What Might Have Been ...

Find the story I freelanced on former tailback Chad Gaudet for the Dartmouth men's lacrosse web site here. From the story:

With 389 yards in just over four games in his freshman campaign, Gaudet came into his sophomore fall looking like a lock to one day erase Dartmouth’s career rushing record. But against Colgate in the 2005 opener, Gaudet – a bull at 6-foot, 218 pounds that fall – took a helmet to the left knee on his first carry of the season. He hobbled off the field hoping a little ice would get him back in the action.

It didn't. The hit caused a tibial plateau fracture that essentially ended his football career. But he's fought back to be able to play lacrosse and today is one of the top faceoff men in the country.

That bit about the Dartmouth career rushing record might seem a little strong, but consider this: The Big Green record for yards in a career is just 2,252 by Al Rosier from 1989-91. Gaudet would have needed to average just 621 yards per season over his final three years to tie the mark.

From a wire service story on the annual NCAA study of academic performance by college athletes:

The Ivy League accounted for more than one-fifth of all the teams honored, with 150 men's and women's teams recognized on the list. The Patriot League was second with 89 and the Big East third at 47.

Again, it was the usually strong Ivy League that dominated the results.

Yale produced the most impressive classroom performance for the second straight year. Of the 29 men's and women's sports offered by the school and measured by the NCAA, the Bulldogs made the list in 28 sports. Dartmouth was honored 24 times, followed by Brown (21), the University of Pennsylvania (20), Princeton (19) and Harvard (18).

There's a Dartmouth release on the study. Also a Dartmouth PDF that includes the following:

NATIONAL STANDING
Dartmouth stands second nationally in number of teams honored by the NCAA for the second year in a row. Ivy schools swept the top six spots and eight of the Top 20.

1. Yale 28
2. Dartmouth 24
3. Brown 21
4. Penn 20
5. Princeton 19
6. Harvard 18
7. Bucknell 17
T8. Lehigh 15
T8. Holy Cross 15
10. Colgate 13
Other Ivy schools: Cornell - 11 teams (T-16th),
Columbia - 9 teams (20th)

Speedy Brown wide receiver Paul Raymond might be the Ivy League's top draft hopeful this weekend. The Brown Daily Herald writes about his career and his chances.

UNH quarterback Ricky Santos probably won't be selected this weekend. From a story in the Portsmouth Herald:

Best case? He gets chosen before the seven rounds are up and reports to his first NFL camp in May.

Another scenario is him getting bypassed in the draft, but signing afterward with a team as a free agent. In the right situation, that could even be preferred.

In talking to coaches, Dartmouth players and agents over the years I've heard over and over again that choosing where to go as a free agent is almost universally preferable to being picked in the last or next-to-last round. Sure, it's great to be able to say you've been drafted, but a good, hard look at rosters can point a player toward a team that might actually need a quarterback for the regular season, not just practice fodder for the preseason.

The Dartmouth baseball season has reached critical mass with a couple of doubleheaders against Harvard this weekend. The Big Green has a 2.5-game lead over Yale in the Red Rolfe Division with four games to play. The Bulldogs have to win at least two games more than the Big Green this weekend to have a chance to force a tie by finishing up an earlier game against Penn. There's nothing in The D, but there's a story in the Harvard Crimson and another in the Yale Daily.

And finally, that certain Hanover High sophomore's softball team opened the season with a 12-0 loss yesterday. She batted leadoff and was credited with two hits in the morning paper although she protests she got only one. ;-)