Friday Potpourri

Allen Buansi, who spent some time on the Dartmouth's football team a couple of years back and may be working in some capacity with the program this fall, was the subject of a news clip back home in Chapel Hill, N.C., after someone complained to the police about a man (Buansi) standing on a corner in a residential neighborhood making a long cell phone call. It turns out he was on the corner near his home because his cell phone didn't get a good signal indoors. Watch the news report and read Allen's letter sharing his disappointment at what happened.

For a little more about Buansi, here's what Green Alert premium had to say about him in a report posted after the morning practice of double sessions on Sept. 5, 2006:

HANOVER -- Allen Buansi is spending Dartmouth football practices behind the video camera these days.

His goal is to be on the other end of the lens, and it could happen.

A sophomore from Chapel Hill, N.C., Buansi is one of a half dozen or so walk-ons Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens has on the Big Green football team this preseason.

"We really encourage guys that may not have been actively recruited, either because we may not have known about them or because we may have had a numerical limitation, to come out and play if they are accepted to Dartmouth," explained Teevens. "They really are important parts of the team.

"They add depth. There's a passion that a lot of them bring. They want to play. They want to prove they can play."

And Teevens is more than willing to give them that chance.

"We treat them no differently than anyone else on the team," he said. "They have the same opportunity to practice. The same equipment. They have the same responsibilities. Now they are accountable just like everybody else on the team is.

"Some places you may be second-class citizens as a walk-on -- or a non-scholarship guy in my former life -- but here we are all the same."

Buansi, a wide receiver prospect who last spring covered golf as a writer on The Daily Dartmouth, was an accomplished middle distance runner at East Chapel Hill High School. "We haven't seen Allen out here yet, but he's impressed me with his athleticism," Teevens said. "For a guy that hasn't played (football) for four years it's intriguing to see what he does.

"He works very hard. He's attentive. His grasp of the offense is phenomenal for a guy with a limited background. We just want to ease him into it physically and get him out on the field a little later on."

Buansi spends most Memorial Field practices high in the press box taping for the coaches. At the end of practice, he hits the field where one or another quarterback will stay behind and throw him balls, most of which he seems to catch.

A 6-foot-5, 195-pound Oklahoma high school quarterback with astonishing statistics has visited both Dartmouth and Harvard according to a throwaway line late in this story in The Oklahoman. Sam Clancy completed 83.3 percent of his passes (70-of-84) for 802 yards with 13 touchdowns and one interception as he helped Cascia Hall to a 15-0 record. 84 of 130 (64.6 percent) for 1,610 yards with 25 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Clancy's Commandos (sounds like a WWII movie) beat Heritage Hall (alma mater of Dartmouth tailback Rob Mitchelson) for the Class 2A state title last fall. That may not be the top level of football played in Oklahoma, but 64.6 percent is 64.6 percent. Cascia Hall moves up to 3A this fall and it will be interesting to see how the lanky QB's numbers hold up. And whether Dartmouth remains on his radar.

Princeton's media guide is the latest to go up on the web for download. Find the PDF here.

The Daily Dartmouth has a story about progress on the college's new baseball field. (For a glimpse at what the field will look like when finished, click here.)

And finally, remember what it said in this space yesterday? "If you have any pull with Mother Nature could you please ask that the faucet be turned off?" Thanks for trying, but it didn't work. While the rain held off during the middle of the day yesterday, the evening featured one gully washer after another, enough so that the sides of our dirt road and one that intersects it have been washed out. For the second day in a row that that certain Hanover High freshman saw a session of his football camp at Kimball Union Academy curtailed by lightning. Last night's session lasted perhaps 30 minutes of the planned three hours.