More On Recruiting Front

An email from Florida arrived yesterday with information that safety/outside linebacker Garrett Waggoner, a 6-2, 210 safety from Riverview High School in Sarasota, Fla., has committed to Dartmouth. Waggoner was a defensive captain for Riverview this year and had an interception in the Brad Price Memorial PAL Bowl game between the Sarasota and Manatee County all-stars. He was Florida Academic All-State and a Sarasota Herald-Tribune honorable mention choice. For highlight videos, click here and here.

For an ESPN.com evaluation of safety recruit Cole Pembroke of Arizona, click here.

The Houston Chronicle had story late last month about Pasadena, Texas runnning back Bo Snelson, who is said to be considering Dartmouth. The 5-8, 185 Snelson ran for 1,904 yards this fall. From the story:

“When I was in eighth grade, my dad sat me down to talk about my goals,” said Snelson, who averaged 7 yards a carry this season. “He said I would never be the tallest and probably not the fastest or the strongest. So I had to work the hardest and be the toughest. That’s the mentality that I’ve always had.”

There's a lot of buzz on the message boards right now about Dartmouth and Butler either talking about a game in 2011 or 2012, or already having it scheduled. A member of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, Butler went 6-5 last year and was ranked No. 220 in the nation in the Sagarin ratings. Dartmouth was ranked No. 223.

Butler registered both its most wins and its first winning record since 1997 as recounted on the Butler web site. To get an idea about who Butler usually plays, here's the 2009 schedule:

Sept. 5 Albion College
Sept. 12 at Franklin College
Sept. 19 Hanover College
Sept. 26 at Morehead State
Oct. 3 San Diego
Oct. 17 Valparaiso
Oct. 24 at Campbell
Oct. 31 Davidson
Nov. 7 at Dayton
Nov. 14 at Jacksonville
Nov. 21 Drake

Interestingly, Dartmouth was rumored at one point to have a tentative game set with Drake, also of the Pioneer League. I'm not sure what happened with that one, but supposedly it was going to be played in Chicago.

Surfing around for more whispers about a possible game with Butler led somehow to a fun discovery about Dan Piening '00. The former Dartmouth linebacker from Cincinnati returned to football in 2007 as a graduate student on the Xavier University club football team. (roster). For someone who still has the football bug but no eligibility left, club football is a nice outlet. There's an article about club football at Xavier here.

The Yale Daily News has a story about new football coach Tom Williams. It includes this on his novel morning practices:

As for Williams’ practice plan, football players may or may not like the possible practice schedule for next fall.

“I plan to hold practices in the morning next fall — students may have to wake up between 5 and 5:30 in the morning,” Williams said.

When asked about the reason for the possible change, Williams echoed his sentiments about his coaching position being about more than just football, stating: “It gives the players a chance to really enjoy campus life and all of the activities. Everyone gets a chance to get more out of their day.”

And finally, the Brown Daily Herald has a story about former wide receiver Sean Morey, who will be playing in his second Super Bowl Sunday as a special teams Pro Bowler for the Arizona Cardinals. I still remember former Dartmouth coach John Lyons returning from the Ivy League all-star game in Japan and raving about Morey. James Perry, the former Brown quarterback who coached briefly at Dartmouth, is another fan. He told the Herald:

"In my years as a player and as a coach, Sean is the hardest-working guy that I've ever seen. Obviously, his talent was a prerequisite for what he's accomplished, but he's battled through a lot of adversity, and nobody works harder than Sean."