Another Big Guy Headed To Hanover*

* but there's a catch ...

The Boston Globe has a wonderful sports section (even it it loses any semblance of objectivity when it comes to the Sox and the Pats) but it didn't help me this time. Today's Globe included this note:

St. John's Prep will send three players off to play at the next level. When they get there, they will already have a network of Eagle alums to help them along. Quarterback Scott Darby is headed to Georgetown, where the Hoyas already have a couple of Prep products in linebackers John Cassidy and Travis Zorilla. Lineman Danny Vacy will head to Williams, where he will have three former Eagles to welcome him to the squad. Lineman Nate Brickley and safety John Whitney are off to Dartmouth and Hamilton, respectively. "They're going to four good schools," said head coach and athletic director Jim O'Leary. "They should do well."

So off I go looking for info on Nate Brickley. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. A Brickley wall, if you will.

I go back to the Globe and wonder about the note saying "three players" and then count. One, two, three, four. Hmmm. That sends me off to MaxPreps and in search of a team site, if there is one. No help there. And St. John's team web site doesn't list a Nate Brickley. Back to the original Globe note. Quarterback named Darby in the note matches up with quarterback named Darby on the roster so I'm on the right page but no Brickley. As soon as I close up the site something occurs to me and I open it up again. Let's see. Aha. There's a Nate Brakeley. Could it be? Of course.

Now I go back and do my search on Nate Brakeley and lo and behold, he's on all the pages I checked before as a 6-4/6-5-ish, 225 lineman. Success, but with an asterisk. He might not be headed to Dartmouth to play football afterall. Turns out he's a top rugby player at a high school where the sport is big.

Excerpts from an earlier story in the Salem News:

Nate Brakeley is facing a big decision next year when he must choose between football and rugby. Brakeley has applied to Dartmouth early decision and hopes to follow both his parents to Hanover, N.H.

and ...

"I'll find out on the 15th of this month," said Brakeley. "I'm not going to decide on football or rugby until I get there, but I have already talked to the rugby coach. Playing sports keeps me busy and is something I enjoy doing."

For a head and shoulders picture, click here. Another story tells us he was, "Named Catholic Conference Lineman of the Year after a stellar senior season on both sides of the ball."

From an earlier Boston Globe that got his name right when he was named all-scholastic:

The 6-foot-5-inch, 225-pound force was the Catholic Conference Lineman of the Year while holding down a 4.6 grade-point average. Prep finished second in the conference this fall. Brakeley is a member of the ski team and captain of the rugby team.

There was a neat story about his love of rugby in the local Daily News last spring:

Nate Brakeley, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound junior from Marblehead, has already been playing rugby for three years and will make it four straight seasons next spring. That's a common occurrence at St. John's Prep, where rugby is a wildly popular sport.

A Final Thought: Given that one of the stories says he "has applied to Dartmouth early decision," and wasn't listed among the early decision admits, it sounds like he's a big rugby player ... but one worth keeping an eye on. Stay tuned.

***

Gotta run, but before I do, Colgate's assistant head coach is leaving for Rutgers.