First Day Of Hitting

A chilly night in Central PA after temperatures hit 82 yesterday. We're off to Penn State in a few minutes for the Blue-White spring game. There were 71,000 people at the game last year. It's a stretch to expect that again this year but 50,000 or more could show up. We'll be setting up our tailgate and then be wandering into town for the requisite sticky buns at Ye Olde College Diner, or whatever they call it. Postgame will include ice cream at the Creamery. If you are ever at Penn State it's a civil offense to leave campus without at least one trip to the Creamery. Remember, this is where Ben & Jerry learned their craft – even if it was a correspondence course.

We watched the Penn State baseball team defeat Indiana last night at Lubrano Park, home of the State College Spikes of the New York/Penn League. They put on quite a show that would have you believe you are watching a minor league game instead of college baseball if you didn't know better.

As for Dartmouth's first scrimmaging yesterday, a much-appreciated pair of eyes sent along a quick report. It starts this way:

They played 11 on 11 but it seemed to be something short of full contact, but more than just thud. The whistles were very quick but you could tell the boys were happy to take the gloves off a little after 3 days of no pads.

Word is that Alex Jenny looked solid under center and had a good run or two. Tim McManus got some snaps and showed both his athleticism and inexperience after playing wideout much of the fall. Max Heiges and Will Deevy both looked more comfortable than a year ago.

The highlight offensively was the play of the wide receivers with Andrew von Kuh, Phil Galligan, Eric Paul and tight end Carroll Papajohn showing the Big Green will have a deep crew of pass catchers in the fall. Niles Murphy showed his explosiveness with several catches.

Without a true fullback, the running backs were used in tandem with Milan Williams and Nate Servis in one pairing and Rob Mitchelson and Hudson Smythe in the other. My observer suggested Mitchelson might have opened the most eyes.

Against a pretty basic defensive front without complex blitzes, the young and untested offensive line performed better than some might have expected.

Not surprisingly given how early we are in the spring, the defense appeared ahead of the offense. That said, kudos the to offensive line. Pat Scorah was noticeable in the secondary. Casey Frost looked sharp at safety while Andrew Dete and Joe Battaglia looked the part of returning starters at linebacker. And no surprise, Charles Bay was a force.

Thanks again to The Eye for sharing his perceptions of the first day of hitting.

Now I've gotta run.