forde of ESPN.com likes what former UNH offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has brought to Oregon so much that he writes:
Kelly gets my vote for Hire of the Year nationally on the coordinator level.
In off-the-field news, the Dartmouth Association of Alumni has withdrawn its request for a preliminary injunction against the college in the trustees case according to today's Daily Dartmouth.

It will be interesting to see where practice is today. With the clock turned back, no lights on Memorial Field and this week's game at Brown on real grass, the anticipation was that the team would be out on Blackman Practice Fields. But it poured over night and is expected to continue raining during the day. Blackman's fields are gorgeous but they are soft and prone to ripping up, making using them in the rain a concern. As a former high-ranking Dartmouth athletic administrator used to like to say, they are "between the dog and the fire hydrant" on this one.

And finally ... the roofers pretty much got our garage done yesterday. The entire project is supposed to take a week (which is why I'm working out of the library again this morning) but I don't think today's heavy rain is going to help.


A sad note. Today's newspaper reports that popular former assistant coach Doug Johnson's wife Gloria died after a long and brave battle with breast cancer. If you would like to write Doug, who still operates AJ's Steakhouse, his address is:
140 Neal Road, White River Jct, VT 05001.

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